Perhaps some of the age-old questions that are not disappearing anytime soon in industrial automation can be related to a common scenario even those of us who don’t regularly work in the field can relate to. 

Here’s what we mean: If you’re driving a 10-year-old car with well over 100,000 miles on it, you will need to take it into the shop on occasion. 

When you do this, what follows is an inevitable call with a laundry list of items that need to be fixed. That when these questions run through your mind: Is it better to replace some parts versus others? What’s the ultimate shelf-life of this car and what’s the cost benefit analysis of continuing to put money into it? Should I just buy a new car?

As systems integrators who work in automation and controls, we see this battle play out every day with plant floor equipment and we help guide our clients to find solutions that meet their needs. Sometimes it’s a quick fix to get a vital machine up and running and ensure continued production on critical process. Other times it’s a complete greenfield design and build for an expansion. 

One thing we have been witness to is the value delivered when automation upgrades, whatever the scale, are installed with an eye toward predictive and adaptive environments.

Huffman Engineering’s own Erik Petersen, Mechanical Engineer & Isaac Novosad, Electrical Engineer share the benefits of lyophilizer integration into a centralized SCADA system in Automation World magazine… check it out here: Automation Upgrade Enables Use of Simulation to Transform Production Decision-Making (automationworld.com)