SMS Based home automation using Arduino Microcontroller

Today GSM networks are widely used, either for making calls or sending SMSes. Let us discuss a project of controlling home appliances by sending sms.

There are many types of home automation systems available in the market. Some are DTMF controlled home appliances, IR remote controlled home appliances and RF based. This system executes accurate control according to the message sent by the mobile phone. Just by sending a message to the GSM modem interfaced to a Arduino microcontroller (MCU) on/off operations can be performed. Present status of the equipment is also verified through a LCD display.

Arduino Microcontroller based home automation system works off 12v power supply. Arduino microcontroller (MCU) requires only 5v but GSM modem requires 12V. A LCD display is used for receiving and displaying the messages. Here LCD is used in 4-bit mode, which means only four lines are required to display data. When you want to control equipment and show its status information, you need to send an SMS to GSM Modem. Arduino Uno reads the messaged received by the GSM modem and sends commands to control the equipments and displays its status on LCD. GSM modem sends the commands in the text mode to Arduino Uno using RS232 interface.

AT command is sent from Arduino Uno to the GSM modem as the program starts up, and the response is received from the GSM modem after a very short period of time. After receiving the command to turn on loads, the relay set performs the switching operation.

The home automation market is growing very fast and there is a need a vast range of developments is carried out. Arduino Uno along with GSM provides smart automated home system with desired buad rate of 9600 bps.

For more, visit at http://www.sofcontraining.com 

Industrial automation- The technique in success

Industrial automation is the process to produce more output by less involvement of manpower. It is the use of different control systems for performing various industrial processes and controlling different types of machinery. Thus automated systems needs special dedicated hardware and software for performing this task. 

Automation finds its application in various aspects of life. Home automation and building automation- these techniques involve control and automation of lights, ventilation and air conditioning, HVAC through centralised control system. Such system leads to comfort of occupants, reduction in energy consumption and operating costs of utilities. 

Recently automation finds its application in waste management, video surveillance, highway management system. Automated highway transportation management system is an innovative concept of combining on board vehicle intelligence, intelligent technologies embedded on the highway lanes and the communication technologies that connect vehicles with the highway.

PLC, Computers, Robots are involved in industrial automation to control and operate systems to perform work normally done by humans. Automation development came into force during industrial revolution in early eighteenth century.

How Automation has changed our life

Automation has increased the productivity and efficiency of the labour input without compromising with accuracy. Automated control systems can perform operation with greater conformity and uniformity to the quality specifications. Quality control can be achieved with much ease. 

Thus it can be concluded that introduction of automation has not only reduced human intervention but also enhanced the productivity and efficiency of different processes and activities. Proper implementation and maintenance of this technique can prove to be the secret key to success.

Molex: Heavy Duty Connectors for Industrial Automation

GWconnect Heavy Duty Connectors provide exceptional mechanical strength and vibration resistance in power, control and signal circuits.

The UL/CSA-approved connectors are rated to IP66, IP67 or IP69K (EN 60529) for applications exposed to harsh substances or requiring frequent washdown. Applications may include control panels, robotics, industrial automation, food and beverage, in addition to railway, commercial vehicle and renewable energy equipment. Constructed of die-cast aluminum alloy with a polyester powder coating, connectors are available with a range of enclosure materials and options. Inserts constructed of self-extinguishing UL 94V-0 thermoplastic material are available with screw terminals, screw terminals with terminal block, spring terminals, crimp terminals and push-in terminals. Special sealing gaskets protect the inserts against dust, water and chemical agents. Turned contacts are made of hard silver or gold coated copper alloy, ensuring high reliability and performance. A complete range of stamped crimp contacts, supplied on reel, is also available for automated crimping. The connectors also feature a lever locking system to resist impact and prevent accidental unmating.

Source from:- http://www.automationworld.com/cables-wiring-amp-connectors/molex-heavy-duty-connectors-industrial-automation

What does CAD/CAM and job shop management software integration mean?

So much of metal fabricating activity today is focused on the elimination of waste, and one of the bigger steps a company can take is integrating its CAD/CAM software with its job shop management software.

It wasn’t too long ago that the shop floor drove the metal fabricating company. Workers started a job when it made sense to them—unless otherwise instructed—and the completed job shipped, sometimes unknown to the front office. The shop also followed a schedule that made sense from only its perspective, which typically resulted in large amounts of work-in-process sitting around and excess material being ordered for products being fabricated but not yet ordered.

