Processing, June 2020

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Christine Banaszek Sales Manager ROSS Mixers Frederic Baudart CMRP Senior Product Application Specialist Fluke Accelix Robert J Bockserman President Conatech Peter S Cartwright President Cartwright Consulting Co Barry Charnay President CEO Whisper Ingredients Inc Lyle W Clem Director of Engineering Electrol Specialties Company Bill Bremer Principal Food Safety Kestrel Tellevate Robert Rogers Senior Advisor for Food Safety Regulations METTLER TOLEDO Mikal Hayes Applications Engineer Sealing Equipment Co Inc SEPCO Stanley Herzog President Princeton Process Technology Consultants Mike Klimes Applications Engineer Tsurumi America Inc B George Kniazewyz President Renovare Eric Langer President BioPlan Associates Ed Marshall President Maintenance Management Technologies 6 Processing JUNE 2020 John Stans eld Plant Manager Accelerated Curing Inc CONTENT Editor in Chief Jesse Osborne josborne@ endeavorb2b com Contributing Editor Molly Rogers mrogers@ endeavorbusinessmedia com Assistant Editor Daniel Gaddy dgaddy@ ndeavorbusinessmedia com Art Director Ryan Carlson rcarlson@ endeavorbusinessmedia com Production Manager Amanda Porter aporter@ endeavorbusinessmedia com ADVERTISING District Manager Jay Haas 281 980 5831 jhaas@ endeavorbusinessmedia com Account Manager Lisa Williman 518 322 6691 lwilliman@ endeavorbusinessmedia com MARKETING Digital Product Director Nick Phillips nphillips@ endeavorb2b com Marketing Manager Sarah De Vos 918 831 9574 sdevos@ endeavorb2b com Digital Operations Manager Mary Beth Romano mbromano@ endeavorbusinessmedia com Audience Development Manager Anna Hicks ahicks@ endeavorbusinessmedia com Endeavor business media CORPORATE CEO Chris Ferrell CRO CMO June Grif n CFO William Nurthen COO Patrick Rains Chief Administrative and Legal Of cer Tracy Kane EVP Mike Christian Processing ISSN 2641 6581 is published monthly by Endeavor Business Media Editorial and Executive Of ces 3918 Montclair Road Suite 210 Birmingham AL 35213 Periodicals postage paid at Birmingham AL 35243 and additional mailing of ces POSTMASTER Send address changes to Endeavor PO Box 3257 Northbrook IL 60065 3257 SUBSCRIPTIONS Non quali ed domestic subscriptions one year 57 two year 99 single issue 10 Canadian and foreign surface subscriptions one year 93 two year 162 Air mail subscription one year 203 two year 355 Endeavor Business Media 2019 No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher Views expressed by the bylined contributors should not be construed as re ecting the opinion of this publication Publication of product service information should not be deemed as a recommendation by the publisher Subscribe Renew Change of Address Local 847 559 7598 Toll free 877 382 9187 Email processing@ omeda com FROM THE EDITOR reating an issue of Processing is akin in many ways to fitting together a jigsaw puzzle e starting point for each issue much like the puzzles four corners and edges is always the issue focus listed on our editorial calendar for a particular month In this case with the topic of Process Control Automation scheduled as the issue focus for June Processing turned to a pair of leading companies in that segment of the industry to share their expertise on the topic in relation to the process industries Subject matter experts from AutomationDirect and Yokogawa Electric Corporation were gracious enough to contribute the articles that make up our cover series this month Kevin Kakascik of AutomationDirect takes a closer look at machine automation speci cally how todays variable frequency drives feature multiple control modes that can be adjusted based on processing and equipment needs He writes Modern variable frequency drives VFDs share basic similarities with their counterparts from past years They still need to be configured for the application with settings applied for voltage current and other parameters so operation is suitable for the motor and the load What has changed is the increased variety of operating modes and options now available In fact there are so many choices it may not be clear what the guidance is for di erent applications Meanwhile Dr Tetsuya Otani of Yokogawa Electric Corporation focuses on process automation and outlines how advanced technologies are improving refining and other processes He writes Arti cial intelligence AI machine learning ML data science and other advanced technologies have made remarkable progress in recent years saving time and providing new insights in a variety of applications These technologies are particularly effective when used to automatically discover problems by examining the vast amounts of data collected and stored in a typical process plant From there if were still following the puzzle analogy the big picture of the issue really comes into focus with feature articles on the other topics listed on our editorial calendar for June Mixing Blending PLC SCADA and Chemical Processing Christine Banaszek of Charles Ross Son Company authored an article titled Mixing ickeners 101 She writes When making any geltype product proper mixing of rheology modi ers or thickening agents is a crucial step in the production process In the rst of two articles related to PLC SCADA Emersons Vibhoosh Gupta explains how process productivity gains begin at the edge He writes Industrial operators of all types are investing in ways to deliver improved value through automation whether they are upgrading legacy PLC and SCADA systems or building new ones They can save money by implementing hardware and software to make equipment perform better improve operator productivity and increase uptime Trav is Cox of Induc t iv e Automation follows that up by taking an in depth look at digital transformation projects from three process industries each involving the same SCADA platform He writes A exible scalable SCADA platform enables connectivity to multiple sources of data edge computing MQTT the cloud mobility and more On the topic of Chemical Processing the first of two articles comes from Jeff Jennings of Equilibar Jennings outlines how to control chemical vacuum processes with direct sealing diaphragm valves The second article comes courtesy of Rockwell Automations Chris King who informs readers how an information enabled distributed control system empowers chemical operators through useful insights The final pieces of the puzzle for the issue come in the form of products from a dedicated page on sensors products to a two page spread featuring eight of the newest products in the marketplace across all product categories I hope you find the content both interesting and informative And I hope you enjoy this issue as much as the Processing team enjoyed putting it together As always thank you for reading Breakthrough Products Awards nominations open As a reminder we are now accepting nominations for Processings 2020 Breakthrough Products Awards Nominations can be made directly via processingmagazine com by clicking the Breakthrough Products Awards tab at the top of the site and using the nomination form Nominations are open through September 30 2020 e 10 winners will be featured in the December 2020 issue of Processing ank you to all the companies that have submitted or plan to submit their products this year Sincerely C Editor in chief josborne@ endeavorb2b com @ ProcessingMag Publisher Jim Semple 908 963 3008 jsemple@ endeavorbusinessmedia com Editorial Director Angela Godwin 603 891 9221 agodwin@ endeavorb2b com