Industry News In brief...
The CC-Link Partners Association (CLPA) has reached 1500 members while the worldwide installed base exceeds 8.5 million devices. There are now more than 1100 certified products available from over 240 manufacturers. CC-Link has shown significant sustained growth of close to 1,000,000 nodes per year and is available in several different variants including the world's only gigabit Ethernet open network. All retain the key features of very high reliability, availability and serviceability.
www.the-non-stop-open-
network.com
A new service from G4S Secure Solutions (UK) aims to help employers in key business sectors ensure safer working environments, cutting accidents and improving the bottom line. The Drug and Alcohol Screening Service can be tailored to the precise requirements of the individual business, offering a closely managed but discrete process. This can include developing a comprehensive alcohol and drug policy, carrying out testing, secure on-site sampling, 'testing for a cause' (for example after a health and safety incident) and maintaining the secure chain of custody for any samples through to laboratory testing and delivery of results.
www.g4s.uk.com/alcoholand- drugscreeningservice
In 2012 NEW: UK (National Electronics Week) will be co-locating with MACH, Drives and Controls, Air- Tech, Ifpex, Plant and Asset Management, Electrex and Independent Power, Energy and Electic Expo to create the largest manufacturing event in the UK with over 1,000 exhibiting companies, covering in excess of 37,000 square metres of exhibition space. NEW: UK 2012 will take place 18-19 April 2012 at the NEC Birmingham UK.
www.new-expo.co.uk
The number of students applying to study chemical engineering in the UK has increased by 11.8%, according to admissions body UCAS. This extra intake brought the number of students looking to start a career in chemical, process or energy engineering to just over 12,000. It also bucks the overall trend which has seen growth in the number of overall university applicants slow dramatically to only 1.4%.
www.icheme.org
4 Process industry launches adult apprenticeship
A GROUP OF leading process industry employers in conjunc- tion with the TTE Technical Training Group has created an innovative adult apprenticeship for members of the Armed Forces. The 21-month pro- gramme is being supported by SABIC UK Petrochemicals, Lotte Chemical UK, ConocoPhillips and Lucite International who will sponsor the trainees and provide on-site work placements to complete their training into the process industry.
A group of eight trainees have been selected from a pool of applicants from the North East to embark on the programme designed to increase entrants to the region's process sector. Aged 25-42, the trainees from across
the North East have a variety of forces backgrounds. Trainees recruited to the programme have served in the navy, air force and army regiments including the Royal Engineers, Royal Signals and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
Working toward the Process 0610 qualification and an NVQ Level 3 qualification, the trainees will spend six months at TTE's specialist training centre at South Bank, Middlesbrough and the remainder of the programme with their sponsoring company. “We are looking at many differ- ent and innovative ways of bring- ing new talent into our business to help address the skills gap that the process industry is facing,” comments Stephen Trillo HR/OD and IT manager for Lotte Chemical UK.
“This initiative will build upon our existing programmes and provide highly skilled tech- nicians to help us remain at the forefront of our business.”
www.tte.co.uk
Free process audit for reduced energy consumption
THE PROCESS SOLUTIONS Group (PSG) which brings together the expertise of four Robbins & Myers' companies is offering a free process audit for any business looking to enhance its productivity and reduce energy consumption. Embracing the vast reactor- lining capability of Pfaudler and Edlon together with the extensive mixing expertise of Chemineer and the sealing solution skills of CRS, the audit is designed to improve effi- ciency, bring about significant
on-going savings and help reduce CO2 emissions.
“Reactors are at the heart of a process plant, so our process audit provides a rare opportu- nity to appraise performance in such comprehensive technical detail,” comments group sales manager Neil Davies.
“Reactor performance can be critical in determining final product quality and yield.” Conducted by highly experi- enced personnel with a breadth of knowledge in reactor system applications, the audit (with
BSI extends scope of international product certification service
THE BRITISH STANDARDS Institution (BSI) has extended the scope of its product testing and certification services under the International Electrotechnical Commission for Electrical Equipment (IECEE) Certification Body (CB) Scheme.
This will provide manufactur- ers with a simplified way of obtaining multiple national certification and significantly reducing their time to market. This means that BSI can now offer IECEE testing and certifica- tion for household appliances and hand-held motor operated electric tools as well as capaci- tors lighting products and modules measuring equipment medical equipment, IT and office
equipment and electronic home entertainment equipment. BSI is both a National Certification Body (NCB) and Certification Body Test Laboratory (CBTL) under the IECEE CB scheme.
The IECEE CB scheme is based on the principle of mutual recog- nition by its members and allows for the acceptance of product safety test results among partici- pating laboratories and certifica- tion bodies.
It reduces obstacles to inter- national trade which arise from having to repeat testing of product to internationally harmonised standards to gain different national certification.
www.bsigroup.com
confidentiality agreements as required) sees process informa- tion inputted to advanced, specially-developed in-house software to generate a tailored report with specific suggested improvements. After assessing the process, the audit aims to identify improvements for reduced batch times; improved mixing and heat transfer; reduced energy consumption; higher product yields/ improved quality; and reduced raw materials consumption.
www.pfaudler.de
Comment...
Summer is here and the start of school holidays brings encouraging news. A new apprenticeship initiative from within the process industries promises to encourage new blood - which according to UCAS is already happen- ing with record numbers applying to study chemical engineering. IChemE communications manager Matt Stalker comments: “At a time when students are likely thinking much more carefully about their degree choice and the likely return on their investment, a chemical engineering degree will look very appealing.”
Engineering subjects as a whole saw 4.6% more applicants than they did last year - up to almost 135,000 in total. With high-tech businesses such as F1 crying out for young engineers, let’s hope all this potential bears fruit. Susan Deane, Acting Editor
AUGUST 2011 Process & Control
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