See Archive Page for earlier news.

31/1/04

Relay board sets new power record - SPLat Controls is a manufacturer of embedded programmable controllers who supply OEM users world-wide with off the shelf and custom control solutions. They have released a new high power relay I/O board. The HIO16 is an expansion board for the SPLat range of controllers. It features 8 heavy duty relays, each capable of switching up to 20A at 240VAC and with an 80A motor inrush current rating. In total the board can control up to 38kVA worth of loads, which the company believes is the largest load every controlled directly by a programmable controller product.

Zero leakage will save plant or process resources - The cost to power pneumatic instruments in chemical, manufacturing, hydrocarbon, and process industries is continuing to increase, and along with it the need to minimise internal relief valve leakage wherever possible. To address this problem, Emerson Process Management has introduced its Fisher 67CFSR stainless steel instrument airset. Intensive laboratory leak testing shows the 67CFSR has zero leakage from the internal relief valve. This benefit alone can save plant resources otherwise used to provide the air, natural gas or inert gas required to power pneumatic or digital instruments. The new pressure regulator, one of a line of Fisher instrumentation airsets, boasts a higher setpoint capability (0 to 150 psig) and can be used to supply new high-tech instruments like Fisher's FIELDVUE digital valve controller, as well as rugged high-pressure piston actuators.
Products will improve electricity supply and help boost productivity - ABB, leading power and automation technology group, has won orders worth more than US$ 41 million (ca &euro33 million) to supply switchgear and transformer products to two major Chinese petrochemical companies. They said the equipment would ensure reliable power supply and help boost production at petrochemical plants run by CNOOC-Shell Petrochemical Company Ltd., and Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company Ltd.
Simple liquid flowmeter - Titan, specialists in cost effective measurement of low liquid flows, offer rugged sensors in corrosion resistant engineering plastics or stainless for up to 1/2" line size, and 30 Litres per minute flow. Using 8 or 10 mm hose barb connections, and/or BSPF threads, Titan 800-1000 Series Pelton wheel mini-turbine units provide a fail safe fully adjustable solid state flow switch output, or a pulsed output proportional to flow.

New combination I/O module saves time, money, and panel space - The innovative "Double Density" design of the new SixTRAK Combination I/O Module (model ST-MIX-16880-D) provides sixteen discrete inputs, eight discrete outputs, and eight analog inputs in a single, compact unit. The ST-MIX-16880-D joins the line of 25+ SixTRAK I/O modules that provide local I/O expansion for SIXNET controllers and RTUs.

Sniffing out leaks - The latest Sensistor portable gas leak detection system (available in Britain from Mans International). This accurate system is the ideal cost-effective solution for water authorities, telephone contractors and those responding to gas leak emergencies.
Company spurs growth by embedding 25-year embedded sales veteran! - Quadros Systems, leading supplier of configurable and scaleable real-time operating systems (RTOS), announced today the hiring of Ted Gribb as the Director of Sales. In this newly created position, Gribb will be responsible for North American Sales and Major Accounts.
Award winnr announces awards - National Instruments has announced the winners of the Best Annual Project Award at the NI Instrumentation and Control Laboratory at The Institute of Technology, Sligo. The NI Achievement Award for Best Project in National Diploma in Industrial Automation for Full-Time Students was presented to Christoph Koch and Andrew Taylor. The project focused on measurement, control and calibration of airflow using a hot-wire anemometer. The NI Achievement Award for Part-Time Students was given to Padraig Marren for his work on PID PWM temperature control of an airflow heating system. Both projects involved NI LabVIEW software and NI FieldPoint Distributed I/O hardware products.

Compact managed Ethernet switch delivers sturdy performance in punishing environments - Contemporary Controls announces a managed version of the EISX switches in the CTRLink family, for high reliability situations and extreme temperatures. The Ethernet EISX(M) Series offers eight 10/100BASE-T twisted-pair ports and supports the SNMP protocol. Besides the usual features found in standard Plug and Play (PnP) switches, like auto-negotiation, half/full-duplex operation and flow control, the EISX(M) Series adds features such as VLAN, trunking, Quality of Service (QoS) and a programmable fault relay that can be connected to a supervisory system.
Accreditation attained - Eurotherm Ltd. has gained UKAS accreditation for On Site Calibration for electrical measurement, pressure and Temperature. Also our Calibration Laboratory at Worthing has been accredited for electrical measurement.
Product-of-the-Year - Summit Microelectronics has announced that its SMM665 six-channel ultra-precise voltage controller has won the Analog Zone 2003 award for "the Best Engineered Power Controller."
The annual award program recognizes outstanding products introduced in a given year. Summit is the only privately held company among the eight recognized in the "Power Management Technology" category. The others include Linear Technology, Intersil, Analog Devices, ST Microelectronics and Siliconix.
DDL versus FDT/DTM - Clarification issued - A recent release from Emerson Process Management advises that they are collaborating with members of leading global standards groups to enhance Device Description Language (DDL) technology. After carefully considering user needs, Emerson believes enhanced DDL offers a better solution than a proposed alternative called Field Device Tool / Device Type Manager (FDT/DTM).

