Lead for growing optimisation services appointed.

Role targets billions lost annually to poor control loop performance and process variability.

Dr Chris Christie has joined Control Station as Director of Services. He will lead the continued expansion of Control Station’s Digital Lifecycle Solutions (DLS) program, which helps manufacturers maximise the operational value of their automation and process control investments. Control Station empowers process manufacturers to increase production efficiency and throughput. The company is headquartered in the United States with offices in Ireland*.

Dr Chris Christie

Demand for Control Station’s services has grown rapidly as manufacturers seek to extract greater value from existing control systems. Over the past year alone, contracts for the company’s Digital Lifecycle Solutions services increased 29.6 percent, reflecting increased industry focus on improving control loop performance, reducing process variability, and sustaining high-performance process control across production facilities.

Control Station’s PlantESP platform enables manufacturers to continuously monitor control system health and identify poorly performing control loops, oscillations, and other sources of process instability that limit throughput and product quality. However, many organisations struggle to fully realise or sustain these improvements due to resource constraints or limited process control expertise. Control Station’s DLS services address this gap by combining advanced analytics with hands-on engineering expertise to drive measurable operational improvements.

“Manufacturers are increasingly looking for partners who can help translate data into sustained operational gains,” said Dennis Nash, President of Control Station. “Chris brings extensive experience deploying PlantESP at enterprise scale along with deep expertise in process control strategy and services delivery. His leadership will help us continue to scale our services organisation while delivering even greater value to our customers.”

Dr. Christie is widely recognised within the automation community as an authority on control and enterprise-wide process optimisation, bringing more than 20 years of industrial experience across a broad range of applications and industries. His work spans mining, oil and gas operations, and food and beverage processing, where he led initiatives focused on improving process stability, increasing production throughput, and strengthening plant-wide control performance.

Prior to joining Control Station, Dr. Christie served as Process Control Capability Lead at Cargill, where he led the enterprise rollout of PlantESP across more than 100 facilities worldwide. The deployment supported operations across Cargill’s oilseeds, food ingredients, protein, salt, and bio-industrial business units, helping engineering teams to proactively identify control performance issues and implement improvements across large and complex manufacturing environments. He holds a PhD and MS in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech and a BS in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of the West Indies. Following completion of his doctoral studies, he served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Drexel University, where his work focused on applying an engineering process control approach to biological control systems.

“Sitting at the intersection of advanced analytics and manufacturing operations, Chris brings a unique combination of industrial experience and technical depth,” said Bob Rice, PhD, Vice President of Engineering at Control Station. “Customers increasingly rely on us not only for the technology to monitor control performance, but also for the expertise needed to translate those insights into sustainable operational improvements. Chris has built his career doing exactly that.”

According to McKinsey & Company, optimising industrial process control represents a $100–200 billion annual economic opportunity globally—yet much of this value remains unrealised. Much of this value remains unrealised because organisations lack the resources required to continuously monitor, diagnose, and improve control system performance. Control Station’s Digital Lifecycle Solutions were developed specifically to address this challenge. The services guide customers through three phases of performance improvement:

• Identify — diagnosing poorly performing control loops and sources of process variability
• Implement — deploying corrective actions and optimisation strategies
• Maintain — sustaining performance through continuous monitoring and engineering support

By combining advanced analytics with deep process control expertise, Control Station helps manufacturers improve throughput, reduce energy consumption, and sustain high-performance control across their operations. Control Station’s engineering teams provide support through a combination of remote monitoring, analytics-driven diagnostics, and onsite engineering engagement, enabling manufacturers to maintain high levels of control system performance throughout the lifecycle of their automation investments.

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• See Acquisition bolsters presence within EMEA.(12/3/2025)

@Control_Station #PAuto  #ControlsPR

Information security.

As scientific collaboration becomes increasingly digital and globally interconnected, amid rising cybersecurity threats and evolving AI-driven risks, biopharmaceutical companies are demanding more robust data protection protocols from outsourcing partners.

Symeres has been awarded ISO/IEC 27001 certification, the internationally recognised standard for information security management systems (ISMS). This certification reinforces the company’s proactive commitment to safeguarding sensitive client data across its global operations.

Gabriella Gentile

“Cybersecurity is no longer a back-office issue; it is central to the success of every client program,” said Gabriella Gentile, Chief Operating Officer at Symeres. “Our ISO 27001 certification gives clients, from biotech startups to large pharmaceutical companies, the assurance that their proprietary data, often the ‘crown jewels’ of development, is protected within a robust and continuously improving security framework.”