Even in the shops with the best communication between management and production, waste was seemingly inevitable. That is no longer the case today.

Shop management systems allow for strict materials resource planning, inventory control, job costing, quoting, and scheduling. CAD/CAM and nesting software systems deliver detailed information on production requirements for a job and simulations to prove them out, resulting in more accurate job quotes, better material utilization, and more precise inventory counting.

True automation of information flow between the front office and the shop floor is still elusive. The problem is that these modern software tools often are not integrated. Information from a shop management system is not automatically generating nests and schedules without some sort of manual intervention, and the shop floor production results don’t necessarily flow back to the enterprise-level software used to run the company. A chasm exists between the two software systems.

More metal fabricators are seeing the light, however, of what can be accomplished when the shop management software is more closely integrated with CAD/CAM packages. The results speak for themselves.

1. A more precise quote is delivered.

A winning job quote can become a losing one if a shop is not making money on the job. Luckily, fully integrated software tools can help deliver a good outcome.

Once a job, such as a laser cutting operation, has been successfully completed, the information from the fabricating activity can be fed back into the job tracking and costing modules of the shop management software. An estimator processing a repeat of that same job or something similar can find out real process times instead of relying on averages that likely haven’t been updated in several months.

This is especially helpful in more intricate jobs, such as a laser-cut disk with plenty of grooves. It’s difficult for even experienced estimators to deliver an accurate job quote just with a guesstimate. The estimator has to take into account piercing and speed adjustments as the laser cutting head moves around the many curves. An archived reference would help to deliver a sound quote while speeding up the quoting process.

Automated information flow to formulate quotes also helps to process additional quotes. In today’s marketplace where quotes sometimes are awarded on a “first-in-to-win” basis, timely responses to request for quotes can be very important.

2. Production jobs are organized more easily.

Plenty of shops have a work flow that calls for a programmer to create nests manually in the front office or that involves shop floor workers creating the nests at the machine. This gives the shop ultimate control of the nest, but loses out on the time efficiencies associated with automated nesting.

With integration of nesting and shop management software, a programmer no longer gets a folder with 50 different jobs on it and instructions to nest them and get them out the door as quickly as possible. Instead, the shop management software pushes jobs to the nesting software, and those nests are created automatically according to a project due date. Realistically, a shop that previously required a full day to nest parts for several hundred orders now can accomplish the same task in less than an hour.

The integration allows for more flexibility as well. For example, if a shop is organized according to manufacturing cells or value streams in which only certain types of products are fabricated, the shop management software can organize nests according to material type. Now the front office can schedule nests for a certain group of machines, rather than just schedule them according to delivery date.

3. Inventory is tracked more accurately.

Inventory is a tricky aspect of shop operations. A business doesn’t want too much raw material inventory because it doesn’t want to pay for something that isn’t going to be used right away and is just going to take up floor space. That cash can be applied to something more productive. However, the same business doesn’t want to be short of inventory that may be needed to cover a rush job.

Anyone involved in manual inventory counts knows the inaccuracies that can occur and the time needed to pull that together. Even getting a machine operator to log inventory information, such as what material was used and if any remnant was left, into the shop management software is rife with potential errors simply because it’s a manual task.

With integration, once a cutting job is done, the material information is fed back automatically to the front office. Management knows exactly what material is available and what has been used. It makes ordering more precise and keeps cash from being tied up in excess inventory that may otherwise simply languish in a rack for an extended period of time.

4. Real-time visibility into operations is achieved.

Perhaps the greatest benefit for having CAD/CAM and shop management software more closely aligned is the access to real-time production information. Management simply can call up a report or add a key performance metric to a dashboard to find out the status of any job in the shop, the performance of a certain machine tool, or any other item of interest. The front office isn’t dependent on getting that information directly from shop floor personnel or relying on those same individuals to input information into the system.

Visibility can be expanded depending on the relationship between CAD/CAM and shop management software packages. For instance, if the shop management system is allowed deep access to the cutting and nesting engine, anyone with a license to the enterprise software can gain greater access to shop floor activities. That license holder can see what a part looks like, where it resides on a nest, where it is in the production schedule, and how long it took or will take to process. This is all information that at one time was accessible only to the machine tool operator or possibly the part programmer.

Imagine a daily production meeting that now includes reports that not only show job status updates and shipping details for the day, but also pictures attached to the individual job orders listed on the report. This gives management a visual clue to the work going on in the shop, and it’s a complete picture, both literally and figuratively.