Steel application in Auckland - New Zealand Steel has signed an agreement to deploy a Connoisseur system for advanced control and optimization for the metallization operations at the Auckland facility. Invensys was selected for the job based on the results of a performance improvement study, for which Invensys analyzed business and process data to identify and quantify benefits that could be attained by enhancing the performance of New Zealand Steel's existing automation assets. The project includes trial installation of a multivariable model predictive controller (MPC) for multi-hearth furnace control. Pending the success of the trial installation, the project calls for the subsequent installation and commissioning for MPC furnace controllers for the remaining three process lines.
Reduce cash drain from climate change levy - Some states (eg Britain) have introduced a tax (= levy!) to encourage companies to assist in the struggle against climate change. The Pulsar Telelog from Jekyll Electronic Technology is the latest stand alone data logger with integral industrial modem for efficient automated utility metering and plant control monitoring. With this unit, companies are able to closely monitor their energy usage, to reduce costs following the recent introduction of climate change levies. Businesses have seen a rise in energy tax following introduction of this charge. Most organisations qualify for only limited discounts because of the difficulties in defining precisely where energy is being used and the complex reporting involved. Conventional meter installations normally monitor usage as a whole, so the only realistic way of gaining discounts is to split the site into specific areas of function, then sub-meter each area accordingly.
Collumns,connectors, caps, valves and pumps on display - Fluid handling specialists Omnifit and Bio-Chem Valve will be showcasing their extensive range of high purity chromatography columns, connectors, bottle caps, solenoid valves and pumps at this year's PittCon meeting in Chicago (7-12 March 2004), Illinois.
Omnifit's sales and marketing organisation was recently merged with that of Bio-Chem Valve, its sister company within the Halma Group. The combined product lines now provide a complete range of inert components for OEM and end-user fluid handling applications.

Flagship controller upgraded - Centum CS3000 R3.04, the latest version of Yokogawa's flagship Centum CS3000 distributed control system, offers greatly enhanced functionality with the inclusion of a new compact controller that enables the system to accommodate a wider range of applications, including small-scale plants. he new FFCS compact controller for small- and medium-scale plants is only 20% of the size of a conventional controller, but has the same reliable architecture, control functions and fully redundant configuration as the controllers used for larger plants.
Low-cost logic analyser operates to 100 MHz - The TA320S from TTi (Thurlby Thandar Instruments) is a self-contained logic analyser that offers 32 data channels and 100 MHz acquisition for under €860 (600pds Stg). The TA320S is highly compact, but has a built-in LCD screen capable of displaying high-resolution graphics or 40-column text. Control and data entry is by a combination of ‘soft’ keys and an alphanumeric keypad. An RS-232 interface is incorporated which allows data to be sent to (or loaded from) a personal computer.

