Control Techniques Engineers step up to the plate, in record time, to tackle the global microprocessor shortage. When your company manufactures products that rely on advanced microcontrollers at the heart of the product and these components are in very short supply globally, you have two choices. You let the crisis that is affecting the rest of the world affect you or you do something about it!
With 2021 coming to a close, rapidly-changing technology, consumer demands and competitive pressures continue to inspire the implementation of creative operational strategies. As a result, more affordable yet highly flexible robots are being implemented on production floors to effectively deal with supply chain challenges, skilled labor shortages, an unprecedented pandemic and general market fluctuations. With this in mind, here are some trends and innovations savvy manufacturers may want to consider when planning for a successful 2022 and beyond.
ABB is investing CA$16 million in its Installation Products Division manufacturing facility in Pointe-Claire, Canada. This enables expanded production capacity to meet the growing needs of customers from coast to coast. “ABB’s investment is part of a five-year strategy to integrate new digital processes and automation across our operations,” says Matthias Heilmann, President, ABB Installation Products Division. “With our customer-first approach, this enables us to further innovate our products and manufacturing capabilities to meet the specific needs of the Canadian market.”
Electromate® Inc. is proud to announce that our organization has been named on the 2021 list of Best Workplaces™ in Professional Services. Electromate Inc. received this honour after a thorough and independent analysis conducted by Great Place to Work®. The list is based on direct feedback from employees of hundreds of organizations that were surveyed by Great Place to Work®. The data has a 90% confidence and a plus or minus 5% margin of error.
IO-Link is enjoying increasing popularity, with demand for the communications standard growing rapidly, especially in the food & beverage industry. The fieldbus-independent technology for point-to-point communication is easy to use and provides a cost-effective way to digitalize industrial plants. Endress+Hauser, a leading provider in the industry, offers a wide range of IO-Link products for a large selection of process parameters.
Sevensense has raised its Series A investment of US$7.7M, led by ABB Technology Ventures, which is expected to close by the end of November 2021. The company is a leader in AI and 3D Vision technology for autonomous mobile robotics and is active in the material handling and professional cleaning industries.
ABB’s Distributed Control Systems (DCS) maintained a leading share of around 20 percent in 2020 in a market worth more than $14 billion. During 2020 ABB saw growth across key regions, despite the impact of the pandemic on the DCS market across industry. Energy transition and sustainability, as well as an upturn in DCS segments across the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology markets were key growth drivers for ABB.
Digi-Key Electronics, which offers the world’s largest selection of electronic components in stock for immediate shipment, announced that it significantly expanded its portfolio in 2021 by adding more than 500 new suppliers across their core business, Digi-Key Marketplace and Fulfilled by Digi-Key program. They also added more than 125,000 new SKUs to their core business unit in 2021.
On December 10th, 2021, the BSI (the German Federal Office for Information Security) published a cyber security alert on the so-called “Log4Shell” vulnerability in the software library Log4j. Log4j is used in many Java applications.
Think about the last time you enjoyed a bubbly fountain drink—perhaps a cold root beer or cola. Now imagine that same technology being put to use in the production of a lifesaving vaccine. In 2015, when Parker’s Bioscience and Water Filtration Division shifted operations to support the life sciences market, the team could hardly have imagined what a critical move it would turn out to be.
Omron Automation Americas proudly announces the opening of its newest proof-of-concept centre (PoCC) in Dallas/Fort Worth that provides customers with a low-risk approach to validating solutions ahead of major manufacturing investments. The Omron PoCC at DFW is the newest in a group of regionally located innovation centers, allowing Omron engineers to collaborate with local integrators and manufacturers to develop innovative yet practical solutions for complex problems.
Dr. Sick would be 112 years old now, and still ahead of his time – with his aspiration to do good for the world and all people by means of technical progress. We celebrate our 75-year jubilee this year. Our impressive history still drives our will to shape the future.
Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures™ 2021 were announced recently, and Electromate was recertified as a national winner in the Emerging Market category. This national program, sponsored by Waterstone Human Capital, recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations for fostering high performance corporate cultures that help sustain a competitive advantage.
Safety, Security and Connectivity provided the theme of this year’s German Technology Day (GTD) event, organized by seven Canadian companies with German roots including Bosch-Rexroth, EPLAN, Festo, Murrelektronik, PILZ, Rittal and WAGO.
Festo announced the promotion of Jean-Francois Paquette to Canada Sales Director, North American Sales. In his new position, Montreal-based Paquette will focus on leading the sales objectives and planning strategy for the Canadian sales organization, setting and meeting revenue and profitability targets for Canada as part of the North American region goals.
Spartan Controls is pleased to announce a new strategic distribution agreement with Mechanical Advantage Corporation—a master distributor of Sambo gear actuators in North America. This partnership will allow us to better serve the marketplace with highly engineered Sambo gears and provide greater access to stock in the Western Canadian region.