The answer to this question could be “it depends”, but I’m going to go right out to end of the tree limb and say the answer is “yes”, voltage regulators are necessary, even here in the United States where the delivery of power is pretty consistent.

Consistent to the extent that it is better than in developing nations, but perfectly consistent? No.  In the U.S. there is a voltage drop of about 3-15% from the point where the electrical service delivers the power to where the power is actually consumed within any given industrial facility, mainly due to wire impedance.

Is your industrial touch screen monitor misbehaving?   Flickering? Not responding?  Most resistive touch screens are designed to last for more than 35 million touches in one spot before failing, as much as 4 times longer lasting than the display.  That sounds like a helluva lot of touches but that depends on the application.  For example, a touch screen used in a popular national-chain pizza delivery shop could get 35 million touches very quickly.

When problems do arise with industrial touch screens before it becomes aged, it is often due to misuse or an accident.  A good industrial touch screen should not require calibration for quite a long time, unless it is getting banged around in your shop, which, unfortunately, is not a rare occurrence.

My country, ’tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land  where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain  side
Let Freedom ring.

Long Live the Spirit of Freedom everywhere!!

And I’m proud to be an American

where at least I know I’m free.

And I won’t forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me.

–Lee Greenwood

“The cement of this union is the heart-blood of every American.” — Thomas Jefferson

Don’t forget to fly your American flag this weekend and give thanks for the freedoms we all enjoy as Americans.

Americans enjoy freedom like no other country in the world.  We embrace freedom in every way possible and guard it with our very lives.

Whether your ancestors sacrificed their blood to create a free country in 1776 or they arrived on America’s shores in later centuries to follow their dream of freedom, or whether your sons, your daughters, your husbands or wives are this very day wearing a uniform and protecting  your freedom -they are all heroes.  Remember them and their families for their service, their bravery, and their sacrifice.

A spring 2011 survey of 318 U.S. CFOs and senior controllers, 50 of whom were manufacturers, shows there are serious concerns about inflation with 66% saying their company intends to raise the sales price for their goods over the next six months, up from 35% six months earlier.

96% of the CFOs identified pricing concerns with raw materials such as cotton, metals, and petroleum-based products, up from 62% six months earlier and 58% identified concerns about energy costs, up from 33% six months earlier.  With such sharp increases in commodity prices, manufacturers felt they had no choice but to pass along the increases to their customers.  Efficiency improvements have helped to keep costs down over the past three years, but the manufacturers believed they could not drive down their costs enough to absorb the higher raw materials costs.

“Where the heck  do I start?” you might ask.  Installing an industrial network can be a big fat headache, but there is help out there.  I just read this really great article in Automation World (a useful website, by the way) that breaks this process down into five steps.  Here’s a helpful link for you:  http://www.totallyintegratedautomation.com/2010/10/the-five-easy-pieces-of-network-installation/.

If you need your industrial network PLC repaired or PAC repaired, our expert tech team is ready to help.  Call our helpful customer service reps at 800-605-6419 or check out our website at www.acsindustrial.com.  Meanwhile, enjoy the article “The Five Easy Pieces of Network Installation”.

This image may be comical, but safety violations are just NOT funny.  Take a gander at OSHA’s top 10, most frequent violations for FY2010 and either pat yourself on the back for NOT being on a top 10 list or get your house in order if you DO find yourself on this list.  Just sayin’… No names listed of course, violations only…

1. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451)
2. Fall protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501)
3. Hazard communication standard, general industry (29 CFR 1910.1200)
4. Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053)
5. Respiratory protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134)

Wow.  Loose connections…now that’s a “loose” term if ever there was one! 

Connection problems are indeed responsible for many non-functioning electronics of all sorts. 

Note the key words are connection problems because the problem may very well NOT be looseness at all.  So step away from the torque wrench or worse-yet the screwdriver. 

What seems like a “loose” connection could be just that, but electronic problems are more often the result of bad connections caused by:

• Oxidation of contacts
• Corrosion of contacts
• Dirty contact surfaces
• Cross threading
• Wrong bolt or screw

Like pie?  Me too!!! Cherry, peach, key lime, shoofly, apple…. with ice cream…without ice cream.  All pies!  Today is International Pi Day….3/14….Pi…get it?  As most of you are of the engineering mindset, I’m sure you got that. 

If you didn’t, Pi is the number expressing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and used in engineering, science and statistics.  It begins with 3.14 and goes on into infinity….hence March 14 is International Pi Day. 

Stop by your local bakery on the way home tonight and surprise your family with a pie to celebrate Pi Day – no one will complain about this celebration of math!  No flash cards, calculators, or slide rules (anybody remember those??) required – just pie!!!