US Laws on data-breaches. - If your manufacturing company experiences a breach, what will you do? Should you notify law enforcement right away? Notify customers? Is there anyone else to inform? How long do you have? (ARC Advisory)

The PULSE of processing! - A year without trade fairs does not mean a year without technical innovations - participants at ACHEMA Pulse can get a comprehensive picture of this for themselves starting today. Numerous exhibitors are taking the opportunity to present their new products to the global process industry.

Steven Brambley (top), CEO has been appointed deputy director at GAMBICA and Tim Collins is director of the laboratory technology sector.

Light by wireless. - A new range of affordable wireless and battery free light switches offering half the installed cost of a standard wired switch has been launched by Kozee™, a new entrant to the electric wiring accessories market.

How security by design might have stopped attack. - Oldsmar's (FL USA) cybersecurity attack was due to a lack of defense in depth in the human-machine interface (HMI).The really scary thing about this attack is not that there was an external access point, nor that it was configured poorly and allowed someone in. Those are the obvious control failures, and the easiest to fix as well. No, the real issue at play in the Florida water hack is the lack of defense in depth with the human-machine interface (HMI) itself, which presented some fundamental flaws. (Control Engineering)

Resilient data communications network at pumping station. - Westermo technology has enabled a cost-effective upgrade of the data communications network supporting new PLCs at water pumping stations in Bedford Park, (IL USA). Westermo Wolverine Line Extenders have enabled the existing cabling to be reused for a new resilient Ethernet network, helping to considerably reduce installation time and costs.

New platform for operation and monitoring. - The new modular VisuNet FLX HMI operator workstation is part of a comprehensive range of operation and monitoring systems from Pepperl+Fuchs for ATEX/IECEx Zone 2/22 and Division 2 (global certifications pending), and non-hazardous areas. This product suite provides a range of solutions that allows the automation specialist to offer total flexibility in the field.

Great place to work in Switzerland! - Sensirion has once again been named one of the top employers in Switzerland by Great Place to Work® in the Large Company category. Sensirion also received the special Crisis Management award for bold leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. These awards reflect Sensirion's unique corporate culture, which is shaped by the values of "teamwork", "top performance" and "fairness and honesty".

Red Dots for connectors. - Fischer LP360™ connectors from the Fischer Freedom™ Series, which have already won numerous industry awards, have now been awarded the prestigious Red Dot Award for Product Design in two categories: the "Mobile Phones, Tablets and Wearables" category, and the new "Smart Products" meta-category. The judges praised the connectors' unique design concept, which makes them both appealing to users and particularly easy to use.

Modules for energy storage and Ethernet. - Harting's Han-Modular® series offers numerous connectors which sustainably increase the energy efficiency of machines and systems. The latest example of this is the Han® 300 A module. It fits in with the classic development goal for energy storage systems by enabling more capacity with less weight.

Ultrasonic flow measuring system. - Many process plants have difficulty finding ideal installation points for flow measurement devices due to requirements for long length of inlet run and undisturbed flows. Endress+Hauser's Prosonic Flow P 500 measuring system addresses these and other issues with its FlowDC function, which is unique in the market.

Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack: Revealing How DarkSide Works - Throughout the last two weeks, the entire cybersecurity community has been riveted by the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. It is one of the most notable attacks on critical infrastructure of the past few years and has directly and indirectly impacted multiple industries in the U.S economy. Thankfully, operations are up and running after an approximately week-long outage and reported payment of a $5 million ransom. (Automation.com)
The Irish health service was attacked one week after the Colonial Pipeline incident and is very slowly being brought back however in this case no ransome has (or will be) paid.

Tester for 5G Mobile Network I&M. - Anritsu Corporation has announced an upgraded synchronous measurement function for the company's Network Master Pro MT1000A, the industry's smallest- in-class tester supporting mobile networks up to 100 Gbps. Fifth generation (5G) networks are expected to support increasing future numbers of applications and services, such as hi-definition video streaming, autonomous driving, IoT sensing, smart factories, etc.

