The International Society of Automation (ISA) announces the introduction of a new training program that makes available several of ISA’s most popular and comprehensive technical training courses to a majority of cities in the US where expert-led ISA instruction has not previously been offered.

“At ISA, we’re very excited about this new training concept as it brings extensive, detailed and hands-on ISA instruction—the very same classroom-quality training that’s provided at our North Carolina headquarters and regional training centers—to new parts of the country,” says Dalton Wilson, ISA’s Manager of Education Services. “We believe strongly in the value of ISA training courses, for both individuals and employers, in raising standards of efficiency, reliability, safety and security. We want to make them as accessible as possible.”

The program, ISA TechTour, is designed to make it easier, more convenient and more cost-effective for automation and control technicians and engineers living in these cities and surrounding areas to obtain the in-depth technical training they need to improve their career skills.

Through participation in courses offered through ISA TechTour, students will experience highly intensive training taught by ISA’s preeminent subject matter experts, and hands-on instruction using ISA’s specialized equipment laboratories.

ISA TechTour 2013 will be offering four select ISA courses in 10 communities throughout the southwestern and western US:

• Beaumont, Texas - 25-29 March 2013
• Pasadena, Texas -29 April - 3 May 2013
• Freeport, Texas - 20-24 May 2013
• Corpus Christi, Texas - 24-28 June 2013
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - 29 July - 2 August 2013
• Amarillo, Texas - 26-30 August 2013
• Denver, Colorado - 23-27 September 2013
• Farmington, New Mexico - 28 October - 1 November 2013
• Las Vegas, Nevada - 18-22 November 2013
• Bakersfield, California - 16-20 December 2013

Cloudruge, Ltd has released the alpha version of its free Online Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS), known as cloudruge on the 13th of February, 2013. The use of the software is by invitation only but users can visit cloudruge.com and request to be added to the invite list. Cloudruge is a cloud-based (think dropbox) CMMS, so the application runs on cloudruge servers and users need only a browser to access it. This results in important cost savings as there is no need to employ specialized IT staff. Up-time on remote servers is also generally much higher than if the servers are kept in-house (availability is usually in the order of 99.8% excluding scheduled server maintenance).

The main features of the alpha version are:

• Developed with the most secure, efficient and advanced web application framework.

• Asset organization tree.

• Manual Work Request/ Work Order assigned to asset.

• Multi-user.

• Upload of documents assigned to assets.

• Upload of documents assigned to work orders.

• Use it anywhere with its native mobile version. cloudruge detects the client type and adjusts its display on the fly to suit smaller mobile screens.

• User avatar implemented through the gravatar service.

Product Website for Free Download

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has selected 40 research projects for funding, after inviting academic and research institutes around the world to submit proposals for grants that will shape the future of power and automation.

The ABB Research Grant program is intended to support promising graduate students and senior researchers who are researching projects with industrial applications in the power and automation area. The 40 projects were chosen from more than 500 proposals submitted by more than 250 universities in 46 countries.

“We were delighted with the level of interest and very impressed by the quality of proposals submitted. Our aim is to establish a truly collaborative innovation environment with leading research institutes around the world,” said ABB Chief Technology Officer, Prith Banerjee. “We already have about 100 existing research collaborations with universities around the world, and we expect to fund 40-50 new ones each year.”

Among the selection criteria was how well projects matched the 33 research topics specified by ABB as well as their potential for industrialization. “We were looking in particular for projects that support our strategy, which is to develop power and automation technologies that save energy and improve people’s lives,” Banerjee added. Grants typically range from $50,000 to $80,000 a year, and funding is initially for one year, but ABB expects to support the projects over a longer period of time.  The successful project leaders were notified in January 2013 and funding will start as soon as the contractual formalities have been concluded.

For a list of the universities click here.

The Siemens Industry Automation Division has added a host of new functions to Version 8.0 of its Cemat process control system for the cement, mining and related industries. Certain functional details of previous versions, such as the maintenance and service management system, have also been further developed for Cemat V8.0. Innovational highlights are the additional operating modes for plants, device groups and individual units, as well as the monitoring of process values, such as accumulated pressure and flow rates. The user can also now put together curve groups very easily.

Compared to previous versions, one of the innovations of Cemat V8.0 is, for example, that the "Quick Trend" display can be configured directly from the process screen. This makes it much easier to activate curve groups for display and evaluation purposes. The user adds the desired analog value into the graphic display of a plot with a simple mouse click. Previously, the values had to be laboriously determined in the measured value archives.

Cemat V8.0 also offers the operator more operating mode options. In addition to complete groups, he or she can now disconnect individual loads within a group – for example as part of an energy management concept. The variants "No interlocks", "Specific interlocks only" and "Safety interlocks only" can now be easily configured for manual operation. Previously, these special interlocks had to be painstakingly programmed. Without additional programming time, the plant operator now receives the relevant infromation, such as which interlocks are currently active, from the configuration alone. The new additional operating mode "Out of Service" is used for unavailable devices and units which are, for example, undergoing maintenance.

More information is available on the Internet at: www.siemens.com/cemat