Did you know that Control Design is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year? We've got several tidbits in store throughout the year, taking glances here and there back at the technology that has shaped control and automation for machine builders over the years. Our big celebration will come in June, with an in-depth exploration of how the times have changed.  read more »

In December I talked about my New Year resolutions for 2012 (see "A New Resolution") The new year just started, but I can say that I'm off to a great start. I said I wanted to improve my cybersecurity, sustainability and efficiency knowledge, and during the past 30 days I've been able to stick to my plan. You can read my Feb. 2012 column "Resolutions So Far" to learn more about my accomplished resolutions, but now I wonder if you set up similar resolutions for this year, and if you are succeeding as well. Chime in and let me know if you plan to improve your efficiency plans this year. Do you have green goals to accomplish?

In upcoming issues of Control Design, we'll explore subjects that include:  read more »

• How to design machine safety into your automation system.
• What an integrated controls architecture means to design, commissioning and overall time-to-market.
• What you need to know to compete globally.
• What the real differences are among the various Ethernet flavors of fast motion buses.
• The threat of electronics to pneumatics and hydraulics as power sources.
• Where relays fit in today's programmable machine control.

The machine builders and other sources in the February 2012 cover article on modular machine building, "Modular Mosaic," report that there are many benefits to modular machine building and operations, but there are some obstacles and possible drawbacks, too. As a result, it's important to consider the pros and cons as they relate to your machine and its end users, and then answer some serious questions before undertaking a modular machine redesign or installation.  read more »

If you're a subscriber to Control Design or registered visitor to ControlDesign.com, and you're a machine builder or system integrator, you should have received my email invitation to participate in our study about how you do automation product research these days.  read more »

Although I'm probably jinxing it just by mentioning it, winter in the Midwestern U.S. should be ending in April, and few green shoots and buds should be just about to emerge. For the past couple of years, one of these has been our "green/sustainable machine" cover article, which is set to appear in the April 2012 issue of Control Design. So, if you or anyone you know might have some expert commentary or end user examples, I would love to hear about them. The main questions I'm trying to cover are below.  read more »

In a recent OEM Insight, GeorgiaTech engineering professor Dirk Schaefer highlighted a few industry game changers that he hopes to explore in further detail this year. Among those game changers are complex social networks—not only the LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter networks that most of us are familiar with, but also other self-organizing communities that can change the way that organizations collaborate and innovate.

Crowd sourcing, mass collaboration, and the increasingly familiar cloud computing are a few of the terms that Schaefer discusses.  read more »

If you're a machine builder or system integrator who works with one, we want to learn about the methods you prefer to use when you do your automation and control products research. If you didn't receive the study link in your email, here it is.

We also want to talk directly with a few of you about the subject. Some of you prefer to use your local distributor. Some of you exclusively use vendor websites. Others want to talk directly to product experts at the automation supplier company.

Many of you tell us you change primary vendors quite a bit. We want to know why you need to do that. Let me know here or email me at JFeeley@putman.net and we'll set it up.  read more »

Probably the coolest thing I learned about machine building while researching and reporting this story was that evolution and innovation really don't stand still--ever. I mean, I thought that once a machine builder divided a long, rigidly dedicated machine or production line into servo-driven, Ethernet-enabled, Lego-like chunks that this would be enough of a success. Boy, was I wrong again.  read more »

Seems that everywhere you turn these days, there's talk about innovation. Maybe a lot of the discussion started with the death of Steve Jobs in October, when so many reports pointed to Jobs as a key technology innovator and innovative leader. When Jeremy Pollard wrote his Embedded Intelligence column for the October issue of Control Design (Jobs had just left Apple, but then died before we went to press), he called it "iInnovation," of course.  read more »