High honour for level instrument pioneer - Judy G. Stevenson is owner and president of Magnetrol International. Magnetrol, a pioneer in the level control instrument industry, traces its origin to 1932. The company grew from a three-man boiler room systems operation in Chicago to a multi-million dollar operation with more than 450 employees worldwide. Ms. Stevenson joined Magnetrol as a part-time bookkeeper in 1964. In her first year of employment, she rose to accounting supervisor and to accounting manager a year later. In 1967, she was elected treasurer and administrative vice president. Ms. Stevenson became president of the company in 1975. And in 1978, 14 years after coming to Magnetrol in a part-time clerical position, Ms. Stevenson bought the company. She has been awarded honourary membership of ISA, the instrumentation, systems, and automation society, "In recognition of outstanding leadership and distinguished contributions to the instrumentation, systems and automation community and for continued dedication to the ideals of ISA."
Documenting process calibrator offers extensive device-specific calibration support for HART instrumentation - Fluke, has introduced a comprehensive upgrade for its Documenting Process Calibrator (DPC) to offer extensive HART device-specific calibration support for temperature and pressure instruments from the world's leading manufacturers. The Model 744 DPC offers a unique integration of multifunction calibration and HART communication capability in a rugged, handheld package. The new V2.3 software features device-specific calibration support for the latest revisions of currently supported transmitters, as well as for new temperature and pressure transmitters and instruments including those from Honeywell, Wika, Endress+Hauser and other leading vendors. With these additions the Fluke 744 offers the most extensive list of device-specific HART support available.
Electronics and IT data - EzDatasheets.com is a site dedicated for providing essential data to all people involved in manufacturing, designing, developing, maintaining or repairing of electronic/electric/IT products or devices.
Product recognized as one of the most innovative applications of 2003 - Wonderware, an operating unit of Invensys Systems today announced that Control Engineering magazine has selected the Wonderware Industrial Application Server product for its 2003 "Editors' Choice Award." The Editors' Choice Award winners are selected from among new products featured in Control Engineering, Control Engineering Online or one of Control Engineering's topical e- newsletters. Jim Pinto's latest newsletter has some nice things to say about the independence of this publication. He says "The cover of the Dec. 2003 issue surprised me: a forlorn engineer, with his personal things in a brown box, is heading for an EXIT. On the cover! No magazine would dare to publish a cover-story like that! And the content too matched, in sincerity and boldness."
Regulators in super duplex stainless steel for gas conditioning skid - Emerson Process Management has supplied Fisher pressure reducing regulators manufactured from super duplex stainless steel for a gas conditioning skid being developed by Oil & Gas Systems Limited (OGSL) for a UK based gas transmission company. The order emphasises the ability of Emerson to design and supply Fisher regulators in special materials. They colaborated with OGSL, based in Ely, UK, to bring the engineering experience of both companies together to provide complete gas conditioning solutions to end user customers. Design conditions for the gas conditioning skid were stipulated as 93 Bar inlet pressure at 100°C, and the order required the regulators to be manufactured from stainless steel. In order to meet the design criteria, Emerson and OGSL agreed to offer ANSI 600 lb 310A regulators in super duplex stainless steel. The regulators were designed in the Emerson European regulator supply centre, located in Bologna, Italy.
Another VME first! - Pentek, pioneer of VME board-level technology, has launched a new single-channel, 6U VMEbus board featuring one of the fastest 12-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converters in the market with sampling rates to 210 MHz. Targeting extremely high-performance DSP tasks, the Pentek Model 6821 couples this high-speed A/D to two new Virtex-II Pro FPGAs by Xilinx. The board excels in acquisition, demodulation, convolution, filtering, processing, and analyzing operations critical for many real-time, high frequency applications.

Moves and Annunciations! - The latest issue of Read-out (Nov/Dec'03-Jan'04) is a little late on the streets because of their move to the west of Ireland. Besides highlighting this move the new Rochester communicating annunciator is a headline feature.
An interesting item on dewpoint measurement in compressed air by Niall Howard is the "InsideFront" article.
An application is included on how steam traps are improving the manufacture of jam in Co Cork.
Hassan Kaghazchi of the Automation Research Centre in Limerick University discusses fieldbus trends as part of the build up to the opening of the first ProfiBus Competency Centre (PCC) in Ireland in February 2004.
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>New member - Moore Industries-International, world leading supplier of signal interface instruments, process control and distributed I/O networks, has been accepted by the Control and Information System Integrators Association (CSIA) as an Associate Member.
Since its founding in 1994, CSIA has grown to become the largest organisation in North America for independent control and information system integrators. It provides its members a unique forum for education and discussion of the business, marketing and technical issues faced by system integrators. CSIA member firms provide manufacturers worldwide more than $1 billion annually in industrial automation systems, incorporating $400 million of hardware and software automation products.
Next generation VME technology - Tundra Semiconductor, leader in System Interconnect, has announced successful demonstration of 2eSST technology using the Tundra Tsi148Ô VME-to-PCI/X Bus Bridge. The Tsi148 implements the 2eSST protocol - the first significant VMEbus upgrade in a decade. This new protocol opens the door for innovative products to be brought to market by systems manufacturers in the VME arena.

