HANNOVER— April 24, 2017 – Comau, a global company operating in the industrial automation field, will showcase its “new era of automation” at the Hannover Messe 2017 tradeshow, being held April 23-28, 2017 in Hannover, Germany. The event, which is considered to be the world’s leading industrial show, is the perfect location to display Comau’s commitment to innovation aimed at harnessing the full potential of Industry 4.0 within today’s factories.

Leveraging its 40+ years of experience in the industry, Comau is in a unique position to understand the processes and the underlying needs of the operators and to propose them its advanced solutions. As a result, Comau’s approach to collaborative, digital manufacturing is open, connected and easy to understand and to use. More importantly, it is characterized by a totally safe and synergistic collaboration between man and robot. HUMANufacturing: where industrial robots are no longer confined within the barriers and instead work directly alongside operators. HUMANufacturing also means strengthening the value of “human” in the manufacturing industry, and to this end Comau will showcase the power of its innovative vision in hall 17, stand C04, directly inside a working production line. Using wearable and mobile human-machine interface devices, line operators will work in close contact with AURA robots within the assembly line. In addition, Comau’s SmartRob assembly solution and the new Agile1500 AGV system, both of which are fully IoT-ready, are also part of the production line.

Another robotics first at Hannover Messe 2017 is the unique, “build-it-yourself” articulated 6-axis robot based on a 100-percent open-source hardware and software platform that encourages application sharing and expansion. Perfect for educational, entertainment, commercial and consumer use, the evolutionary e.DO robot can handle everything from executing simple pick and place movements to automating applications for business or personal use. A true industrial-like robot, e.DO has the power and flexibility to run virtually any application that falls within its speed and payload parameters.

“It’s an honor to demonstrate our vision of Industry 4.0, which we call HUMANufacturing,” says Mauro Fenzi, CEO of Comau. “Digitalization is transforming the industry in amazing ways, and our role is to guide companies of all sizes throughout this process, providing them with customized solutions that are fully connected and easy to use. This commitment to developing products and skills that enhance the digital factory is evidenced in the expansion of our comprehensive offer, which we have the pleasure of unveiling here at Hannover Messe.”

The digitalization process will also require the creation of new expertise and professional roles at all levels, which is why a dedicated area of the Comau booth is designed to help visitors understand the new opportunities and challenges presented by Industry 4.0. Finally, Comau Academy will offer two free seminars per day — at 10.30 and again at 14.30 — looking at how companies can exploit their potential to the fullest and increase the efficiency of their production processes.

These and other innovative solutions can be seen exclusively at the Comau booth, hall 17, stand C04. Comau showcases its collaborative robots AURA together with the openROBOTICS solutions also in the Application Park (hall 17 – stand E42).

Posted April 24, 2017

Source: Comau

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — April 21, 2017 — California Linen Services, Pasadena, has earned TRSA’s Hygienically Clean Food Service designation, reflecting their commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by TRSA inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.

The certification confirms the laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing linens and garments using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, the focal point for TRSA inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points (CCPs) that minimize risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected;
• Managers understand legal requirements;
• OSHA-compliant; and
• Physical plant operates effectively.

In addition, the California Linen Services facility passed three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean garments and linens and zero presence of harmful bacteria. To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for full- and limited-service restaurants, hotels, hospitals, educational institutions and other food service operations.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices are examined in the Hygienically Clean Food Safety inspection process, evaluating the plant’s techniques for:

• Conducting hazard analysis;
• Determining CCPs, monitoring their control, correcting them if not under control;
• Validating and verifying HACCP system effectiveness; and
• Documenting and record-keeping to show ongoing conformance.

TRSA’s inspections also evaluate practices relevant to handling and processing textile products used in food manufacturing/processing establishments for adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives. Introduced in January 2016, Hygienically Clean Food Safety brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for laundering linens and other textile products for food service used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

“Congratulations to California Linen Services on their certification,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their dedication to building their customers’ confidence that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”

Posted April 21, 2017

Source: TRSA

WASHINGTON — April 20, 2017 — The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) applauded President Trump’s April 18 Executive Order directing the federal government to maximize Buy American opportunities and to review compliance with existing Buy American laws and regulations.

“Thank you to President Trump for making Buy American a priority,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo on behalf of the U.S. textile industry.

“Buying American is good for the country, good for American jobs, and good for the U.S. textile industry,” Tantillo continued.

“NCTO has had a longstanding policy of supporting Buy American laws. We intend to work with the Trump administration to help it improve implementation and enforcement of these job creating statutes and regulations,” Tantillo added.

“Since 1941, a Buy American law applying to the Department of Defense (DOD) known as the Berry Amendment has supported American troops, strengthened national security, and incentivized U.S. textile industry investment and innovation. This is a concrete example of how Buy American laws benefit the U.S. economy and its workers,” Tantillo said, noting that DOD sourced roughly $1.5 billion in textiles and clothing last year under the Berry Amendment.

The Berry Amendment, 10 U.S.C. 2533a, requires the Department of Defense to buy textiles and clothing made with 100 percent U.S. content and labor.

Another Buy American law, the Kissell Amendment, 6 USC 453b, requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to buy U.S. made textiles and clothing, but currently is only applied within DHS to the U.S. Coast Guard and, with some exceptions, the Transportation Security Administration.

NCTO is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

Posted April 20, 2017

Source: The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)

MINNEAPOLIS — April 20, 2017 — AmeriPride Services today announced that it is has been re-certified “Clean Green” by the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA). This voluntary industry designation signifies that its production facilities meet the highest standards for operational efficiency and sustainability and have met all criteria for certification.

“This recognition demonstrates our ongoing commitment to sustainability and clean operations across the company,” said Brian Keegan, Safety and Sustainability officer for AmeriPride. “Our work to achieve and maintain certification, along with our efforts to employ new production and delivery methods and new technologies that complement our existing operations, have helped to establish ourselves as an industry leader in this area.”

Clean Green certification provides third-party verification that the uniforms, linens, mats, towels and other reusable textiles procured from AmeriPride are laundered in an environmentally friendly manner. It is the only industry certification that quantifies and validates a commercial laundry’s environmental sustainability.

To attain Clean Green certification, a commercial laundry must comply with specific water and energy standards and demonstrate best management practices. Some of the innovative programs AmeriPride has implemented across the company include adoption of heat reclamation systems, water conservation programs, environmentally friendly detergents, solar energy, alternative fuel vehicles and mat recycling programs.

“I applaud AmeriPride for their ongoing sustainability efforts and maintaining the highest standards in their production and delivery operations,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Meeting all the criteria for certification is not easy, but the company consistently raises the bar on industry-leading processes and technologies.”

Posted April 20, 2017

Source: AmeriPride