Optimised usage & safety with full Containment Storage Tanks for LNG. - Emerson has enhanced its Rosemount™ TankMaster inventory management software package to help optimise tank usage and increase safety in full containment storage tanks for LNG and other liquefied gases. These tanks are large, complex structures with a typical capacity of up to 200,000 cubic metres, which places specific demands on tank gauging systems. By providing both inventory management and roll-over prediction in a single software solution, TankMaster reduces costs, increases ease-of-use and reduces the risk of a potential accident.

Guy Boxall is Senior Sales Manager at DTM Print Ltd.

SBC for embedded computing. - Review Display Systems (RDS) has announced the availability of a new Pico-ITX single board computer (SBC). The AAEON Pico-TGU4 SBC is powered by Intel's latest 11th Generation Core G processors (formerly Tiger Lake) which deliver excellent performance and flexibility for embedded computing applications.

Preparing for energy-efficient production. - High energy costs, rising cost pressure and a growing awareness of climate change have turned energy efficiency into a core business objective. For many companies, having verifiable environmentally friendly and carbon neutral credentials also gives a competitive advantage. Festo combines its Festo Energy Saving Services (FESS) with energy-saving products to help manufacturing facilities fully realise the efficiency of their compressed air system.

Strategies for IT/OT cybersecurity convergence - Cybersecurity end users from major industrial companies shared their views on the challenges and benefits of IT/OT Cybersecurity Technology Convergence. (ARC Advisory)

Innovative and green. - Emerson will host a series of Green Innovation Days to provide industrial companies with valuable insights about transforming their operations to achieve environmental sustainability and decarbonisation targets. The free of charge events, which will be held virtually in various languages including English, French, Italian, German and Turkish, will demonstrate how innovative automation solutions can help companies reduce greenhouse gas emissions, become more energy efficient and make the transition to renewable power sources.

On the way to a climate-neutral company . - Energy and resource efficiency are the focus of IDS Imaging Development Systems . As a globally active technology company, sustainability is an essential part of the corporate strategy.

US Executive Order’s Impact On ICS Industry - US President Biden recently signed an Executive Order on "Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity." This is a massive and complex policy document. This EO is going to impact the industry in a way that no other U.S. cyber legislation ever has. It will also ripple far beyond the U.S., especially the Middle East, where sovereign oil companies are looking to duplicate these requirements for their OT Software Supply Chain. Even for companies not selling to the U.S. government, the effects of this EO will be felt over the next few years. (Eric Byres-ISS Source)

High performance mass flow controller. - The SFC5500, from Sensirion, is the world’s first mass flow controller available via catalogue distribution. The high-performance mass flow controller is calibrated for multiple gasses and comes with push-in fittings, which can be changed easily by the user.

Leader in European climate change. - Vaisala is ranked 14th on the Financial Times list of 300 European climate leaders. Climate change is turning into an ever more crucial challenge for our planet, and with this study the Financial Times underlines great achievements but also encourages companies to do more. The list includes European companies that achieved the greatest reduction in their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2014 and 2019.

Control engineers' career update. - Engineers expect to get paid more in 2021 ($108,096 - €88,417.24 in 2021 compared to $102,669 - €83,992.32 in 2020), and 62% expected a 2021 salary increase, down slightly from 69% in 2020, and down from 74% among 2019 respondents, according to the 2021 Control Engineering Career and Salary Survey and Report. While survey respondents differ from year to year, the increase in salaries run counter to respondents' pessimism about increases. This is perhaps due to respondents undervaluing their worth. Also, many respondents work in industries deemed essential, which can create more competition for their talents. (Control Engineering)

Test services for mobile devices. - A collaboration between Anritsu and Verkotan to produce new test services for manufacturers of 5G mobile devices has been announced. With the rapid roll out of 5G networks, there is a growing need for performance tests for 5G devices. Verkotan is meeting this need using Anritsu's MT8000A 5G communication tester, offering Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) tests, post modification tests for mobile phones and over the air (OTA) testing.

Scanners at airport. - Rohde & Schwarz has been chosen to supply the R&S QPS201 Quick Personnel Security (QPS) scanners to Heathrow Airport (GB), reducing wait times for passengers and enhancing security checkpoints.

Water quality as a service. - For decades, anyone needing to monitor water quality would purchase equipment to measure the parameters of interest. Today, an innovative, rapidly growing company, Meteor Communications, has challenged that model with their 'Water Quality as a Service' (WQaaS) solution.

