Bob Baker, energy audit and systems monitoring manager for Atlas Copco, discusses various traits that influence how energy efficient a compressed air system is. Among them: budgeting for the correction of problems; how to investigate compressor systems and identify places for improvement; and artificial demand for compressed air.

Listen to John Blumenshine, vice president of facilities for S&C Electric, talk about sustainability in the plant: what it is and how to implement it.

David Friede, product marketing manager, production management software for GE Fanuc, describes how manufacturing execution systems centralize data to optimize operations. “Companies can no longer rely on manually-collected data, hand-written reports, Excel-generated reports,” Friede said. “They really need one centralized place for data, all put into the proper context, giving a plant real-time information and real-time visibility into its operations,” he said.

Michael Gay, senior business consultant, MES Competency Center for Rockwell Automation, talks at PLANT ENGINEERING's 2007 Manufacturing Summit about how to make a business case for the use of manufacturing execution systems. It involves discovering the value in real-time data and then making up-to-the-minute decisions, based on that “actionable data,” to optimize operations.

From better energy efficiency to fewer failures and less downtime, manufacturers can gain many benefits by upgrading the motors used in their processes. Baldor’s John Malinowski discusses some of the savings end users can make by upgrading their motors, talks about the incentives for upgrading them and offers tips on what traits to look for in new motors.

Not only is energy a manageable resource, plant’s should have a staff member in place to manage it, contends Fred Schoenborn, president of FCS Consulting Services Incorporated. Schoenborn discusses how to best implement energy management in this brief Podcast from PLANT ENGINEERING’s 2007 Manufacturing Summit.

Bob Ziegenfuse, president and CEO of Advanced Automation, talks at PLANT ENGINEERING's 2007 Manufacturing Summit about how the flow of data between the floor and the MES is often overlooked.

Bob Vavra talks with Emerson executives about how pharma manufacturers are learning about new ways to generate more product faster -- and what they can teach the rest of manufacturing.

Bob Vavra, editor of Plant Engineering, interviews Brett Abel of Dow Corning about setting up manufacturing centers to get closer to their prospective customers in a global economy.

Plant Engineering editor Bob Vavra interviews Matt Bauer of Rockwell Automation, president of MESA, on the emergence of MES and the organization’s plans for the future.