Engineers designing machinery safety systems can now more easily collaborate across multiple languages using the Safety Automation Builder software tool from Rockwell Automation.  The software – designed to help engineers save time when designing safety systems – has been downloaded more than 15,000 times since its launch in February 2013. It also was named one of the top 10 most innovative products at last year's SPS Drives show in Germany.

"Many manufacturers are using the Safety Automation Builder tool to simplify selection of safety devices and to speed engineering time,” said David Reade, business development consultant, safety and sensing, Rockwell Automation. “Now they can achieve the same time savings when working across regions and languages.”

“We’re already seeing this in action,” Reade said. “One manufacturer in Italy used the Safety Automation Builder tool when collaborating with a system integrator in Hungary and a machine builder in Germany. The tool automatically translated the original design file into the other languages without changing any of the functional data, cutting engineering time and paperwork.”

The Safety Automation Builder software tool automates the safety-selection process. Users import an image of the machinery they need to safeguard and answer questions using a drop-down menu and help screens to identify and select the necessary safeguards. The software then compiles all product selections, generates a bill of materials, and compiles necessary data to populate IFA’s SISTEMA (Safety Integrity Software Tool for Evaluation of Machine Applications). SISTEMA helps evaluate the system in accordance with ISO 13849-1:2008.

The software, which is available as a free download from the Rockwell Automation website, requires that users download and run SISTEMA.

SISTEMA is available in a limited number of languages, so the Safety Automation Builder tool’s expanded language functionality allows engineers to more easily generate SISTEMA reports outside of their local language. For example, an engineer who doesn’t speak any of the languages offered by SISTEMA can create a bill of materials in his or her local language using the Safety Automation Builder tool. He or she can then import the data into SISTEMA, and generate a final report without needing to translate the information.

“This is especially helpful for inter-country projects where machinery is developed and then exported,” Reade said. “In addition, multinational companies can more easily accept design files from a variety of machine builders in one common format and export the files to other design offices around the world.”

The new languages include Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Swedish.

The Siemens Industry Automation Division is expanding its new Simatic S7-1500 generation of controllers with the most powerful failsafe CPU so far - the Simatic S7-1518F. The new failsafe CPU is suitable for high-end standard and safety-related applications in machine and plant automation. The Simatic S7-1516F CPU also supplements the range of failsafe CPUs. In the Step 7 Safety Advanced V13 engineering tool, users create their programs by using the same engineering and operating concept for both standard and safety-related tasks. Data consistency functions automatically synchronize standard and safety-related program sections.

Simatic S7-1518F for high-end applications features a 10 MB (megabyte) user memory and has four communication interfaces: a Profinet interface with a 2-port switch for communication with the field level, two Profinet interfaces and one Profibus interface. The high performance and large memory allow connection of up to 128 drive axes and their isochronous operation in the range of 250 microseconds. The CPU 1518F has a bit performance of 1 nanosecond.

The new S7-151xF failsafe controllers are certified to EN 61508 (2010) for functional safety and are suitable for use in safety-relevant applications up to SIL 3 according to IEC 62061 and PL e according to ISO 13849. For IT security an additional password protection has been set up for F-configuration and F-program.

Migration tools are available for the conversion of existing failsafe automation based on Simatic S7300F/400F to the latest controller technology with Simatic S7-151xF: from the Distributed Safety V5.4 engineering tool, for example, to the TIA Portal with Step 7 Safety Advanced V13.

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exida, the global leader in functional safety certification for the process industries, has certified KOSO America, Inc.’s REXA Xpac for functional safety, to help ensure that it meets the functional safety requirements for Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 capability per IEC 61508: 2010.

“KOSO’s capabilities were confirmed through an extensive certification process,” said Chris O’Brien, exida Evaluating Assessor. “They have a very strong control on their design, as well as having exceptional metrics.” “exida has the experience and technical expertise that we look for in a certification body,” says Nick Lalos, KOSO Marketing Supervisor. “They have a rigorous program and completing this certification will give our customers additional confidence in our products.”

About exida: exida is a certification and research firm specializing in safety critical/high availability automation systems, control system cybersecurity, and alarm management. exida has performed more process control safety certifications than any other company worldwide. exida’s main offices are located in Sellersville, PA, USA and Munich, Germany and has worldwide operations with service centers in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, and New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

About KOSO America, Inc.: As the manufacturer of REXA Electraulic™ Actuation, Koso America is an industry leader in actuator design and electro-hydraulic technology. REXA high performance actuators and damper drives are built to withstand the most demanding applications in the power, oil & gas, metals processing, precious metal mining and water and wastewater industries.

The official rollout of the US Cybersecurity Framework, recognized this past Wednesday in an announcement delivered by President Barack Obama, represents the completion of a successful partnership effort among The White House, the Automation Federation and its founding organization, the International Society of Automation (ISA). Now, the second phase of the partnership—working together to implement the framework—begins.

The US Cybersecurity Framework, the result of a year-long initiative to develop a voluntary how-to guide for American industry and operators of critical infrastructure to strengthen their cyber defenses. is a key deliverable from the Executive Order on "Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity" that President Obama announced in his 2013 State of the Union address.

During the past year, representatives of the Automation Federation and ISA have been assisting the US government—at the White House's request—to help develop and refine a draft of the US Cybersecurity Framework. Both organizations were sought out as essential government advisors given their expertise in developing and advocating for industrial automation and control system (IACS) security standards. The ANSI/ISA99, Industrial Automation and Control Systems Security standards (known internationally as ISA99/IEC 62443), are recognized globally for their comprehensive, all-inclusive approach to IACS security.

ISA's IACS security standards are among the framework's recommendations because they're designed to prevent and mitigate potentially devastating cyber damage to industrial plant systems and networks—commonly used in transportation grids, power plants, water treatment facilities, and other vital industrial settings. Without these defenses in place, industrial cyberattack can result in plant shutdown, operational and equipment impairment, severe economic and environmental damage, and public endangerment.