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If readers ever need a reminder that workplace accidents can occur at any time, from any source, without warning, breezing through the OSHA Catastrophic Accident database will surely do the trick. Responding to an uptick in accidents involving compressed gas cylinders, this is exactly what one of our long-time distribution customers did in searching for ways that they could help reduce their end-users’ risk.

Procuring industrial components under a formal purchasing contract historically has not been very common in the United States, but with the supply chain rumblings of the last several years, more and more volume part buyers are exploring contract-like engagements to secure the products they need.

Few topics are as socially charged these days as the debate between electric versus fossil fuel vehicles.  Regardless of where you land on the matter, one point is crystal clear, which is that next generation vehicles of any type will increasingly rely on advanced instrumentation, electronic, and integrated circuit technologies to meet both environmental and consumer experience demands. In this article, we’ll take a look at the role of instrumentation in emerging vehicle technologies beyond just fuel types. 

As with many regulatory compliance matters, navigating code requirements for industrial automation projects can range from mildly confusing to virtually impossible!  No singular body of code tells controls engineers what regulations their projects must comply with, complicating a seemingly simple task like specifying a sensor.  But, there is hope.  One very useful way that instrumentation manufacturers such as Whitman Controls help streamline compliance is by using Certification, Approval, and Testing marks.  Let’s define each of these items, and then go on to an example:  

At an inspection rate of 300 glass bottles per minute, our customer’s continuous inline inspection platform carries responsibility for making a instantaneous pass-or-fail decision on a single bottle every two-tenths of one second.  When a ‘fail’ decision is computed, a series of pneumatic cylinders and positioners isolate the suspect bottle, move it to a reject conveyor outfeed, and hold spacing on the remaining bottles so that inspections continue seamlessly. How did we protect the system from control air supply upsets? Find out the four ways we solved this challenge.

A recent customer contacted Whitman to discuss a solar-powered water pump application.  This client designs and manufactures solar pump systems intended to be deployed anywhere in the world where sunlight shines and water needs to flow.  A necessary technical feature of these systems was that they would automatically shut down should they lose incoming water flow, and that was all we needed to know to determine that we could help.

Process control sensors in Food & Beverage applications have a rough life.  Relentless cleaning with harsh chemicals, intentional large swings in operating conditions, and the perpetual demand to perform flawlessly or else real people might get real sick consuming compromised food products – you’d think it’d be a no-win situation for instrumentation manufacturers.

Recently, a midstream energy producer contacted Whitman to discuss an application that sought to optimize these proportions towards cleaner burning, more efficiently produced end-products. The issue at hand was inaccurate, high cost, high maintenance level control in the distillation feed tanks. Good thing custom level control is right up our alley!

Medical testing is a fascinating industry segment that sits squarely at the crossroads of human biology, clinical laboratory science, and industrial engineering. This OEM faced a series of large projects to help their customers (medical device contract manufacturers) scale up operations, and Whitman was eager to explore ways to help both the OEM and the end users in one fell swoop.

Contract Manufacturers operate in a very interesting market space, where they apply a rather narrow range of specialized equipment and know-how to a seemingly endless array of projects for an ever-changing set of customers.  Companies that provide contract manufacturing typically specialize in a defined type of production – that is, a specific style, material, media, process workflow, scale, or discipline of work – but not on a single set end product, brand, or label.  In this article, we look at a few key interests of selecting instrumentation for contract manufacturing equipment.