Laura Zurawski

What have legislators done for manufacturing lately?

Keeping up-to-date with politics and issues that influence manufacturing and automation can help facilitate integration of plant automation with the enterprise and beyond. Now that a new Presidential term is underway, it is a perfect time to take a look at newly elected and incumbent legislators' efforts to help the manufacturing industries.

Job services, career help

Where, oh, where can automation professionals go on the Internet to find a job, or find another team member? Most of the big online job boards just don't get that specific.Control Engineering Online now offers a job search function for those who wish to hire a new team member, find a new or better job, or just see what else is out there in automation and control.

The Internet and the law

In June of this year, the European Union (EU, London) proposed a plan that would require companies based outside its 15 member countries to charge a value-added tax on goods and services delivered with the help of the Internet to customers in the member countries. The proposal was designed to create a "level playing field" for taxing online goods and services.

The Internet at ISA Expo/2000

The weather was hot and humid in New Orleans, La., this past August, but it was still the "cool" place to be during ISA Expo/2000. Many companies displayed new and continuing Internet efforts as the world of automation and control edged closer to the pool of industries going online. The following are a few highlights.

From products to solutions

The software provider says the problem is in the hardware. The hardware provider says the problem is with the network connection. The network-support company says the problem is the phone line. The phone company says the problem is the software. Does this scenario sound familiar? Too many outside services can clutter your business, but if just one of these services is missing, you can't d...

XML: The future of data management

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is derived from SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language). SGML was created as an international standard (ISO 8879) in 1986 and provides a standard format for embedding descriptive markup into documents. Descriptive markup refers to pieces of code (often called "tags") that define the presentation of a document.

Stay informed with e-mail newsletters

A few years ago, e-mail communication was a luxury. These days, it's a necessity. It's usually easier to reach someone via e-mail, rather than play voice-mail tag for days or try to track someone down via pager or cell phone. With e-mail, the message gets sent, once, and it gets to where it needs to be—in front of the user.

Integrating business technologies

According to Bill Reedy, vp of business integration at IBM Software (Somers, N.Y.), the world is in the midst of a "digital revolution" that is of the same magnitude and significance as the Industrial Revolution. E-commerce, he says, is a manifestation, and the Internet is a communication device.

Making sites, surfing more secure

One thing people like about the Internet is that they can remain completely anonymous. At least, that's how it used to be. Try to surf the web these days, and you'll almost certainly run into a site that requires registration to view all the information the site contains. This means entering personal information that many people don't care to share, such as name, address, and telephone nu...

Train on your own time

Once upon a time, attending training courses meant having to make sacrifices. To receive the training, one had to travel to a specific location for a prescheduled course or seminar. Schedules had to be set around the course times and workdays were often missed for the sake of traveling and attending the training.

Taking the e-track at NMW 2000

Once again, it's time for the National Industrial Automation Show and National Manufacturing Week. As manufacturing professionals prepare for the big show, they may be wondering which conferences, seminars, and exhibits will tune them in to the future of manufacturing. It should be obvious by now that it's important to stay focused on the growing presence of the Internet and how it's bein...

Looking ahead to 2000

The time has come to say goodbye to 1999 and hello to 2000. Though some would argue the new millennium doesn't officially begin until 2001, next year will still be a significant milestone. The Y2K bug problems taking up so much time and effort these days have seen to that.Y2K fears aside, the new year brings with it a great deal of promise, especially in the technology sector.

Y2K help on the web

The last quarter of 1999 is officially underway and most U.S. Y2K efforts are completed or nearly completed. Don't relax just yet, though. Representatives for the National Association of Manufacturers (Rosslyn, Va.) estimate that 0.5-1% of Y2K error points will go unfound in the U.S. While this may seem like a small number, there's no way of knowing if these errors will appear in a chip ...

Should you buy online?

Whether or not online automation stores are a better way of doing business in the automation industry still remains to be seen. Since most companies introduced online stores within the last several months, it is too early to tell whether or not they can be considered successful endeavors. (See also, Control Engineering, April and May 1999, Cyberpage, on this topic.

Internet laboratory tests control systems parameters

Students and faculty at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) are letting web users peer into the world of process control systems and dynamics at the Resource Center for Engineering Laboratories on the web at http://chem.engr.utc.edu/.This unique site is a server that allows users to run control experiments remotely over the Internet.

Web-based services help optimize process performance

Honeywell's (Phoenix, Ariz.) Hi-Spec Solutions has taken web-based business a step beyond e-commerce into the realm of e-service. By simply pointing a browser to www.hispec.com, control engineers can instantly access a variety of tools and services designed to optimize plant performance. "The web allows us to effectively lower delivery costs while improving customer response time and incr...

Internet helps cut software costs

California Senior Deputy Attorney General Thomas Greene recently likened the emergence of the Internet to the early development of railroads in the 19th century. Both have had a remarkable impact on many facets of life, from communication to business and the economy, and make the world seem smaller and more accessible.

E-commerce is on the rise for manufacturing

E-commerce is emerging rapidly for factory automation and process control products. Internet usage has risen astronomically over the past four years, and it is estimated that the number of Internet users will reach one billion by the year 2005. Looking at current Internet trends, it makes sense that more services are focusing on online consumers.