While Symeres has long operated with strong internal protocols, the decision to pursue formal certification arose from a rising volume of security questionnaires from clients, financial institutions, and regulators.

For many large pharmaceutical companies, information security assessments are now a standard part of onboarding. ISO 27001 certification allows Symeres to address the majority of these requirements upfront, significantly streamlining due diligence processes. By reducing administrative friction, project teams can focus more quickly on what matters most: advancing client programs and delivering scientific impact.

“This journey began two years ago as part of our continuous improvement culture,” added Mark Verhaar, Project Manager at Symeres. “We identified our highest information risk areas, developed risk-based policies, and created a formal, auditable system for managing access, backups, and incident response. It’s not just about compliance, it’s about building a culture of vigilance and continuous improvement, ensuring that our security practices evolve alongside the scientific and digital complexity of our clients’ programs.”

Symeres is well-positioned to support the needs of both established pharmaceutical clients and smaller biotechs that may rely on its expertise to navigate complex data governance now that ISO 2700 is in place. The certification also supports broader industry compliance efforts, including the EU’s NIS2 Directive, which identifies healthcare organizations as vital operators.

Key elements of Symeres’s information security framework include:

• Formalised, audited policies for data access, backup, and breach response
• Continuous employee awareness programs to mitigate human error
• Controlled information sharing protocols with third-party partners and clients
• Ongoing internal audits and yearly external surveillance to maintain certification

The company is progressing with the rollout of ISO 27001 certification across its sites globally, with completion targeted before the end of the year. This phased implementation ensures consistent standards across the Group while maintaining operational continuity.

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, maintaining high security standards will remain a priority. Guillaume Jetten, Chief Executive Officer at Symeres, commented: “In today’s environment, ISO 27001 is a non-negotiable foundation for doing business with large pharmaceutical companies and innovative biotechs. Achieving this certification cements Symeres’ status as a leading global CDMOs operating with full transparency and accountability.”

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#symeres #Pharma #CyberSecurity 

Software verification enhanced.

The latest release of TrustInSoft's flagship product, TrustInSoft Analyser (TISA), featuring major enhancements that increase the ease of use with Ai-powered stub and driver generation, streamlined deployment across platforms and enhanced MC/DC coverage analysis using formal methods.

“TrustInSoft Analyser brings a unique level of guarantees thanks to the use of sound formal methods. This approach marries perfectly with the use of AI for analysis and testing. We combine the efficiency of AI with the measurability and accuracy of formal methods,” said Caroline Guillaume, CEO of TrustInSoft. “Development teams from IoT, automotive, and defense will benefit from the ability to scale their C, C++ and Rust code assurance more effectively by combining the efficiency of AI and formal methods.”

What can be expected in the April 2026 Release:

• AI-Powered Test Driver and Stub Generation - Get started with one-click setup to generate context-aware stubs and test drivers instantly with Ai. This feature will dramatically reduce analysis effort while maintaining the consistency and accuracy required for safety-critical compliance.
• Rust Support Graphical User Interface - Advance toward production-grade Rust analysis with the integration of all workflows, from setup to root cause investigation and reporting in the improved GUI.
• MC/DC Coverage Analysis Using Formal Methods - Achieve the unique result of MC/DC coverage compliance thanks to formal methods-based inputs generalisation, drastically reducing verification effort for standards, as for example, ISO 26262.

The release of TrustInSoft Analyser is scheduled for next month (April 2026). Existing customers can access the update via the customer portal.

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@TrustInSoft @NapierPR #Cybersecurity #ArtificialIntelligence_Ai

Supply constraints are approaching rapidly.

"Some memory manufacturers have closed their books for new orders this year..."

Anglia Components, a leading independent, authorised distributor of electronic components in Europe, is actively advising customers of anticipated supply constraints in the market. The company is warning that the market is flipping from a downward price trend with most components available ex-stock, to an upward price trend and extending lead times. Prices are rising by 5-15%, and lead-times from manufacturers for standard products such as MCUs has already reached 23 weeks in certain circumstances. And this was already the status prior to the recent events in the Middle East, which are likely to compound and exacerbate the situation.

“We are hoping that it won’t return to the disruption experienced in 2020-2022 when customers without forward orders found themselves paying extreme premiums on the grey market simply to keep production running “, says John Bowman, Anglia’s Marketing Director (Pictured right). “But already, some memory manufacturers have closed their books for new orders this year, and across the board, our manufacturing partners are quoting progressively longer lead-times. You have to learn from history, and I am highly certain we are heading towards a period of restricted supply in the very near future.”

