This research investigates the requirements for proactive service delivery for heavy industrial equipment and generalizes the results into a reference model for the development of service agreements in the field. The observer-participant method was used to develop and test the model with manufacturers of gas turbines, jet engines, and locomotives. The reference model organizes the requirements ...

The paper presents different methods for observing, monitoring, parameterising and directly controlling CAN-based automation equipment using Internet technologies. Examples that are described are: a commercial industrial robot, a cartesian handling system, a workpiece separation unit and other CAN devices. Furthermore generic interfaces are presented to access CAN systems via the internet on CA...

Among the many ways in which workers can get safety information, the role of equipment warning labels has not been well articulated. Presumably, warning labels help prevent accidents, but questions remain about how well those labels can be expected to work. This essay describes how contextual analysis can assist our understanding of warning label effectiveness. A contextual approach was concept...

Industrial equipment requires maintenance to remain operational. The level of maintenance that is required, and how easily it can be executed, is affected by the characteristics of the equipment. Therefore, design decisions have a strong influence on the effectiveness and efficiency of the maintenance process. Ideally, the design of the equipment should be aligned with the design of the mainten...

With the ubiquity of digitalization, digital convergence of applications, devices, networks and artifacts presents both challenges and opportunities for individuals, organizations and society. Physical artifacts that were not digital in the recent past are now increasingly becoming intertwined with digital components, providing them with digital capabilities. As a consequence, vast amounts of i...

The LonWorks platform for device networking has been widely adopted in buildings, industrial facilities, Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) applications, homes, semiconductor equipment, and transportation systems. Historically, it has seen limited use in the more traditional industrial sectors and machine controls. The new Pyxos embedded control networking platform has dramaticall...

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) have been used to control industrial processes and equipment for over 40 years, having their first commercially recognised application in 1969. Since then there have been enormous changes in the design and application of PLCs, yet developments were evolutionary rather than radical. The flexibility of the PLC does not confine it to industrial use and it has ...