Activity

  • Industry 4.0 Helps Drive a Boundless Automation Vision

    Jim Cahill
    Process manufacturing organizations have always needed to optimize operations, but the underlying catalysts for that need have not always been static. Today, for example, optimization is very much a result of increasing globalization and the need to secure competitive advantage even as company budgets shrink dramatically. One particularly interesting element of this new wave of optimization initiatives, however, is…

  • Unlocking Success in Digital Transformation: A Strategic Blend of Emerson Products and Prudent Planning

    Jim Cahill
    Digital transformation means different things to different businesses, but there are some common guidelines to help ensure each company achieves successful implementations. My article in the August 2023 issue of InTech , titled Implementing Digital Transformation , provides information about the digital transformation journey and offers some practical suggestions about how to proceed. Some of the most popular digital…

  • Industrial Software Drives Competitive Advantage in a Global Marketplace

    Jim Cahill
    Globalization has dramatically changed the way process manufacturers operate. As more and more companies around the world begin to participate in the global marketplace, the demand for resources increases exponentially—both due to the resources used in manufacturing goods, but also in those consumed to transport them to countries and customers that may be thousands of miles away. And yet, as consumption increases, so…

  • What is Floor to Cloud ™︎ and How it Can Help the Semiconductor Manufacturing Operations

    Jim Cahill
    The semiconductor manufacturing industry is experiencing significant expansion worldwide, driven by the long-term demand for smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient chips. As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, the need for semiconductors that can power innovative devices becomes increasingly crucial.   One of the key drivers behind this growth is the increasing focus on energy efficiency. As consumers…

  • Navigate Data Difficulties with Enterprise Asset Management

    Jim Cahill
    Few process manufacturing teams today are struggling with having too little data. On the contrary, many organizations are overwhelmed by the massive amounts of data streaming in every day from their field devices and collected during scheduled rounds. Much of that data is useful if it can be analyzed. But in today’s environment of worker shortages leading to lean staffing, few organizations have the deep bench of experienced…

  • Industrial Software Helps Pipeline Operators Transition to More Sustainable Operation

    Jim Cahill
    Today, it’s not only the public calling for more sustainability commitment from industry. In many cases, investors are increasing their interest in companies’ sustainability plans as well, leading more and more organizations to make very public commitments to reaching net zero emissions within the next decade or two. But for every commitment made, there are many people supporting the company’s operations who must find…

  • It’s Time to Break Up—Automation’s Future will be Defined by Decoupling

    Jim Cahill
    As Claudio Fayad explains in his recent article in Processing magazine , there are many exciting changes coming as Emerson embarks on its Boundless Automation journey and evolves the modern control system in to a next-generation automation platform. However, what might come as a surprise is that many of the coming evolutions will look familiar, as quite a bit of the important work is based in a decoupling journey—one…

  • Take Your Turnarounds to the Next Level

    Jim Cahill
    Plant turnarounds have never been known to be staff’s favorite projects, so few people were sad to see them slow or even stop altogether during the COVID pandemic. But now that the worst of the global pandemic appears to be in the rearview mirror, organizations have begun scheduling turnarounds again, only for many of them to find that with fewer people on staff and an abundance of supply chain issues, they are more difficult…

  • Modern Software Drives Cutting-Edge Terminal Operations

    Jim Cahill
    Terminals are businesses, and, like any business, they face competition in the marketplace. A terminal that can turn vessels around more quickly provides added value to customers who in turn can use that extra time to create more value in their own businesses. So, to stay competitive, today’s terminals must maximize their throughput capacity and efficiency. However, today’s terminals are more complex than ever, just…

  • Collaboration is Key: Bridging the IT/OT Gap

    Jim Cahill
    As more and more process manufacturers are digitalizing their operations, operational technology (OT) teams are more frequently crossing paths with information technology (IT) teams. It has, in fact, become something of a cliché—the frustrated OT team struggling to keep IT out of their hair, or discreetly planning an end-run around them as they implement a new technology. Or there’s the alternative, a vision of an overzealous…

  • Lifecycle Maintenance Tools Usher in the Future of Reliability

    Jim Cahill
    Many maintenance teams are facing a two-pronged problem these days. As their organizations expand and acquire new plants across the country or even across the globe, teams are responsible for managing an ever-increasing number of tools and software packages to manage the health of their assets. In addition, as they use that equipment to monitor their assets, they are constantly gathering more and more data that they need…

  • Modern Pipeline Engineering Requires the Best Software

    Jim Cahill
    Pipeline operations are vastly different than they were just five or ten short years ago. One key area in which this is true is in the rise of renewables and sustainability. Today’s pipelines are moving new products like hydrogen or carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from carbon capture operations along with the old standards, and these changes significantly impact their operations. Fortunately, as Paul Dickerson and Dr. Jon…

  • Emerson: Empowering Digital Transformation from Floor to Cloud™︎ with Comprehensive Hardware, Software, and Services

    Jim Cahill
    Consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers typically operate a wide variety of equipment, which is used on one or more production lines and facilities. Connecting with and coordinating among so many assets is a challenge, but solutions are at hand. In my Machine Design September 2023 article titled Digital Transformation: Guidelines for CPG Industry Implementations , I describe how Emerson technologies are helping…

