Control Automation Feature Library

Operations Engineer's library catalogues editorial features going back five years.

Access to all archive material is free to all, including non-members of IPlantE (the Institution of Operations Engineers) or BES (Bureau of Engineer Surveyors), under the umbrella of SOE (Society of Operations Engineers). However, to discover the many benefits of becoming an SOE member, please click here.

01/10/2007 Light fantastic With government and regulators calling for industry to consider environmental issues, to drive down energy consumption and to rein-in waste, selecting commercial lighting has become more than just a simple 'cost versus illumination' ... » Read More

01/10/2007 Going underground What keeps London Underground's head of operational engineering awake at night? Top of Maurice Poole's list is the competence of project and maintenance engineering people - across all the professional sectors. That's not just in his own ... » Read More

01/10/2007 Fire for the future It is now possible to improve the efficiency of steam raising boiler systems by 10% and there are cases where fuel bills have been cut by 30%, using technology developed by London-based Autoflame. What's more, although developed for ... » Read More

01/08/2007 www.soe.org.uk Looking for technical information, best practice or guidance notes? Just want to be kept abreast of industry and technology news as it might affect you? Or maybe you want to review that feature from a back issue of Plant Engineer, but ... » Read More

01/08/2007 Great engineers for a Great Britain Ian Ling is the new president of the Society of when apprenticeships were common currency in Operations Engineers. He took up office on the occasion of the AGM at the Ironmongers Hall, London, on 28 June, after a year as president elect ... » Read More

01/08/2007 Replace or recondition? Reconditioning large roller bearings can save a great deal of time and money - and result in at least as good a job as installing new. And that applies even on critical machinery that could seriously impact plant availability. Sounds ... » Read More

01/08/2007 Machine safety Following the ISO 13849-1:2006 debacle, and now its harmonisation to the Machinery Directive, machinery safety standards are under the spotlight again. ISO 13849-1 (Safety of machinery, Safety-related parts of control systems, Part 1: ... » Read More

01/08/2007 Green choices More and more organisations are hoisting the environmental flag and flying it proudly over their businesses as the move to greater corporate responsibility - and potentially punitive legislation - takes a tighter hold on industry's ... » Read More

01/08/2007 Control freak Let's talk about drives, motors and controls - no, not just the technologies for linear or rotational motion control, important though those are, but also control engineering in, for example, transportation, the process sector and the ... » Read More

01/08/2007 Bellows baloney Contrary to popular misconception, metal bellows expansion joints are as useful as any other of the tools in the plant engineer's armoury - provided good mechanical engineering practice is followed. So says bellows manufacturer Teddington ... » Read More

01/08/2007 Bad vibrations Now that both the Control of Noise and Control of Vibration at Work Regulations are well and truly in force (April 2006 and July 2005 respectively), plant engineers that haven't yet done so, need to ensure that their areas of ... » Read More

01/06/2007 Uplifting technology According to HSE (Health & Safety Executive) statistics, more than a third of all industrial accidents and the over-three-day injuries each year are caused by handling loads. Most are strains to the back, arms, hands and fingers as a ... » Read More

01/06/2007 Steaming efficiency Engineers know there are significant opportunities for improving energy efficiency in boiler houses - saving cost and reducing carbon footprint, while also helping users to be eligible for the Carbon Trust's Energy Efficiency Accreditation ... » Read More

01/06/2007 Safe passage UK employees suffered 10,835 major injuries as a result of slipping and tripping in 2005/06, according to the HSE, so such accidents remain serious problems - accounting for 38% of all major injuries. » Read More

01/06/2007 Pumping up improvements While designs of pumps and valves for the process and related industries had barely altered in decades, changing requirements have recently resulted in some useful improvements. First, the sustained high cost of energy has led to greater ... » Read More

01/06/2007 Pit and the Pendolino Two years ago, Leighton Buzzard-based Harmill Systems won an unusual project - a rail-mounted seat for the London Underground Waterloo and City depot inspection pit. Within months, that turned into a plant lifting and manipulator project ... » Read More

01/06/2007 New view on rail maintenance Maintaining the UK's rail network involves thousands of engineers looking after hundreds of miles of lines, switches and crossings. It's a serious management and communications challenge, but Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure Services ... » Read More

01/06/2007 Friends reunited Most manufacturers, process plant operators and utilities that have invested in PLCs, legacy systems and the like for monitoring and controlling machines, plant and equipment must, at some time, have considered a wholesale upgrade to ... » Read More

01/06/2007 Flixborough revisited At about 5.00pm on Saturday 1 June 1974, the Nypro plant at Flixborough near Scunthorpe, manufacturing caprolactam for nylon, exploded. 28 people lost their lives, 53 workers were hospitalised, and 1,821 houses and 167 shops and factories ... » Read More

01/06/2007 Fit for the future On 1 May 2007, following a request from the IPlantE council and confirmation by the SOE board, the formal branch structure of the IPlantE professional sector was formally withdrawn. » Read More

01/06/2007 Except for LOLER Agreed, it's not Lola, as in that seminal '70s song, but there's little doubt it would be 'a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for LOLER' - the all-encompassing Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. They ... » Read More

01/04/2007 The old ones are the best ones Most worthwhile energy-saving techniques have been around for years, but, as increased energy prices, newer legislation and growing public awareness around emissions all force users to reconsider fuel consumption, many are now re-surfacing ... » Read More

01/04/2007 Seeing is believing Plant maintenance has always been seen as a necessary evil. So the idea of investing cash in technologies to predict when and what might be necessary doesn't cut much ice with many managers. They understand the basics of break/fix, where ... » Read More

01/04/2007 Prevention or cure Inadequately designed and/or poorly maintained car transporters and tipping trailers are presenting increasing and potentially serious risks to drivers and operators. And they're not alone: there also remain worries with lifts and ... » Read More

01/04/2007 Moving engineers Operations, plant and transport engineers with an eye to the future would do well to get to the Commercial Vehicle Show (CV 2007) at the NEC Birmingham, 24-26 April. The transport industry is adopting newer technologies and that has ... » Read More