SNC-Lavalin announced that it has been awarded a five-year extension to its existing General Engineering Services Plus (GES+) contract with Saudi Aramco.

Digitalization in process automation was not a complete surprise, according to CTO Roland Bent, Phoenix Contact. But “it was not necessarily the obvious, logical conclusion of what happened in the years before.” He sees great potential in new approaches like NOA (Namur Open Architecture) and MTP (Module Type Package) — also for his own company.

Ever since the 1920s, Phoenix Contact has been driven by one thing: the pursuit of “better.” Already in its early years, the company demonstrated with its first series terminal block, the so-called RWE terminal block, that it works closely with its customers on all new developments. Then and today, it has always been about connectivity: from the field, through mapping and on to connectivity to the process control level. And time and time again, Phoenix Contact products have spearheaded new technology trends.

The engineering expert Technip plans to modernize its flexible pipe manufacturing plant, Flexi France, in Le Trait, France. This investment should reinforce its global position in the production of flexible pipes, for the development of offshore oil and gas fields.

The introduction of a new discrete element modeling (DEM) capability into the latest release of CD-adapco’s Star-CCM+ multi-disciplinary engineering software goes beyond computational fluid dynamics (CFD) by adding the ability to simulate bulk material handling and granular flows. In addition, the software includes a broad range of new features and improvements, including more than 200 customer enhancement requests.

South American countries still have development potential in the fields of biogas technology and renewable energies. The German biogas plant manufacturer Weltec Biopower knows the potential, experiences and opportunities that exist in South America in this area.

India boost seawater desalination projects powered by nuclear energy: New facilities in the vicinity of nuclear power plants will produce clean water for industrial and municipal customers, the local authorities reported.

DSM has opened its new center for research into and development of high-performance materials on the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen, the Netherlands.

On 1 October, Siemens started for the first time with their own division for the process industry–Germany's biggest industrial group has restructured. "Yet again?", critics asked. But this time the group came up with concrete action in keeping with their Vision 2020 and formed their own "Process Industries and Drives" division. Division head Peter Herweck speaks in the PROCESS interview about his strategies, aims and opportunities in the new structure.

Specialty Medicines and Facilities of the Future are the new challenges–The biggest pharmaceutical products are now specialty medicines. Not 'biggest' from a volume perspective, but from a value perspective. This has significant implications for manufacturing, especially on flexibility needs.