BP Site Gains $2.5m benefit using software system - The BP petrochemical facility at Grangemouth, Scotland, reports $2.5 million annual savings by using AMS Suite: Real-Time Optimiser from Emerson Process Management (launched in Europe as reported on on 23rd November 2003 news - seems Scotland won this time though!!!). This includes $1.5 million energy savings from utilities optimisation, and $1 million benefit driven by a 4 percent increase in plant throughput from the KG Ethylene optimisation application. A key component of the efficiency-increasing Emerson PlantWeb digital plant architecture, the AMS Optimiser has also enabled BP to achieve consistent plant operation, improve control of daily Key Performance Indicators and enhance the planning process through improved equipment selection.
High-density modular copper cabling system - The Amp Netconnect Division of Tyco Electronics has introduced the Mini RJ21 Connector System, a high-density modular copper cabling system. This new 24-pair cabling and connector solution provides up to 12 ports with a single cable. It also accommodates applications including 10/100, POE, VoIP, up to Gigabit Ethernet.

Improving efficiency of truck and train oil tanker loading operations - Micro Motion Coriolis massflow meters from Emerson Process Management have been supplied as mobile metering skid units to improve the efficiency of rail and road tank loading operations at the new Oiltanking terminal in Belgium. Independent terminal operators like Oiltanking provide tank storage at port terminals worldwide. Oiltanking do not own any of the products they handle, but provide the storage facilities for oils, chemicals and gases belonging to their clients. Flowmetering is an essential part of the delivery of products into and out of storage. Typically the measurements are for train and truck loading duties, and the products are measured by weight.
High Speed OEM Imaging CCD Camera - Jobin Yvon has announced the latest custom OEM CCD camera in its range. The 12 bit camera utilizes a 754 by 488 pixel frame transfer CCD, acquiring full images faster than 3 per second. Using a two-stage cooler the unit provides low noise, good uniformity, and superior linearity at a reasonable price. The camera has been developed to provide a fast, reliable system that will fit easily into a customer's instrument. The USB port interface eliminates costly electronics and bulk. Other size CCD chips will be available.
Unique automated key cutting system - Mul-T-Lock is a world leader in locking technology. It designs and manufactures hundreds of different styles of high security locks, cylinders, padlocks and other complementary products. They have been a customer of General Engineers, GE Fanuc's Authorised distributor in Israel, for a number of years. They called on General Engineers expertise and GE Fanuc System control by CIMPLICITY HMI software in the development of one of their latest key cutting machines. The system that they have developed is a fully automated machine handling four sets of three keys at once, and producing 15,000 units per shift all cut and packaged.
New and improved prices! - We don't usually have a good news story like this one! Measurement technology pioneer National Instruments last week announced a price reduction of up to 25 percent for 13 of its most popular data acquisition modules, a development that continues the company's 26-year history of reducing the total cost of measurement and control for engineers and scientists. The price reduction applies to all regions of the world for NI data acquisition devices ranging from 200,000 S/s to 1.25 million S/s, 12 to 16-bit resolution and 16 to 64 analogue inputs.
Future-proofed design fits motion control - Hothouse Product Development Partners has designed the enclosure for a new motion controller, which is so versatile that it can also be used for housing other current and future products still in development. This design has been named as a driving force in the recent project, which involved the creation of a modern and streamlined range of controllers for the drive systems manufacturer, Quin Systems.
All aboard for the 3.55 from St Pancras! - Transmitton, international supplier of integrated system control and asset management solutions to the rail industry, has been awarded the contract to provide its Real Time Passenger Information System (RTPIS) for the St Pancras interim station in London, England. The interim station will be in operation until the old station - the famous Victorian Barlow shed - has been completely refurbished and made into a split-level stationall trains including the famous Eurostar.
Dual-channel sensor detects speed, direction - A new dual-channel photo-interrupter from Omron provides a straightforward solution for detecting the speed and direction of rotation in mouse and tracker balls and a host of encoder applications ranging from fruit machines to industrial equipment. Omron has also released lead-free versions of its standard photo-interrupters, widely used in automotive controls, paper detection in office equipment, HVAC and other applications.

Keynote Speakers and Topics announced - ISA Automation (27-28 April 2004) in Long Beach, California, USA, is the largest Automation event in the U.S. Western Region. The following keynote addresses, open to all attendees, will kick off each day of the conference.
Tuesday, 27 April, 8:30 a.m. George J. Grigonis, Jr., Senior Consultant, Cohassett Associates Electronic Records Management, "The FDA, the EPA and You!"
Wednesday, 28 April, 8:30 a.m. Larry J. Engel, Vice President of Facility Operation, Sempra Energy Solutions "The Next Revolution-Energy Infrastructure Management"
Read-out hopes to visit this show on the first day. If you wish us to visit your stand please email Eoin at aw@read-out.net.

