Angela Schwartz: I was sitting there thinking, “Whose wife is pregnant?” I just couldn’t think who it might be. Then, when John took off the hood and I saw it was my husband, all I could think was “How did they get him to wear that!” I probably sat there and wondered what had possessed […]
NCERC Ethanol Pilot Plant
Several EPIC employees took advantage of an opportunity presented by ISA to tour the ethanol pilot plant facility located on the SIUE Campus and run by the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center. The ethanol pilot plant is 24,000 square-foot, and operates a 1/250th scale ethanol production facility with a 100-400 bushel per day capacity. The purpose […]
PLC vs. DCS
At EPIC Automation, every practical, beneficial and cost-efficient automation solution we develop is based upon industry research and trends. Before any design or development takes place, our engineers take the time to research and gain a thorough understanding of the process. In October of 2011, Bill Lydon, Editor of Automation.com wrote an article called “PLC […]
U.S. Competitiveness: Getting Our Edge Back
Ed Rapp, a Missouri native and CFO of Caterpillar recently gave a talk on U.S. competitiveness at the University of Missouri. He started out by saying the world is not how is was 50 years ago. Fifty years ago you worked hard and you earned what you worked for. The U.S. was the hardest working nation […]
Quick History of Machine Vision
Machine Vision is a branch of computer science that has really grown over the last 20 years to become an important feature of manufacturing. Today machine vision systems provide greater flexibility and further automation options to manufacturer’s, helping to find defects, sort products and complete a number of tasks faster and more efficiently than humans […]
EPIC Lunch and Learn Series: Valves
EPIC Modular Process Systems designs, fabricates and installs complete modular process systems. Many times, these modular process systems involve the use of valves. EPIC Modular Process hosted a lunch and learn on valves to refresh and expand our process engineers knowledge of this key piece of process equipment. Jim and Tim Long, of Long Equipment, […]
CAD Update: 3D Modeling For Success
EPIC engineer, Wayne Jasper recently attended a webinar by Hagerman & Company on AutoCAD Plant 3D: Piping and P&ID. Jasper was investigating an intelligent plant piping and instrumentation modeling program that could make P&ID standardization and customization more efficient. The program allows users to easily select and insert ISA symbols into customizable pallet templates. Once […]
“Kinect”-ing With Your Production Line
HOW GAMING TECHNOLOGY WILL CHANGE MANUFACTURING The gaming world has been revolutionized by games that track a player’s natural body movements and translates them into the virtual environment. By using gesture and voice recognition, gaming consoles such as the Xbox Kinect allow players to kick a ball, shoot an arrow, and actively participate in the […]
Government May Fail to Pay Contractors
Can you survive on a government “I owe you”? Contractors may be hit very hard if the debt ceiling problem does not get solved by Congress. According to the Washington Business Journal, if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the federal treasury will have to start prioritizing who it pays off. Invoices from companies contracted […]
10 Reasons For Automating Bulk Agricultural Packaging You Can’t Ignore
From fertilizers to field grains, there is a wide array of things falling into the ‘agricultural products’ category. But they all have one thing in common; the farmers, production plants and storage facilities that handle these products can benefit from the automation of the packaging system which fills bulk containers. By 2013 the lawn, garden […]