Control panel switches. - A range of 22mm control panel switches from IDEC with secure screw-less push-in terminations which greatly reduce assembly time has been intrioduced by Foremost Electronics. Commonly used in control panel and machine building applications the Push-In termination technology option is available on the industry standard YW and HW series and the CW series (flush mounting) switches.

Mobile device possibilities. - Challenges such as the current pandemic, personnel costs and the shortage of skilled workers are putting companies under increasing pressure. It is becoming more and more difficult to maintain extensive plants efficiently and in accordance with requirements. Mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones for hazardous areas by the Pepperl+Fuchs brand ECOM Instruments, open up effective possibilities to retrieve digital construction plans and checklists of necessary work steps anywhere, as well as virtually being joint by an expert.

Automation research at Munich University. - Training the engineers of tomorrow is a much discussed and complex undertaking. Future machine developers need hardware, software, and programming knowledge. At the Institute of Automation and Information Systems at TU Munich (D) hydraulic test benches are now helping teaching staff provide the required expertise.HAWE and STW are supporting this learning and research.

Fitting for drone! - Hexadrone - "La boutique du drone" - unveiled its first serial drone, the Tundra, a ruggedized, multi-functional, modular drone that is to be industrially manufactured in a factory under construction in France. The Tundra uses ultra-rugged, miniature Fischer UltiMate™ and Fischer MiniMax™ connectivity solutions, able to withstand the harsh environments the drone may need to operate in.

Develop and scale advanced machine analytics. - Emerson has announced the PACEdge™ industrial edge platform designed to help manufacturers accelerate digital transformation projects by enabling users to quickly create and scale up performance-improving applications. The PACEdge platform simplifies application development by bringing together today’s leading open-source tools into a flexible, integrated and secure platform for utilising machine data and analytics.

Radio test station. - A new efficient solution integrated with a hardware platform from HEAD acoustics GmbH for evaluating the voice and audio quality of 5G VoNR devices has been announced Anritsu Corporation. With this new development Anritsu and HEAD acoustics are now able to provide the complete solution together for Voice/Audio quality evaluation for all cellular technologies comprising of 5G SA VoNR, 5G NSA VoLTE, 4G VoLTE, 3G and 2G.

This edition shows strategies and solutions for securing OT/ICS networks.

Digitalisation in process temperature control. - Regloplas AG's new RT200 control system with integrated OPC UA server now offers maximum flexibility for digitalisation within the production process. The central concept of digitalisation is data exchange of all the process and machine data across the network and to higher-level IT systems such as MES, ERP and PPS.

FDT Group™ has announced that its managing director, Glenn Schulz, is to retire at the end of 2021.

Interchangeable Humidity and Temperature sensor. - The EE212 humidity and temperature sensor by E+E Elektronik is suitable for challenging measurement tasks in climate technology, agriculture and the pharmaceuticals industry. Thanks to the modular probe design the sensing module can be easily replaced directly on site if needed. E+E sensor coating, the wide choice of filter caps, and the robust IP65 / NEMA 4 enclosure ensure accurate and reliable measurements even under challenging working conditions.

Inspecting vials. - Combating the Covid-19 pandemic is at the top of the global agenda. A cost-effective, quickly integrated, extremely reliable solution for inspecting vaccine vials comes from Bad Königshofen (D): Isotronic GmbH, has developed the automatic tubular glass inspection system "VialChecker". IDS industrial cameras from the uEye CP camera family are used as image processing components for dimensional and surface inspection.

Celebrating 200 issues! - The first issue of PROFINEWS appeared in September 1994 and was only published quarterly in the early years. During the early 2000's as popularity in PI's technologies grew, the periodical expanded into a bimonthly format and two separate editions were published: a European edition and a North American edition.

Enhanced Greenhouse Gas monitoring. - Increasing political action on Climate Change is prompting a new requirement for process operators to improve the accuracy and reliability of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions monitoring. To meet this requirement, Stephane Canadas of the Signal Group is urging the operators of combustion equipment, such as boilers and incinerators, to employ reference method analysers in either the measurement of GHGs or for the calibration of installed continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) for carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrous oxide (N₂O).

