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Information drive
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13/03/2008
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Tom Shelley goes through the highlights of the free seminar programme at the forthcoming Drives and Controls show in April
A highlight of this year’s Drives and Controls Show is the free seminar programme, which takes place in the ‘theatre’ on the show floor. It is tailored to appeal to engineers of all kinds.
The show – which takes place on April 22-24, at Birmingham NEC – is co-located with a number of other events: Air-Tech, Ifpex (of which there is a preview in next month’s Eureka), Plant and Works, Electrex, Subcon, Independent Power & Energy Europe and Mach.
The speakers are mostly senior members of trade and professional associations plus a few academics. The emphasis this year is on saving energy and safety.
The keynote address on Tuesday April 22 is given by Stephen Radley, chief economist at the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF). The subject is “Manufacturing in a changing environment” and will cover the challenges facing manufacturing, how these are being addressed, how the economic environment is expected to develop during 2008 and the likely outlook for the industry.
In a recent review of the sector, EEF and Grant Thornton said that the manufacturing sector was well placed to weather potential economic storms this year.
Commenting on the report, Radley said: “With fears of a recession in United States and turbulence in financial markets, the economic backdrop is likely to become less favourable and growth in manufacturing slower. However, manufacturing's new resilience will leave it much better placed to cope with whatever the economy throws at it this year."
Other topics covered on the first day include: energy management; an update on the latest version of the Machinery Directive (and what it means for engineers); a new competence scheme for condition monitoring personnel; building a better compressed air system; and how to make the best use of Profibus data.
Topics covered on the second day are equally varied, and include: energy saving with variable speed drives; condition monitoring with thermograph to avoid failures; real-time Ethernet for industrial communication; and working safely with compressed air.
The third day includes a presentation from Arthur Clarke of the British Gear Association, plus a seminar the UK and EU programmes on energy-efficient motors, drives and systems. The speaker is Charles Gaisford, product area manager for motor-driven systems at the UK Market Transformation Programme. He details the Government’s approach to the subject, the current situation, and explains how the UK is engaging with Europe on it.
The final speaker is John Morse, senior market analyst at IMS Research, who deals with the impact of Ethernet on industrial communications.
“Industrial Ethernet appears to be following the same path trodden by fieldbus protocols, with a growing number of variations on the theme,” he said, on the launch of a recent IMS report on the subject. “Many variants will find their niche.”
According to IMS, growth in the use of Ethernet-based communication is forecast to exceed that of networking protocols in general. Global shipments of industrial Ethernet nodes are forecast to grow at 21.7% per annum over the next 5 years.
In addition, in the Electrex event, the NICEIC and ECA will provide industry experts to address concerns over regulatory compliance issues with regular seminars on 17th edition revisions, competent person schemes and domestic periodic testing and reporting.
All seminars are 45-60 minutes long and will be held throughout the day. Places in the seminar theatre are on a first-come, first-served basis. A full timetable will be available closer to the event.
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Author
Tom Shellley
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