EPN Industrial Automation Blog

More Panel-PCs for the UK

After a rather long dry spell, the British industry is receiving interest again from foreign suppliers and producers. Germany-based input specialist Hoffmann+Krippner expands its UK operations with a new company in order to deliver customizable Panel-PCs.

Happy new year, happy new job

With the beginning of 2011, the IEC has a new president – a man who was deeply entangled in the Siemens corruption affair and paid his former employer a half million Euros in compensation. Is this the

SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2010: Leaving on a high note

Just as the trade show SPS/IPC/DRIVES celebrates the post-crisis success of the automation industry, its chairman of the advisory board retires after 12 years.

SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2010: Optimism for the whole sector

It’s no exaggeration to say that the trade fair SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2010 is one of the most important shows of the huge Automation Industry. Companies present their full range of electric automation technologies to an international trade audience. When this international show starts next week (November 23rd through 25th), more than 1,300 exhibitors will present their latest products and innovations in Nuremberg on 90,000 sqm.

Below the ashes, sunshine and roses

“The mood at Hannover Messe is always a good indicator of industry sentiment, so we can now confidently speak of an upswing,” commented Deutsche Messe Managing Board Chairman Wolfram von Fritsch at the end of the trade show on Friday, April 23rd. Even though the first part of the show was “indeed severely impacted by the air travel bans caused by the volcano eruption, the last two days made up for part of this”, he admitted.

Rohwedder goes into insolvency

The Geman automation supplier Rohwedder has filed for insolvency due to threatening illiquidity. Despite intensive efforts it was not possible to safeguard the necessary financing, the company stated end of last week. Meanwhile the file for insolvency proceedings has been accepted by the German court Amtsgericht Konstanz.

Siemens: New management for "Mechanical Drives"

Effective of April 1st, 2010, Theo Maas (52) will be the new head of the Mechanical Drives Business Unit of Siemens, formally known as A. Friedrich Flender AG. The member of the Flender board will succeed the CEO Manfred Egelwisse of A. Friedrich Flender AG who will be resigning at the end of March at his own request. He intends to maintain close and amicable relations with the company in the future.

Lenze: Change of management

Dr. Thomas Cord has been appointed Managing Director of Lenze Automation GmbH. The former chairman of Elau AG succeeds Frank Maier, who became member of the Board of Management of Lenze SE in October 2009. Dr. Cord (44) and his division intend to “create added value for our customers in various areas of the engineering industry by significantly simplifying processes in the area of control and drive technology “.

Uwe Keiter joins OMAC executive committee

The executive committee of the Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC) has a new member: Uwe Keiter from B&R Global Account Management at B&R Germany is taking over as the representative for technology suppliers in the executive committee of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup (OPW).