A lot of development work has gone into the expansion of Engineering Base — and now Aucotec is reaping the rewards. Having often been pioneers, the developers at software designer Aucotec have pulled off a masterstroke with the revamp of the EB platform. The team around Uwe Vogt is seeing something of a boom in orders at the moment, but the Hanover company is keeping its feet firmly on the ground.

The cause of the UK’s high-profile Buncefield oil storage depot explosion in 2005? Overflow during remote filling of a storage tank. Disasters like this led to process industries adopting strict safety and environmental regulations, which you are likely quite familiar with. But some problems in the life of a plant manager aren’t always severe enough to reach international news headlines. However, even overfilling a tank with a fairly benign material can cause major headaches for a company.

Eco-friendly, limitless and CO2-neutral: Can synthetic fuel become the future of mobility? Power-to-X projects could be used to convert surplus electricity from renewable resources into clean synthetic fuels. While decision makers and politicians are still discussing the concepts feasibility, German engineering experts from Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz (CAC) show what can be done …

The specialty chemicals group Altana has completed the acquisition of the overprint varnish specialist Schmid Rhyner.

Brabender Technologie is intentionally focusing on a feeder specially designed to tackle recycling tasks at the Solids trade fair in Dortmund, Germany which will be held from April 1–2, 2020.

At Achema, GEA hosted a joint press conference with key suppliers to the pharmaceutical industries to highlight collaborative efforts aimed at promoting the advancement of continuous manufacturing technologies.

In many chemical industry plants, a safety controller ensures the required level of safety — in the event of danger, it switches off. In order to do justice to this task, it decides, like a watchman, which signals from the field level may be forwarded to higher-level systems and which not. Field device diagnostics for maintenance and optimization have so far been left out of the scope. For the first time, a solution jointly developed by Endress+Hauser and Hima also grants access to advanced diagnostics from instruments applied in safety loops.

Under the agreement, Aker Solutions will offer sector-specific digital offerings whereas Siemens will provide a wide range of digital solutions for the process industries.

At this year’s ARC Industry Forum Hima Group has presented recent developments and enhancements to the Smart Safety Platform (SSP). This comprehensive functional safety platform provides plant operators with maximum cybersecurity to ensure that safety automation and critical assets are always protected.

Pharmaceutical production is becoming more digital and connected. Players who can deliver coherent, logical concepts will be part of the next major Industry 4.0 project. The five members of Excellence United have made great progress with their IoT Hub and have shown what it is already capable of. But this is just the beginning. In the interview, the five executive directors explained why. The strategic corporate alliance Excellence United presents its new Industry 4.0 concept, which sets new standards.