One community makes the leap into MQTT-based utility management

Formally organized in 1834, Waterford Township is located geographically in the center of Oakland County, Michigan, USA, and is home to over 72,000 residents. It is known regionally for its 34 lakes, from which it earns its name.

However, in the public utilities industry, Waterford is known for its leadership and persistent innovation in water/wastewater management. The Department of Public Works has been featured previously in an Opto 22 case study, and a generation later, DPW is working on another landmark project.

Topics: Case studies, Water & wastewater, MQTT, groov EPIC, Ignition, digital transformation

Opto 22 talks connected manufacturing in the food industry.

Way back when face-to-face interviews were a thing, I had the opportunity to sit down with Pons Tugonon to talk about the development of connected food manufacturing. Pons leads OptoTech (now P&E Automation), a long-time international system integrator and distributor for Opto 22, and his work with the Mama Sita’s brand (Marigold Manufacturing Corporation) of authentic Filipino food products shows off the potential for industrial edge computing in manufacturing.

Topics: Case studies, Videos, Food & beverage, groov EPIC

The nation's largest rotary heat-treating facility improves reliability, alarming, operator control, traceability, and data logging with groov EPIC.

When their PLCs began experiencing regular failures and the operating system of their HMI approached its end of life, American Metal Processing (AMP) knew it was "on borrowed time." In addition, the majority of system components were not integrated or automated beyond direct motor control. What was the best road to a modern system? How could the company achieve the data integrity, tracking, and connectivity required by their customers?

Topics: Case studies, Node-RED, groov View, groov EPIC

See what people are up to with Opto 22’s new edge I/O module.

groov RIO has been available for a few months, and people are already surprising us with how they’re putting it to work. Here are a few of the amazing examples we’ve seen from our early adopters.

Topics: Case studies, system integrator, groov RIO

Cost-effective automated reconciliation for petroleum distribution terminals (PDTs) improves safety and accounting.

Meet Blendtech, a division of PT Industrial Electric and supplier of Terminal Automation Systems (TAS). A TAS is commonly used to automate the processes at petroleum distribution terminals to keep them running efficiently and in compliance with government regulations. 

Topics: Case studies, Oil & gas, Node-RED, groov EPIC, HMI

Learn how tech-based company netDNA automates water management for fracking and water transfer with the help of groov EPIC.

In the oil and gas industry, technological advances like hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling have caused a boom in exploration and drilling. The initial “gold rush” approach to oil and gas development focused on people resources, with most work done manually.

But now companies are looking to add automation in the field, especially for water pumping and treatment, key ingredients in successful unconventional oil and natural gas production. In an industry with remote, widely separated, and changeable operations, automation and data communications aren't easy.

Topics: Case studies, Oil & gas, Node-RED, MQTT, groov EPIC

AAQUA NV designs flexible, robust systems

Turning industrial wastewater into something that municipal water systems will accept is a tough job. 

Topics: Case studies, Process control, PACs, PAC Project, PAC Control

You've shown a lot of interest in our blog posts this last year—thank you. We hope they answer some of your questions and help make your automation projects easier.

So to round out the year, take a look and see if you missed any of these popular posts. 

Predictive maintenance on a compressor. We'd all like to get a better handle on equipment maintenance, to reduce unnecessary expense, maximize efficiency, and avoid outages.

See how a simple internet of things project could provide real value for your company.

Topics: Case studies, Food & beverage, groov, Internet of Things, IoT, Integrators, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Ignition Edge

If you're a manufacturer interested in improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), you may find it difficult to integrate OEE with your manufacturing execution system (MES) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Why? Because the IT (information technology) software systems traditionally used for MES and ERP don't interface with the PLCs and I/O systems used in production and manufacturing.

Topics: Case studies, Process control, Internet of Things, IoT, Integrators, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Data acquisition

Start with sugar, and you could end up with a sweet business.

Topics: Case studies, Process control, PACs, I/O, PAC Control