News from PLANT ENGINEERING: Week of May 29th

May 3, 2006

FEATURES

Share your favorite tips with other engineers PLANT ENGINEERING’S annual Tips and Tricks section offers some uniqueideas to solve common problems. Again this year, we look to ourreaders to provide their fellow plant engineers some insight oncreative solutions to solve some thorny plant floor problems.Every tip or trick selected for the August issue of PLANT ENGINEERINGwill receive a $25 American Express gift cheque. To submit your tip,send it to Editor Bob Vavra at BVavra@cfemedia.com or fax it to630/288-8781. If appropriate, include an illustration of the solution.

OSHA offers best practices guide for first-aid programs The new OSHA guide identifies four essential elements for first-aidprograms to be effective and successful: management leadership andemployee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and controland safety and health training.Visit: https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=12212

What have you done about Arc Flash? If you missed yesterday’s educational webcast, it’s not too late. Goto plantengineering.com to view it now.Visit: https://web1.media.globix.net/client/planteng/2006_0518/19165/launch.htm

Check out the poll question at plantengineering.com Log on and voice your view on this month’s question, sponsored byMiller Electric: “What amount of your company’s maintenance/repairtime per week is spent welding?”Visit: https://www.plantengineering.com

Parker and fluid power industry stakeholders collaborate with theNational Science Foundation to establish research center Parker Hannifin has collaborated with the National Science Foundation,several universities and other industrial companies to establish anew, $21 million Engineering Research Center for Compact and EfficientFluid Power. The center will be based at the University of MinnesotaTwin Cities campus.Visit: https://www.plantengineering.com/article/CA6338303.html

ISA extends enterprise-control system integration standards series The ISA-95 standards help to reduce the costs, risks, and errorsassociated with implementing enterprise systems and manufacturingoperations systems so that they interoperate and easily integrate. Thestandards may also be used to reduce the effort associated withimplementing new product offerings.Visit: https://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases5&template=/TaggedPage/DetailDisplay.cfm&ContentID=54062

International facility management association releases pandemicflu-preparedness survey results Pandemic flu, SARS, bird flu, avian H5N1 virus. Known by many names,they mean one thing: concern for businesses and employees who mustcontinue operations in the face of a communicable disease outbreak.The International Facility Management Association recently surveyedits membership to assess the level of concern, and steps businesseshave taken, to prepare for such a threat.Visit: https://www.ifma.org/tools/prdetail.cfm?id=109

ISO/IEC standard benchmarks provision of software asset management ISO/IEC 19770-1:2006, Information technology – Software assetmanagement – Part 1: Processes will enable organizations to benchmarktheir capability in delivering managed services, measuring servicelevels and assessing performance.Visit: https://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/pressreleases/2006/Ref1006.html

NEMA chosen to conduct USTDA standards programs in China The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announcedthat it will organize a series of U.S.-led training and cooperationseminars for Chinese industry and government officials. NEMA will setup the workshops and provide on-site organization for the three-year,multisector series of programs.Visit: https://www.nema.org/media/pr/20060523a.cfm

AMCA International members convene for 2006 midyear meeting The Air Movement and Control Association International, Inc. convenedfor their midyear meeting in Chicago.senior staff, and members were amongst those in attendance. https://www.amca.org/inp/newsview.asp?ID=41

Toyota marks production of 250,000th lift truck Toyota celebrated the production of its 250,000th lift truck Wednesdayat the Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing plant in Columbus,IN.Visit: https://www.plantengineering.com/article/CA6338304.html

White paper details how motion control enhances safety, productivity Bosch Rexroth has released a white paper titled “Safe MotionTechnologies: Competitive Advantages for Early Adopters.” The whitepaper explains how intelligent safety systems can increase machineuptime and limit liability as today’s manufacturing engineeringorganizations become more aware of the strategic value of safety.Visit: https://www.plantengineering.com/article/CA6336030.html?stt=001&text=safe+motion

How code changes affect the plant floor Senior Editor Jack Smith’s cover story in the May 2006 issue of PLANT

panels intended for general industrial use, operating from a voltageof 600 Vac or less. This equipment is intended for installation inordinary locations, in accordance with the National Electrical Code.For more on how this code change will affect plant operations, clickhere: https://www.plantengineering.com/article/CA6332255.html

Manufacturing’s slowing, solid growth continues The Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Quarterly Economic Forecast predictsinflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be 3.3% in2006 and 2.7% in 2007, nearly consistent with the February 2006projections of 3.2% and 2.8%, respectively. Overall U.S. GDP growth in2005 was 3.5%.Visit: https://www.plantengineering.com/article/CA6336032.html?stt=001&text=mapi+quarterly

Electric council seeks bid to lead reliability standards for nation’spower grid The North American Electric Reliability Council has submitted apetition to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking approval of102 proposed reliability standards addressing topics such as criticalinfrastructure protection, interconnection reliability, emergencypreparedness, and telecommunications. All proposals for new standardsand modifications to existing ones will be subject to FERC approval.Visit: https://www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=1220

EVENTS

Preparing for influenza pandemic is topic of ASHRAE seminar The seminar, Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Controlling Transmissionof Infectious Diseases in Hospitals, is scheduled for Monday, June 26.It is sponsored by ASHRAE’s technical committee on health carefacilities.Visit: https://www.ashrae.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/51808;jsessionid=aaaeJsUxAy-hTX

SME conference examines innovations The Society of Manufacturing Engineers announced that its new GreatLakes 2007 “Exploring Manufacturing Innovations” conference andexposition will take place September 18-20, 2007 at the DeVos Place inGrand Rapids, MI. This APEX event will provide manufacturinginnovations for Great Lakes regional manufacturers, including a fullspectrum of equipment, technology and education.Visit:https://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/get-press.pl?&&20061102&PR&&SME&

ASME Bioprocess Technology Seminars to be held June 8-9, in Basel,Switzerland The ASME European Bioprocess Technology Seminars, focusing on newdevelopments in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, will take place June8-9, 2006, at Swissotel Le Plaza L’entree in Basel, Switzerland. Clickfor more information.Visit: https://www.asme.org/NewsPublicPolicy/PressReleases/Bioprocess_Technology.cfm

ARC conference to focus on enterprise performance Top industry visionaries will share their experiences and bestpractices for driving manufacturer enterprise performance at ARCAdvisory Group’s Fourteenth Annual Forum, “Driving EnterprisePerformance through Next Generation Manufacturing Concepts,” to beheld June 26 to 28 at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel in Boston.Visit: www.plantengineering.com/article/CA6329081.html

Nanotechnology and Manufacturing event is August 23-24 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers has moved the EmergingTechnology Forum, “The Next Industrial Revolution: Nanotechnology andManufacturing” to August 23-24 at the Pollard Technology ConferenceCenter in Oak Ridge, TN.Visit: www.plantengineering.com/article/CA6326958.html