With more than 50 years of experience navigating market cycles, Anglia is advising customers to place orders early to secure their required production volumes. Bowman continues: “Customers need to take measured action now and lay down their component requirements for at least the next 12 months. Now is most certainly not the time to sit back and wait – as Theodore Roosevelt once said: ‘…the worst thing you can do is nothing’ “.

As manufacturer and distribution inventories tighten and die banks are drawn down, goods ordered today are likely to have a lead time of six months, and extending. But that is much better than being told that there is no availability and no chance of getting the parts you need other than falling back on the grey market. Anglia, known as the “Kings of Inventory”, are ready to work with every customer, large and small, to manage the challenges ahead.

Bowman concludes: “We have a reputation as the eyes and ears for SMEs. We are trusted to work with them through challenging times and help mitigate risks to their production. But it’s vital that our message is taken seriously — recent years should not create a false sense of security. Purchasing strategies need to adapt, and the time for action is now.”

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See also: Component market in full swing! ("Don't get caught out!")

@angliaLive @BWW_Comms #Electronics #PAuto #Components #Europe

Carbon capture efficiency.

Cool Planet Technologies, a specialist provider of membrane-based carbon capture solutions, recently organised a live demonstration of its modular carbon capture technology at a pilot plant in Grimsby (GB). Attendees were able to view real-time CO₂ levels before and after capture, with continuous data provided by Vaisala MGP241 inline measurement probes.

Background.
The Climate Crisis is forcing countries and businesses around the world to significantly reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Ultimately, this will rely on decarbonisation and a move away from fossil fuels. However, there are a number of industries for which GHG reductions will be hard to achieve. These include process emissions in the cement, lime, steel, and chemical sectors, as well as combustion emissions in processes such as waste-to-energy.

Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the proximity of Net Zero targets, and the dilemma faced by the ‘hard-to-abate’ industries, there is an enormous global demand for effective carbon capture technologies that can be economically operated at scale.

CPT Rig

Cool Planet Technologies (CPT) was founded in 2019 by a group of mainly ex-oil/gas industry executives, with the sole objective of meeting the global demand for effective carbon capture technology.

Membrane-based CO₂ capture.
CPT is the commercial partner for a membrane-based carbon capture technology developed at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Germany. This provides CPT with exclusive worldwide rights to commercialise Hereon's latest generation PolyActive™ membrane and carbon capture technology. CPT and Hereon have filed a patent application for the design of their jointly developed carbon capture module, and will continue to collaborate on the further development of the technology.

Hereon’s Torsten Brinkmann says: “Membrane technology offers a number of advantages over alternative carbon capture methods. Importantly, no chemicals or consumables are necessary, and membranes have a long lifetime of around 5 years.” Comparing Hereon’s membranes with hollow fibre membranes, Torsten adds: “Flat sheet membranes offer greater flexibility in the selection of application-specific materials, and they provide superior fluid dynamics in the gas flow path, allowing optimum exploitation of the intrinsic membrane properties.”

Summarising the advantages of their flat sheet membrane technology, CPT’s Chief Technology Officer, Simon Gorringe says: “These membranes are highly efficient, easy to work with, compact and environmentally friendly.”

A key element in the success of carbon capture will be finding economically effective opportunities for CO₂ utilisation, storage or sequestration. So, once carbon dioxide has been captured by CPT’s technology, a post-processing unit can be utilised to purify or liquify the CO₂ to food or sequestration grade.

Proving carbon capture effectivity with CO₂ probes In the early days of its development, the operating performance of the carbon capture modules was predicted by specifically developed simulation tools, which employ single-gas permeation data as the only experimental input. These models were then evaluated by comparisons with tests undertaken at the Grimsby pilot plant, and found to be extremely accurate – performing to within 1% of predicted CO₂ capture.

CPT’s pilot carbon capture facility in Grimsby was designed to allow control of the pressure ratio across the membranes in the modules, and control of the CO₂ content of the feed gas. The plant is equipped with two CPT modules, although the plant is able to accommodate four modules. The two modules in the demonstration plant operate in series, offering CO₂ capture capacity up to 37,000 tonnes/annum (tpa).

Two live demonstrations of carbon capture performance by the CPT plant in Grimsby were conducted in June and October 2025, providing invited guests from industries such as lime, cement and steel with proof of concept and performance verification for CPT’s carbon capture data.

Vaisala inline CO₂  probe

Five of Vaisala’s MGP241 probes continuously monitor CO₂ concentrations in the feed gas, during the process and in both the permeate and the retentate. Data are logged once per second and carbon capture efficiency is calculated and displayed in real-time. “The accuracy and reliability of the CO₂ probes is critically important,” Simon Gorringe explains. “Our initial research indicated that the Vaisala probes would meet our stringent requirements, but the pilot plant has allowed us to perform mass calculations to check their accuracy. Happily, this work was able to verify the high performance levels that the Vaisala probes deliver.”

