Wayne Labs has more than 30 years of editorial experience in industrial automation. He served as senior technical editor for I&CS/Control Solutions magazine for 18 years where he covered software, control system hardware and sensors/transmitters. Labs ran his own consulting business and contributed feature articles to Electronic Design, Control, Control Design, Industrial Networking and Food Engineering magazines. Before joining Food Engineering, he served as a senior technical editor for Omega Engineering Inc. Labs also worked in wireless systems and served as a field engineer for GE’s Mobile Communications Division and as a systems engineer for Bucks County Emergency Services. In addition to writing technical feature articles, Wayne covers FE’s Engineering R&D section.
The Coalition for Responsible Gene Editing in Agriculture has established a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee to develop a framework for the responsible use of gene editing in agriculture.
Land O’Lakes has selected Beth Ford as president and CEO of one of America’s largest food and agricultural cooperatives. Ford will officially take over on August 1, to replace the retiring Chris Policinski.
Total productive maintenance takes PM to the next level, while integrating CMMS, EAM and ERP systems increases the level of performance of maintenance activities
In Part one of this article, published in the July 2018 issue of Food Engineering, we looked at the costs of reactive maintenance strategies, preventive maintenance (PM), risk-based PM strategies—and whether any form of PM could provide the depth-of-maintenance knowledge as that of a predictive maintenance (PdM) system. In the second part of this article, we’ll look at TPM, integrating CMMS and EAM systems with ERP systems, training and manpower issues and IIoT integration.
Enel X has signed an agreement with Ontario-based food packaging company Amhil North America for the installation and operation of a 2.34 MW/4.7 MWh lithium-ion, behind-the-meter energy storage system.
You probably don't have to think back too far to realize how tedious it was updating your automation software for PLCs, PACs, smart sensors or industrial network devices.
Indian dairy producer Creamy Foods Limited, located in the state of Uttar-Pradesh, has purchased GEA’s first Model BUE butter-making machine. The Model BUE 6000 will be brought into operation in February 2019 along with other allied equipment.
Today’s computerized maintenance management systems and enterprise asset management systems take the drudgery out of keeping track of service records, replacement parts and breakdowns.
Most machine builders supply PM schedules for the equipment they build. But managing a large number of machines—all with their own PM cycles—is no picnic.