Low-cost stage offers high performance within a compact footprint - Aerotech's new direct-drive linear motor stage, the ALS1000, offers all of the accuracies associated with direct-drive architecture in combination with a compact and sealed design, internal cable management and impressive performance. It promises Aerotech's quality guarantee but without the cost implications of its most precise stages.
Dual-channel sensor detects speed, direction - A new dual-channel photo-interrupter from Omron provides a straightforward solution for detecting the speed and direction of rotation in mouse and tracker balls and a host of encoder applications ranging from fruit machines to industrial equipment. Omron has also released lead-free versions of its standard photo-interrupters, widely used in automotive controls, paper detection in office equipment, HVAC and other applications.

Midsummer enlightenment! - The very successful ME Conferences organised in Ireland and Britain continue this summer with a conference at a venue near the NEC in Birminghan (England) which has not one but two golf courses and they tell me that they'll be talking about Management Excellence as well! The dates for this unmissable event are 15th to 17th June 2004. Watch this space for developments. Emerson seek papers for this contact Nick Taylor for more details.
New lightweight thermometers & manometers - Eurolec Instrumentation Ltd have just introduced their new attractively styled, lightweight 'PC Series' portable thermometers/probes and differential manometers. These instruments complement the existing heavy duty, very robust, metal cased TH series thermometers and PR series manometers. The instruments are housed in a robust, splashproof, compact, one piece injection moulded plastic case, which combines strength and lightness. There are several models in both the temperature and pressure ranges.
unlock the potential of their factory whilst enhancing front office applications - Pantek in Britain has announced the introduction of 'Discovery Day' for existing and future customers who wish to explore the business benefits that a complete or partial manufacturing system could realise. Pantek's Discovery Day enables existing and potential customers alike to utilise their expertise in clarifying and extending their own manufacturing and management ideas, perceptions and understanding along with any possible future benefits.

New wirelsess Products - OMNEX Control Systems has released two new Trusted Wireless products, the RAD-DATA and RAD-DATA-BUS, through its distributor, Phoenix Contact Inc. These data radios, and their associated I/O modules, further expand the RAD-DATA series of interoperable DIN-rail mount, license-free ISM band radios for municipal and industrial SCADA.
New software keeps training on track - A new software package that helps companies organise effectively the training activities of employees has just been launched by Autoscribe. Training Manager is easy to use with numerous intuitive control features for effective human resource management in any sector. Training Manager records information such as training courses, course organisers and details of attending employees. Courses can be assigned with automatic notification to any job holder, and refresher courses scheduled automatically according to available resources. Employee performance and training status can also be monitored in full, and courses evaluated to help managers with future decision making.

Power plant uses CAD - Teryoshkovo a regional power plant with gas turbine, is the first project, for which a 3D computer-aided design system was used. This power plant is located in Solntsevo region of Moscow city and is formed from 6 blocks with total dimensions 271.5m x 30m. An extensive library of piping and equipment components for power plant design has been developed for the scheme. The standardisation of specification of details used in the projects increases the productivity of designers. For decreasing the errors on pipe tracing and duplication of pipe systems the clashing module developed by CEA Technology is used. This can detect, review and manage the component interfaces in 3D models.
Major order for Iraqi refinery - Parker Instrumentation has been selected to supply components for the refurbishment of the Basra refinery in southern Iraq. The company expects to supply valves and compression tube fittings worth over €200,000 during the first quarter of 2004.
Bouncing back - Well, the good news is in. The economy is finally looking up. Last month, the Manufacturing Index of the Institute for Supply Management rose to it's highest level since December 1983. And in the IT sector, IBM Chief Executive Sam Palmisano expects purchases to rise 2-4% in 2004. Third-party analysts predict overall technology spending will grow even more, at 4-5% this year.
So are you ready for a recovery in 2004? Are your marketing messages and tools aligned with what buyers want to know? Julian Grant of Telesian Technology" would like to help with their Impact Marketing Programme
Free technical guide filters out drives gobbledegook - Installers of AC variable speed drives are now faced with a myriad of confusing technical issues about filters and ancillary equipment. REO has therefore issued a new free technical guide called "Application Notes for Drive Engineering", which is now available. The guide provides beneficial information about avoiding and overcoming everyday, power quality problems associated with variable speed drives.
China Is buying DCS systems - market growth to exceed 15% annually - The DCS market in China is expected to grow at a very robust 15.1 percent Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the next five years. The market is $531 million in 2003 and is forecasted to be $1,074 million in 2008, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