The MGP241 probe was developed specifically to fill a gap in the market for carbon capture measurement probes. Uniquely, the MGP241 uses patented CARBOCAP® auto-calibrating infrared technology for the simultaneous inline measurement of both carbon dioxide and humidity. Importantly, the probes are able to accurately measure any CO₂ concentration from 0 – 100%. Humidity measurement is also important because condensation would allow the formation of acids that would damage the equipment.

Next steps.
CPT has recently announced that it has commenced the assembly of its 10,000 tonnes per annum carbon capture plant on site at Höver. CPT’s construction team is currently installing and connecting the prefabricated modules, which is expected to take around two months. Capture operations are scheduled to begin in Q2 2026 following which the plant will demonstrate the performance, economics, and operability of CPT’s technology at scale over a 12-month period, and will also utilise Vaisala probes to verify projected performance. For example, CPT will target 95% CO₂ recovery. CPT and Holcim will then collaborate on the full decarbonisation of the Höver plant with plans to build a larger plant to capture around 90% of Höver’s CO₂ emissions (around 800,000 tpa), at the start of the next decade.

Looking forward, CPT CEO Andrew Corner says: “With over 150 locations worldwide, Holcim represents enormous decarbonisation potential for CPT’s technology.” However, given the size and urgency of worldwide demand for decarbonisation, Andrew is keen to emphasise the global potential: “From the outset, we have been resolutely determined to ensure, not just that our carbon capture solution is modular and scalable, but also, that it is both environmentally and financially sustainable.”

Clearly, CPT is targeting all of the hard-to-abate industries, and Andrew believes that the key to unlocking this potential is the provision of trust and confidence in carbon capture efficiency. “I am very happy to acknowledge the role that Vaisala’s probes play in delivering that trust,” he explains. “Our customers need to know what levels of performance they can expect from our systems, so the inline measurement of accurate, reliable CO₂ concentrations is critically important.”

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@VaisalaGroup @_Enviro_News  #Emissions #PAuto

Metal bellows coupling clamping.

The metal bellows coupling of the KP series from Jakob, is characterized by its short design and a 4-wave bellows with two radial clamping hubs. This compact design is ideal for applications with minimal shaft spacing and limited space. The high torsional rigidity and easy assembly thanks to the clamping hub design are particularly noteworthy. The coupling also offers a low moment of inertia and good values ​​for permissible shaft misalignments and restoring forces.

The multi-layer metal bellows made of certified stainless steel offers high torsional rigidity and compensates for axial, radial and lateral shaft misalignments. The shortened design saves weight, which leads to a lower moment of inertia.

The clamping hub is made of high-strength aluminum to keep the moment of inertia as low as possible. With the innovative Easy-Clamp system, the hubs can be pushed on easily and with sufficient clearance. A single, radially easily accessible screw per hub provides the necessary preload force for torque transmission. This simple yet reliable connection enables the couplings to be assembled quickly, even under difficult installation conditions.

The connection between bellows and hub is made using an optimal, backlash-free brass-wire press-fit method. In contrast to adhesive connections, this joining process is absolutely permanent under critical operating conditions (-40°C to +200°C, chemicals) and ensures that the torque of each individual bellows layer is safely transmitted to the hub.

The KP series is available for nominal torques from 25 to 900 Nm and covers bore diameters from 10 to 75 mm.

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@UnnGmbh @PresseBox #jakobantriebstechnik  #Manufacturing #Pauto

Any old clothes!

Automated system enables intelligent sorting of used textiles.

The mountain of old textiles continues to grow in Germany every year. Less than one per cent of this enters a closed recycling loop. Reasons for this include so-called "fast fashion", which leads to an increasing amount of low-quality textiles, as well as the wide variety of materials, which makes efficient recycling even more difficult. Today, sorting is mostly done manually and is almost impossible to manage given the quantities involved: Of around 1.4 million tonnes, only about 200,000 tonnes are actually checked and allocated. The rest is thermally recycled or exported abroad. Automated processes are therefore a key lever for keeping significantly more used textiles in circulation.

The Recycling Atelier at the Augsburg Institute for Textile Technology (ITA)* is tackling this challenge. As a model factory, it maps the entire process of mechanical textile recycling. The focus is on a holistic concept that does not optimise individual sub-processes but rather takes the entire system into account. This approach led to the development of DETEX – an Ai-based system for the automatic sorting of textiles. With the help of artificial intelligence and two high-resolution uEye XC cameras from IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH, DETEX captures the essential features of the garments and assigns them precisely to specific categories. This makes sorting more accurate and lays the foundation for efficient recycling.

