Manufacturing is rapidly changing, driven by trends such as low volume/high mix, shorter lifecycles, changing labor dynamics and other global factors. One way industry is responding to these trends is by changing the way humans and machines safely work together, enabled by updated standards and new technologies including safety communications.
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12 posts
Condition monitoring is considered highly complex and always associated with high investments. Not so with IO-Link. How IO-Link makes it easy for you to set up a monitoring network that is independent of the machine control system is the subject of this article.
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When we talk about automation our main focus is on controllers, sensors and actuators. But also power supplies and connectors are important componts for the efficient setup and success of automation solutions. Power supplies with condition monitoring functions can help you to improve the lifetime of your system
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Safety over IO-Link combines automation and safety and represents efficient safety concepts in one system. Best of all, the functionality of the overall system remains unchanged.
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Unscheduled downtimes in production due to worn out or unserviced molds in machines can cause high costs and are a well-known problem for a lot of companies. In order to prevent these issues and optimize the use of their injection molds, a Swiss chocolate mold producer installed a predictive maintenance system via industrial RFID technology.
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Just when you thought the SmartLight was the most flexible Tower Indicator light ever, it gets even more flexible with the addition of a new mode. This new mode is appropriately named “Flexible Mode”.
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Safety Over IO-Link makes it easier to align a robot’s restricted and safeguarded spaces, simplifies creation of more dynamic safety zones and allows creation of “layers” of sensors around a robot work area.
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Digitizing the production world in the age of Industry 4.0 increases the need for information between the various levels of the automation pyramid from the sensor/actuator level up to the enterprise management level.
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Both washdown and hygienic design are common terms used in the food and beverage industry, and are increasingly being used in the packaging industry. These terms are used in different scenarios and easily confused with each other. What exactly are the differences between them, and in what applications are each used?
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In my last blog, Imagine the Perfect Photoelectric Sensor, I discussed the possibilities of a single part number that could be configured for any of the basic sensing modes: through-beam, retroreflective, background suppression and diffuse. This perfect sensor would also have the ability to change the sensing mode on the fly and download the required parameters for a changing process or format change.
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