Pressure transmitters meet latest process industry safety standards - The new DPharp EJX Series of differential pressure and pressure transmitters from Yokogawa combine new sensing techniques to ensure high accuracy and stability with built-in safety features that meet the requirements of the latest process industry safety standards. This Series employs an advanced MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) based silicon-resonant sensor that provides a standard accuracy of+/-0.04% (optional reference accuracy of +/-0.025%) and a 0.1% 10-year stability guarantee.
New solution adopted by in heavy duty truck manufacturing plants throughout US - Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: TCNO), the driving force in Manufacturing Process Management (MPM), announced today that Freightliner LLC, North America's largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer and a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, has implemented eMPower(TM) software throughout all of its manufacturing plants nationwide, enabling Freightliner to significantly reduce the time it takes for daily production planning. eM-Sequencer is a turnkey solution for sequencing and allocating orders to assembly and feeder lines. If many different product variants have to be produced, and sequencing of orders is restricted by a large number of rules, eM-Sequencer can help production planners improve schedule efficiency by reducing the manual effort involved in creating the most efficient schedules. In addition, eM-Sequencer helps production planners quickly and easily generate optimized schedules to define and maintain scheduling rules. The software is easily integrated into most existing manufacturing IT environments and can be connected to a wide variety of database management systems

Linear amplifiers ensure stability and accuracy - Aerotech's new linear servo amplifier range provides a stand-alone analogue interface or intelligent networked drive solution for any brushed or brushless 3-phase servomotor. The amplifiers operate transistors in the electrical noise is significantly lower - a vital characteristic where interference with other controls in the system could pose problems.

New analysers trigger, capture and analyse RF signals, enabling in-depth analysis of today's cutting-edge RF applications - Tektronix, a leading provider of test and measurement equipment, today announced a new series of real-time spectrum analysers that provide the first complete measurement package for engineers developing cutting-edge radio-frequency (RF) technologies, ranging from RF identification (ID) tags to sophisticated radar applications. Real-time spectrum analysis provides the unique ability to trigger, capture and analyse time-varying RF signals.
Fine spot, teachable Laser Sensor ideal for small part detection - A new compact laser sensor from Carlo Gavazzi features a fine light spot, together with a teach-in function, giving accurate and reliable detection of small detail. It offers an attractive alternative to fibre optic sensors, for reliable long-range detection.

Precise liquid dosage using a flowmeter controlled pump - Bronkhorst has solved the problem of simple, controlled liquid dosing at very low flow rates, with the new LIQUI-FLOW Pump Controller. Frequently required for precise automated mass flow control of reactants, additives or catalysts in food, chemicals and pharmaceutical applications, the LIQUI-FLOW Pump Controller provides in one simple combination a close coupled mass flowmeter and pump, which accepts analogue or digital signals defining the required mass flowrate. Using a pulsation free rotary positive displacement pump, the unit avoids the normal problem of the pulsating flow pattern produced by most low-flow pumps, avoid the need to use tanks pressurised with inert gas or similar techniques.

Where are we? - We have been asked on a number of occasions where we are in Ireland so over the next few months we will pick out a landmark within a dozen miles or so of our location. To start with we have gon "abroad" and visit the largest of the Aran Islands, Inis Mór, which is about nine miles away as the crow, or the local air company, flies! Watch this space for more information.
New modelling software for designers - In order to maintain their position as a key innovator in the aerosol science and meteorological markets, Biral has recently invested in SolidWorks Office, a 3D solid modelling and graphical design application, which creates 3D models from 2D data and drawings (including legacy designs). The cost of the investment has already been more than offset by the savings being realised during product design and development, such is the ease with which even complex opto-mechanical designs can be generated.

Annual statistics published by Signpost - The statistics for the Signpost for a full year became available today.0 These show a total of 148,758 visitors visited 236,5689 making a grand total of 983,438 hits during 2003. Just over 445 visitors spent an average of 2.28 minutes looking at 708 pages per day. the total number of bytes transferred in the period was 9.462 GB. Details of our 2003 performance.