Modern hospital beds are true technological wonders, except for their castors that still have to be manually locked and unlocked. Finnish company Manner Castors has now come up with Manner e-Smart, the first castor ever with an electronic, remotely-operated lock fitted inside the smooth-rolling castor itself. This makes handling of medical and other equipment on castors a lot easier.

Spyglass, Sparklike’s new laser-based glass pane analyzer, is worthy of its name; just press the small device against any type of pane, push the button, and in a matter of seconds all the characteristics of the glass are shown on its large display.

Elettric 80 is making their concept of automation remarkably clear at the Drinktec fair in Munich Sep 14-19 2009. A complete, fully operational, end-of-line chain will be built, and during the fair visitors will be able to follow the demonstration around the demo plant. Different beer cans, bottles and trays from various Elettric 80 clients will be handled from the end-of-“production”-line, palletised, stretch wrapped and transported by Laser Guided Vehicles (LGVs) to the warehouse area and loaded into a trailer.

Elettric 80 challenges the notion that only production companies benefit from automation. Also the activities of distribution centres can be automated to advantage by Laser Guided Vehicles, increasing both warehouse efficiency and safety while reducing costs. A considerable advantage of the Elettric 80 LGV systems is that they are usually implemented in existing warehouse environments, with little or no site modification required. Consequently, the investment is budget-friendly and quickly returned.

Apart from cost efficiency, an important warehouse management issue is safety. The human factor often causes risks and accidents that are hard to foresee. These can be limited effectively through Elettric 80’s custom-made end-of-line automation solutions. The systems can automate parts, or the whole, of the end-of-line process for clients within the fast-moving consumer-goods sectors, from palletising of finished product, to stretchwrapping of pallets and storage/retrieval in the warehouse. Compared to work environments with manual, diesel-powered fork lift trucks, Freeway environments are noticeably safer due to reliable technology, calmer and free from exhaust fumes. Also, after the first years have passed, and the return on investment is realised, these improvements still remain.

Cutting costs by rationalising and optimising the operations of the plant is a common target among production companies. Elettric 80’s scalable Freeway system provides the ideal solution through custom-designed automation for fast-moving consumer-goods plants, especially those with two-shift operations, or more. The system can either automate the whole end-of-line process of the production plant at once or, focussing on an ideal future solution, be limited to chosen parts of it, in which case it can be extended and complemented at any time without significant extra cost or trouble. Furthermore, the systems can be implemented with minimal disruption, often while production is still up and running. However, important decisions that would result in great advantages and a competitive edge, are sometimes postponed as they seem too complicated or radical. Questions arise; how large an investment does the budget allow; which is the best solution for the whole plant and will it still be sufficient some years from now?

Scottish Water, the fourth largest water and wastewater services provider in the UK, has teamed up with engineering, consulting and construction company Black & Veatch and piping solutions providers KWH Pipe to employ an innovative concept of mobile pipe production that will reduce costs and environmental impact in a project to upgrade Edinburgh’s water treatment facilities.

- the durable and sustainable first choice that does not fade Customers demand longevity in their thermal receipt paper! It is a necessary and indispensable part of our daily transactions in the long-term, which provides the essential fiscal and warranty information needed. Ultimately, the end consumers for thermal receipts are customers who require these slips of paper for proof of purchase and other vital end use information.

* protects substations in utility and process industry power distribution networks  * uniquely-fast messaging boosts busbar protection speed to maximise safety and minimise damage and downtime   ABB introduces a new high-speed substation busbar protection system for utility and industrial power systems. The busbar protection application is based on the company's novel REF615 feeder protection relay with native support for the IEC 61850 standard “Communication networks and systems in substations” and its GOOSE services. This smart grid-enabled relay offers a platform to advance the performance, reliability and cost effectiveness of the power systems of tomorrow and beyond.  

The 2008 Millennium Technology Prize was presented to Professor Robert Langer today in Helsinki for developing innovative biomaterials for controlled drug release. The world’s largest technology prize is awarded by Technology Academy Finland for a technological innovation that significantly improves quality of human life and promotes sustainable development. President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen handed Professor Langer the prize of EUR 800,000 and ”Peak”, the prize trophy, at the Grand Award Ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.