News of people and events important to the maintenance and reliability community

INVENSYS EXPANDING ITS WESTERN CANADA OPERATIONS
Invensys Process Systems has announced a significant expansion of its overall customer sales, engineering and support capabilities in Western Canada. As part of this expansion, the corporation recently began construction of a new, 15,500 square foot regional headquarters facility in South East Calgary. The complex will be twice as large as Invensys' present Calgary facility, providing three times the area to accommodate staging, testing and verification of customers' automation systems. Scheduled for completion next fall, the new site also will include a state-of-the art customer center, complete with meeting spaces, a training facility and a fully equipped demonstration area. In addition, over the last 18 months, Invensys has doubled its local sales force and more than doubled its local engineering capacity to increase project implementation capabilities and supplement end users' and EPCs' own engineering resources. It also has expanded its regional field service team.

SCHNEIDER BECOMES PRINCIPAL MEMBER OF ODVA
ODVA, the international association of the world's leading automation companies, has announced that Schneider Electric, S.A. will significantly increase its level of support for the organization by becoming one of its principal members. Other principal members include Cisco Systems, Eaton Electrical, Omron Corporation and Rockwell Automation. The move coincides with ODVA's plans to extend the CIP Network specifications to provide compatibility of Modbus®/TCP devices with networks built on the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP™). This extension will give existing Modbus/TCP users a clear path to CIP Network architectures while protecting their automation investments.

Schneider's increased support of ODVA reflects the company's plans to deploy EtherNet/IP as a foundation of its network strategy. According to industry analysts, this action, by a global Fortune 500 company, is a major indication of industry's continued push to adopt network technologies for automation that use standard, unmodified Ethernet and Internet technologies. Users are expected to benefit through significantly increased interoperability between the largest installed base of industrial Ethernet networks—EtherNet/IP and Modbus/TCP—as well as between automation products from a growing number of vendors. Combined, these benefits will reduce cost, time and risk for users deploying and maintaining their network architectures.

Schneider plans to roll out its next generation of EtherNet/IP products, incorporating connectivity to existing Modbus/TCP devices in 2008.

IMES PARTNERS WITH OPTIMAL MAINTENANCE DECISIONS
A new partnership between Imes Group of Aberdeen, UK, and Optimal Maintenance Decisions, Inc. (OMDEC) of Toronto, Canada, has been announced. Building on the success of the partners' contracts for government and industries, the new alliance brings together Imes' global network of facilities in the UK, USA, Europe and Australia that provide risk- and reliability-based asset integrity management services with OMDEC's advanced equipment reliability technology.

Imes' has over 20 years experience in providing asset integrity management services to the defense, nuclear, oil & gas and transport industries, ranging from risk and reliability studies, through design and certification consultancy services to full asset management of high-risk, highvalue equipment. The company is recognized worldwide for its patented Water Weights load-testing product and for the provision of innovative and tailor-made load measurement solutions in hostile environments. OMDEC develops and markets "EXAKT," the maintenance decision solution developed at the University of Toronto. EXAKT employs Proportional Hazard Modeling (PHM) to extract critical operating and maintenance knowledge to help users predict and avoid equipment failure and thus assure continuity of operations and mission readiness.

AMETEK, INC. ACQUIRES POWER CONTROL TECHNOLOGY
AMETEK, Inc. has announced that its acquisition of Halmar Robicon silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) power controller and related Power Control Systems technology and products of Siemens Energy & Automation. Halmar Robicon's advanced technology fits well with AMETEK Solidstate Controls, which is recognized as a leader in Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and battery management systems for industrial applications and power generation, and a global supplier of industrial SCR power controllers, custom power supplies and equipment.

GARLOCK KLOZURE ACQUIRES SYNTRON MECHANICAL SEAL LINE
Garlock Klozure, a Division of Garlock Sealing Technologies, has acquired the Syntron RP Mechanical Seal line from FMC Technologies, Inc. The Syntron RP seal is a small, cartridge-type, double seal used to seal fluids and gases on various rotating equipment such as pumps, compressors and mixers. The seal itself is constructed of brass or stainless steel, with flexible drive rings and lapped seal faces. The Syntron line and associated assets have relocated to Garlock's new facility in Palmyra, NY. News of people and events important to the maintenance and reliability community

MOTION ON THE MOVE WITH NEW ARKANSAS DISTRIBUTORSHIP
Motion Industries has expanded its ability to service customers in Arkansas by acquiring the assets of Jonesboro Bearing & Supply, a wholesale distributor of bearings, power transmission, industrial supplies and fasteners, headquartered in Jonesboro. Founded in 1967 by Harrel W. Ponder, the distributorship employs 33 people in two locations: Jonesboro and Stuttgart.

NAT'L TECHNICAL SYSTEMS IN TESTING AGREEMENT WITH EATON CORP.
National Technical Systems Inc. (NTS), a provider of test and engineering services, has entered into an agreement with Eaton Corporation to utilize their Southfield, MI vibration laboratory. Managing testing laboratories is NTS' core business.

Under the agreement, NTS Detroit will provide Eaton's Southfield facility with on-site testing services, as well as manage Eaton's 4,600 square-foot test facility, enabling the company to expand its vibration test capabilities by 40%, and increase chamber capacity by approximately 20%.

(Editor's Note: National Technical Systems serves the automotive, defense, aerospace, telecommunications, nuclear and high technology markets. Through its worldwide network of resources, the company provides full product life-cycle support, including design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management.)

CHEVRON NOW OFFERS FUNDAMENTAL LUBE COURSE IN SPANISH
Chevron's Lubricants University, an online training resource offering information on relevant technologies and trends in the lubrication and maintenance industry, has announced that it will offer its "Fundamentals of Lubrication" training course in Spanish, for free. The course targets Spanish-speaking industrial maintenance professionals and maintenance departments with Spanish-speaking employees who are interested in gaining an understanding of lubrication and its role in preventing wear and friction in mechanical equipment.

"We have seen the number of Spanish-speaking maintenance professionals grow with the increasing Hispanic population in the United States," says Virginia Moser, training coordinator, Chevron North America Lubricants. "To reach this developing market, it made sense to offer our most popular course in Spanish."

EMERSON REBRANDS ITS DENSITOMETER PRODUCTS
Emerson Process Management has announced a change in the brand name of the company's densitometers product line from Solartron to Micro Motion. Emerson acquired the densitometers product line in 2005 and added it to its Micro Motion offering, giving customers a complete singlesource solution for flow, density and viscosity measurement.

BACNET TESTING CERTIFIES JOHNSON CONTROLS' METASYS
A complete line of Johnson Controls Metasys System field gear is now BACnet Testing Laboratory (BTL) certified, a status that confirms the components' interoperability with other BACnet devices, including the ability to work seamlessly in multivendor environments. BACnet is a data communications protocol for building automation and control devices, including HVAC equipment and fire and life safety systems. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) adopted BACnet as a standard in 1995. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recognized the BACnet protocol in 2003. The ASHRAE Standard Project Committee 135 oversees and maintains it.