Why is sorting old clothes so important?
Before worn-out trousers, T-shirts or jumpers can be turned into something new, they must first be mechanically processed. The aim of this process is to create entirely new fabrics from the used garments. To achieve this, they are shredded, freed from buttons or zippers, and broken down into individual fibres. Preserving fibre length during this process is crucial to the quality of the recycled material produced. Differences in fabric structure and areal density must also be taken into account during processing. Precise classification into material categories is therefore essential and determines the subsequent handling of the textiles. Until now, sorting has been done mainly by hand – a time-consuming process that requires a high level of expertise. In other industries, such tasks have long been performed by automated, Ai-supported recognition systems. This is precisely where DETEX comes in: The research project is developing and testing Ai models designed to make the sorting of used textiles significantly more efficient.

How does the system work?
DETEX relies on intelligent image processing to automatically recognise and classify textiles. Two high-resolution industrial cameras provide the necessary images by scanning garments as they move along a conveyor belt. Neural networks analyse the images and recognise patterns and structures based on previously learned data. To enable this, they were trained in advance using a large number of sample images, including photographs of various garments as well as close-up images of different fabric types. At least 3,000 samples per clothing category were required. This training data had to be manually categorized beforehand, for example by labelling an image of trousers as “trousers“. On this basis, DETEX can quickly and reliably assign new images to the appropriate textile categories.

For precise analysis, DETEX works with pre-trained neural networks – one model each for classification, object recognition and material identification. Different architectures and scenarios are being tested. This allows different degrees of difficulty and realism to be simulated in order to test how robust the Ai models are against folds, overlaps or rotations. 

Initially, an object detection model analyses the images captured by the first camera mounted above the conveyor belt. It determines the type of garment, such as a T-shirt, trousers or a dress. The second camera scans the garments again from a height of approximately 5 centimetres, focusing on material properties and the detection of features such as stains or buttons. The identified image sections are cropped and passed on to a second Ai model, which classifies the type of material – specifically distinguishing between woven and knitted fabrics. Finally, the analysis results are clearly displayed on a screen.

Which cameras are used?

uEye XC Starter Set

For image capture, the Augsburg-based institute relies on uEye XC cameras from IDS, specifically the uEye XC Starter Set. The complete package includes a camera, tripod, cables and a macro lens, providing a ready-to-use solution for the research project. Key factors in the camera selection were its compact design, 13-megapixel sensor and ease of use, as Martin Kohnle, Project Manager for Ai & Digitalisation at ITA, explains: “The uEye XC is as easy to use as a webcam, but has been specially developed for industrial applications. It delivers razor-sharp images even with varying object distances or challenging lighting conditions.” 

In addition, features such as a 24x digital zoom, auto white balance and automatic colour correction ensure precise capture of even the finest details. As a genuine industrial camera, it was designed with long-term component availability in mind – an important advantage over conventional consumer webcams.

The Augsburg-based team relies on the free IDS peak camera software for image processing integration. The Software Development Kit (SDK) provides all necessary programming interfaces and tools for operating and controlling the cameras. “IDS peak enables straightforward and high-performance integration of our cameras via USB3 Vision. The uniform SDK structure greatly simplifies development, control and image acquisition. This enables us to implement our AI-based image processing workflows more quickly and adapt them flexibly”, Kohnle confirms.

What’s next?
The textile recycling market is increasingly moving towards data-driven, Ai-based processes that require high-quality image data in real time. This increases the requirements for camera quality, synchronisation and API compatibility for the recycling studio. Research focuses in particular on the flexible integration of various sensor technologies into adaptive sorting and analysis systems.

DETEX itself is also set to evolve: What is currently a conveyor-belt-based system will be expanded into a modular, mechanical-robotic overall solution that addresses both recycling and reuse. At its core will be a free-fall system enabling multi-perspective, 360° capture of textiles. In addition, a downstream, two-sided shot by robot-assisted grippers will allow for detailed analysis of further material characteristics. This approach makes it possible to capture a significantly broader range of information and to assign textiles even more precisely to suitable recycling or reuse pathways. Another important step towards a closed recycling loop – supported by industrial image processing.

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* The Recycling Atelier at the Institute for Textile Technology Augsburg (ITA) is a model and learning factory for mechanical textile recycling. The team is researching pioneering methods for the circular recycling of textiles. The vision: High-quality recycling instead of landfill and energy recovery.

@IDS_Imaging @mepaxIntPR #Pauto