  • Bring More Value Across the Lifecycle with a Holistic Simulation Solution

    Jim Cahill
    There are many simulation technologies on the market, which can often make it difficult for teams looking to drive the most value across the lifecycle of a simulation investment to select the right solution. But one strategy can have a significant impact on technology selection—seeking out a holistic automation solution . After all, a project team could use simulation only for one task (training, design, etc.) but why…

  • Boundless Automation Brought to Life

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Boundless Automation vision has been front and center at the 2023 Exchange Immerse users’ conference in Anaheim, California. Numerous subject matter experts have shared the way they have seen Emerson’s technology innovation influenced by Boundless Automation over the last two years. A bold vision… Emerson first shared its Boundless Automation vision at the Exchange conference in 2022, where Peter Zornio…

  • Application of Edge Control in the World’s Largest New City Water System Gives Good Advice to all Systems Integrators

    Jim Cahill
    In a recent edition of Control Engineering magazine , I had the opportunity to discuss a very unique and interesting case study involving a new water system in the world’s largest greenfield city, NEOM. I’d like to share some of the details of that article with you. Working on greenfield projects, of course, represents an opportunity to employ new technologies that can optimize performance, reduce footprint, accommodate…

  • Application of Edge Control in the World’s Largest New City Water System Gives Good Advice to all Systems Integrators

    Jim Cahill
    In a recent edition of Control Engineering magazine , I had the opportunity to discuss a very unique and interesting case study involving a new water system in the world’s largest greenfield city, NEOM. I’d like to share some of the details of that article with you. Working on greenfield projects, of course, represents an opportunity to employ new technologies that can optimize performance, reduce footprint, accommodate…

  • A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation

    Jim Cahill
    Everyone in industry and business uses the term digital transformation, but there are myriad definitions and meanings behind their casual use of the words. This can be confusing for an enterprise just considering or embarking on its digital transformation journey. Recently in InTech magazine, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts and Emerson’s philosophy on what digital transformation is and how to implement it,…

  • A Best Practice Guide for Implementing Digital Transformation

    Jim Cahill
    Everyone in industry and business uses the term digital transformation, but there are myriad definitions and meanings behind their casual use of the words. This can be confusing for an enterprise just considering or embarking on its digital transformation journey. Recently in InTech magazine, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts and Emerson’s philosophy on what digital transformation is and how to implement it,…

  • When You Need Super-fast Installation in 115 Worldwide Plants, You Need a Serious Software Partner – Case Study

    Jim Cahill
    A global leader in industrial packaging launched a worldwide search for a software provider that could implement a unified and coherent production supervision and management system in 115 production plants globally. The manufacturer required a system that would allow a targeted investment with sustainable costs and, above all, velocity and installation standard. Another key goal was to obtain easy access to global or…

  • Increasing Demands by Solar Plants for Regulatory Compliance, Efficiency and Productivity Are Met and Exceeded by PACSystems™︎ Control Solutions

    Jim Cahill
    Dealing with outdated legacy systems is a challenge for nearly all industrial companies. In the fast-paced solar energy space, shifting market demands, regulatory requirements and increasing competition drive the need for modern capabilities to meet these new challenges. However, upgrading and replacing key technologies can be time consuming and cost prohibitive. This was the challenge that Nor-Cal Controls, a leading…

  • PACSystems™︎ and PACEdge™︎ Technology Achieve Accurate Carbon Offset Credit Analysis and Reporting for Significant Flare Gas Reduction

    Jim Cahill
    As pressures to maintain profitability in the oil and gas market increase, while the demand for sustainability likewise rises exponentially, taking advantage of carbon credits achieved by reduction in flare gas becomes increasingly attractive. In one notable case, engineering systems integrator Drakken was selected by CarbonAi for a project with a large oil and gas company to engineer an offshore wellhead monitoring project…

  • FEI Foods Increases Production to Meet Worldwide Demand with Movicon.NExT™︎ Platform

    Jim Cahill
    Hello everyone. I’m Ajay Rana and recently, in an article in Food Manufacturing , I had the opportunity to talk about an interesting case study with FEI Foods, Europe’s largest producer of ready-to-eat rice and grain pouches, based in South Wales, UK. I think it has some good information for any plant. Due to demand, FEI Foods’ existing production facilities had been operating at full capacity for several years, which…

  • Modern Advanced Process Control is Easier than Ever

    Jim Cahill
    It likely comes as no surprise that advanced process control (APC) has only gotten better as time has gone by. Old APC software , though very powerful in its own right, was often complex to configure and even more difficult to maintain. That turned away a lot of potential users who simply weren’t ready for the commitment or who didn’t have a staff member with an advanced engineering degree. Fast forward to 2023, and…

  • This Manufacturing Company Tripled Production with a Modular, Highly Flexible Supervisory Software Platform

    Jim Cahill
    Maxa Air Conditioning, a leading air conditioning and heating equipment manufacturing company in Arcole (VR), Italy, experienced a significant rise in market demand which required the company to build a new facility and production lines to meet that increase. Previously, production was limited due to legacy instrumentation and manual processes in heat pump testing that could not assure quality or deliver the required…

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