From inspecting raw materials for quality and identifying defects in finished products to performing precision measurements or rapid part verification, incorporating vision systems into your production process is a great way to boost quality and efficiency while accelerating production. While hardware and software selection for your vision system may seem paramount, there are other factors - lighting, part positioning, and testing - that are also incredibly important. In this blog, we explore how taking these factors into consideration upfront will result in optimization that eliminates many ..read more

In 2023, monthly manufacturing job vacancies in the US averaged around 620,000 – a 44 percent increase in openings versus the years immediately preceding the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This labor gap is predicted to rapidly grow over the next five years as the perfect storm of increasing demand and a shrinking workforce is brewing ..read more

Plant floor control systems serve as the backbone for efficient and streamlined operations in both the critical infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. These systems play a pivotal role in maintaining production continuity, serving plant utilities, and even providing hot water, heat, and air conditioning to offices and hotel guests. However, the increasing reliance on digital technologies exposes manufacturing facilities and plants to a range of potential threats, from cyberattacks to equipment failures and natural disasters. To mitigate the consequences and ensure business resilience, a co ..read more

In the automation industry we are constantly looking for ways to improve our efficiency, streamline processes, and minimize errors to keep up with today’s expanding digital world. Part of our solution is to eliminate repetitive tasks and automate testing. One helpful tool is to automate reading and writing PLC tags via Excel ..read more

Discussing operational technology (OT) and public facilities, such as hospitals and universities, may seem surprising as OT is most often associated with manufacturing. However, public facilities depend on the reliable functionality of critical infrastructure including their utilities and HVAC systems, which consist of numerous OT components such as digital industrial control systems and other computers designed to monitor and control physical processes, servers, and network devices ..read more

We are excited to announce that ACE is officially opening our ninth office in Allentown, PA! This office will open in January 2024 and help us service our growing customer base. Some of our engineering staff from our existing Quakertown office will relocate to the new office and both Lehigh Valley offices will be looking to expand from that point. Our  local team’s in-depth expertise includes hardware design and integration, OT modernization planning and execution, DCS system development, MES, and cybersecurity project management.  ..read more

If you're considering implementing a new SCADA system, watch this webinar first. Our Vice President of Operations, Mike Lennon was joined by other expert systems integrators to share real-world examples of successful SCADA implementations, what not to do, how to begin your search, and SCADA best practices ..read more

As businesses and industries evolve, many engineers and managers find themselves struggling with changing business requirements around their historians. Perhaps the company is moving from one technology platform to another to get some product-specific functionality/synergy. Maybe they are trying to standardize their systems across a larger array of sites. Or perhaps they are simply performing an upgrade of a legacy historian – getting it back to a supported operating system or software level. Regardless of the motivation, the ability to easily transfer data between two or more historians is c ..read more

The gap between IT and OT systems has been steadily closing in recent years, making systems more operationally efficient and “smarter.” That’s the good news. The bad news is that this shift can open OT assets – which control critical infrastructure – to increased risk of cyber-attacks. These attacks can result in significant damage to your equipment, to your team, and to your bottom line ..read more

As a licensed Professional Engineer, I am required to abide by multiple Codes of Ethics in my professional life. These codes come from places like from the National Society of Professional Engineers, state engineering licensing boards, and professional societies. But even if I wasn’t required to follow these codes of ethics, being ethical has been engrained in me through my upbringing and my professional development in my career. I share these high ethics with everyone else at Applied Control Engineering (ACE) and they are built into the very cornerstones of our company, whether it is how we ..read more