The automation of information flow between the shop floor and the front office is the next great step in eliminating waste and improving decision-making in metal fabrication operations. The only way that this can occur, however, is with efficient software integration. Without it, metal fabricators are not making the most of their engineering and production capabilities.

Source:-http://www.thefabricator.com/article/cadcamsoftware/what-does-cad-cam-and-job-shop-management-software-integration-mean-

How Michelin Develops a Stream of Trained Automation Employees

Randy Crutfield of Michelin North America explains how Michelin’s workforce development programs and close collaboration with local community colleges helps ensure the company has a steady of stream of well-qualified workers.

Amid years of discussion about a manufacturing skills gap—or lack thereof—and what factors may or may not have created it, many companies instead focused on taking action to address their workforce needs now and in the future. One of those companies is Michelin.

Randy Crutfield, site hiring manager for Michelin North America’s Lexington, S.C. site (the largest site for Groupe Michelin and the largest manufacturing employer in South Carolina), explained to attendees of The Automation Conference 2015 how the company operates its workforce outreach program, which is designed to ensure the company has little problem maintaining the knowledgeable workforce it needs.

Key factors in this program are:

• Michelin Technical Scholars Program—through which select students can develop hands-on work experience while earning their degree in Electronic Engineering Technology or Mechatronics at a local technical college. Michelin Technical Scholars receive scholarships to cover the cost of tuition, fees and books for the program along with competitive pay and part-time work and benefits;
• Internal policies and procedures for finding the right candidates—which includes specific tests for math, mechanical aptitude, and electrical and mechanical technology skills;
• Area school visits and outreach to kids as early as 9th grade;
• A formal pipeline assessment process; and
• Partnerships with local technical colleges that includes curriculum alignment.

Joining Crutfield in his presentation were Cheryl Garrison and Accounties Lashan Smith from TriCounty Technical College to explain how they work with Michelin in curriculum development and promotion of Michelin’s program to the school’s student body.

Source:-http://www.automationworld.com/workforce-development/how-michelin-develops-stream-trained-automation-employees

Career Booster With PLC Automation Training in Noida

In India, a wide range of computerization commercial enterprises is accessible and every last industry today obliges perpetual number of robotization specialists and specialized labor to give a help to their generation rates.

India as well as other outside countries have likewise grasped the vitality of PLC SCADA Training and its applications. To transform into a qualified robotization engineer, you require to be knowledgeable with PLC preparing as they are genuinely the spine of computerization commercial ventures.

 On the off chance that you longing to learn PLC scada, you can do robotization preparing in Noida as it has got various preparing schools with pleasant vocation records. Henceforth this computerization preparing gives you a chance to give your vocation a help the way you need and doubtlessly it is the certain shot approach to achievement.

The vast majority of the people help the same thinking and craving to try for same kind of occupation and in the event that you oblige some change of employment with splendid future, you can decide on Summer Training in Noida. In the event that you are searching for programming employments, then you can just try for mechanization as it is additionally considered as one of the product fields.

This is the place PLC comes into picture. PLC is a programmable rationale controller and everything you need to do is project it by using some stunning rationale. So without a doubt is a product occupation and unnecessary to say however more stunning than programming one.

When you qualify the PLC preparing and land a position in computerization industry, in a matter of seconds you will be elevated to higher posts. Other than you additionally get an opportunity to visit remote nations amid your computerization occupation and some great organizations would give you brisk advancements gave you give your 100% to the employment.

As said above, PLC Training in Noida is mainstream as it has a portion of the top preparing focuses working. Understudies need to study here in Noida in view of these preparation focuses as well as due to phenomenal framework and different angles.

The preparation focuses of Noida will encourage you with best study materials and with great scholastic records with 100% position surety in top robotization commercial ventures and associations. It happens now and then that you don't land position of your decision however all things considered likewise you require not stress as the minute you complete computerization instructional class from these rumored organizations, they will be in 24*7 touch with you so you land your choicest position. The term of the course relies on upon the focal point you have approached and it may fluctuate as per distinctive preparing focuses.

Various the computerization businesses are currently giving preparing to their old staff parts in this space and they are contributing a gigantic sum on their representatives. So you can comprehend the significance of PLC courses in the event that you need to work in computerization industry. Subsequently scan for a decent PLC preparing focus in Noida and begin to offer shape to your computerization profession.