CLICK PLCs and Pneumatics Team Up for Success at Ridgeline Machine
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CLICK PLCs and Pneumatics Team Up for Success at Ridgeline Machine

Ridgeline Machine made extensive use of pneumatics when building a low-cost, small-footprint, portable traymaker to replace a manual process for one of their customers. Ridgeline Machine Design, LLC (RMD), founded in 2012, is primarily a packaging machinery producer, and the company’s owners have over 40 years experience designing and building custom machinery. RMD builds packaging…
EtherNet/IP | Automation Notes
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EtherNet/IP | Automation Notes

As technology advances, so does the speed at which it communicates. And with the advances made in industrial controls, the need for high-speed data transmission became a priority. As a result, Ethernet communication became more and more prevalent in industrial networks and prompted many industrial equipment manufacturers to implement their own Ethernet communication protocols. These…
Top 10 Industrial Automation Trends
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Top 10 Industrial Automation Trends

Here’s our annual list of Top Ten Trends, with six new items for 2016 in areas ranging from data visualization to 3D printing. Four holdovers remain from 2015, with each gathering steam and media coverage as detailed below.
Merry Christmas - 2015
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Merry Christmas - 2015

Each year we send you Christmas wishes along with our thanks for being a valuable customer. This year we would once again like to wish you a Merry Christmas and say that we are thankful for customers like you.   [videoembed type=”youtube” align=”aligncenter” width=”640″ height=”360″ url=”http://youtu.be/GzwIjJD9eTI”  id=”GzwIjJD9eTI”]   This year I would personally like to…
SCADA Systems | Automation Notes
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SCADA Systems | Automation Notes

Many control systems these days need a way to interact with the process or machine operator. Legacy systems might present a whole panel full of pushbuttons, lights and switches; the development of electronic HMI (Human Machine Interface) devices made operator control and monitoring operations much more flexible, presenting text, graphics and even video to help…
Share a Star Wars Holiday Card from ADC
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Share a Star Wars Holiday Card from ADC

The most magical time of the year is finally here… AND it’s never a bad time to celebrate with Star Wars. So we at AutomationDirect thought what better way to wish someone season’s greetings than with a Star Wars themed holiday card that has a touch of industrial automation worked in. We hope you enjoy…
AC Motor On/Off Controls | Automation Notes
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AC Motor On/Off Controls | Automation Notes

Most control systems have to make things move, and that usually involves motors. Lifting, pumping, robotics, conveyors, fans – pretty much everything uses a motor of some kind. General purpose one- or three-phase AC motors are great for simple on/off systems; Inverter-duty motors are specifically designed for operation with variable frequency drives or VFDs. General…
Electrical Noise and EMI in the Workplace
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Electrical Noise and EMI in the Workplace

Drive or motor failures, lights flickering, analog signal variations and poor encoder count repeatability are all symptoms of electrical noise issues. Automated machinery is often the victim of electrical noise, and frequently also the source. Whether it’s electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference (RFI), there are many options available to reduce its effects. Both…
Video News | The Do-more Way
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Video News | The Do-more Way

The Do-more™ is a super powerful PLC with a modern programming engine that utilizes today’s best programming practices… and that sets it apart from your typical PLC. Of course, that also means that getting your mind wrapped around these programming methods is the key to creating a successful Do-more project quickly and efficiently. We call it learning…