Automation built for resiliency - Resilient automation products and practices are a necessity for most industrial applications using sensors, wiring, power distribution, controllers, networks, actuators and software integrated into an automation system. (Control Engineering)

Compact reflective photomicrosensor. - Omron Electronic Components Europe has launched a new, exceptionally compact reflective photomicrosensor (PMS) with a sensing distance of 3-4mm, plugging a gap in the market for an SMD device addressing applications such as 3D printers, mini printers, e-locks and factory automation equipment.

Metrology in medical device manufacturing. - The medical device industry in both Ireland and Britain is highly competitive. Ireland, for example, is one of the largest exporters of medical products in Europe, with annual exports of over 12.6 billion euros. As a result, medical device manufacturers are constantly looking for new ways to streamline validation, improve productivity and gain a competitive edge in the market. To help here The Sempre Group has released a white paper Metrology in Medical.

Rotary position sensors. - R2 series absolute angle sensors from Phoenix America provide accurate and environmentally robust 12-bit resolution position measurement with standard or user-specified output curves from 60° to 360° total range.

Pressure with advanced connectivity. - The new Cerabar and Deltabar pressure and differential pressure instruments from Endress+Hauser offer with a Bluetooth interface for easier operation and improved efficiency in regulatory control, safety, and other systems. A high level of safety combined with enhanced productivity follows the Endress+Hauser smart safety approach to increase plant availability.

Leveraging OT technology to minimise cyber threats. - In February 2021, an unidentified intruder gained access to the network systems of a water treatment plant in Oldsmar (FL USA), and briefly altered the chemical levels in the drinking water. Fortunately, an employee noticed the intrusion attempt and blocked it immediately. This incident sparked many discussions on the topic of cybersecurity in operational technology (OT) environments within the media and the industrial sector. (Advice to help leverage OT technology while minimizing cyber threats from Moxa)

Collaboration aids respiration. - Now it is possible to take proximal measurements, not only of respiratory gas flow rates, but also of associated ventilation pressure, in a single solution – this product is the result of a collaborative effort between Sensirion AG and Nicolay GmbH (GPE Group) and will be available to ventilator manufacturers from May 2021 as an evaluation kit. Manufacturers will be able to integrate the various standardized options into their devices with no development or equipment costs. Nicolay can configure and produce custom designs for medium to large orders.

Throwback attack. - A US government-sponsored test on whether a cyberattack could inflict real-world physical damage has had major repercussions to this day. See eight steps on how to mitigate a potential cyberattack against your industrial control systems (ICSs). (Control Engineering)

Electronic components market - Adam Fletcher, Chairman of the Electronic Components Supply Network (ecsn) welcomed the uptake in Bookings and Billings activity reported by his British & Irish members in March '21, as customers realign their order book in-line with extending manufacturer lead-times.

EMC Filter for regeneration. - Schaffner has introduced the new FN3840 for use in Active Infeed Converter (AIC) or Active Front End (AFE) applications where energy is fed back to the power grid.

LIMS in Africa. - Autoscribe Informatics has appointed Axis Solutions Africa as our distributor in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi to sell, configure and support the Matrix family of Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) products.

Process manufacturers leverage cloud computing - COVID-19 is accelerating IT cloud investments to deliver the innovations required to cope with the pandemic and other market disruptions. Previous barriers to cloud computing are being overcome with hybrid and pure cloud approaches, while Microsoft and AWS are increasing the breadth of industry-specific services and learning quickly which are viable. (InTech Plus)

UPS for datacentres. - Data center density and power requirements are going up. As a result, more and better backup power is needed. Many data centers, however, have only limited space available. A very compact and powerful uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can often remedy the situation. To choose the right one, small and medium-sized data centers must consider cooling, redundancy, efficiency, architectures, and more.

Breaking the CO₂ sensor size barrier. - A drastically miniaturized CO₂ sensor is now available through Sensirion's distribution network. Compared to its predecessor, the SCD4x CO₂ sensor is seven times smaller and offers many more disruptive features.

Connector enables intelligent data transformation. - The EnOcean IoT Connector is an ideal link between maintenance-free IoT data from energy harvesting sensors and IoT applications that makes the integration of EnOcean products easier than ever before. The IoT Connector translates sensor outputs into ready-to-use data for IoT applications and data driven businesses.