Category Archives: Automation

Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG is a medium-sized, internationally acting company located in Verl, Westphalia, Germany. It was established in 1980 as a business unit of the Elektro Beckhoff GmbH, an electrical installation and retail company which was founded in 1953 by Arnold Beckhoff Senior. Until 2005 the business unit "New Automation Technology" operated under the name Beckhoff Industrie Elektronik (Beckhoff Industrial Electronics).

In 2005 the company Elektro Beckhoff GmbH has been restructured into three companies:

The company Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG produces automation technology in different performance categories, from single components up to system solutions. The company focuses on PC-based control technology with the segments Industrial PC, Embedded PC, fieldbus components, drive technology and automation software. The Beckhoff PC Control philosophy, the Bus Terminals and TwinCAT automation software are multifunctional alternatives to traditional control technology. With EtherCAT, launched in 2003, the company initiated a real-time Ethernet for system control.

In 2015 the company generated a turnover of 620 Million Euro. The actual number of employees amounts to 3000.[2] The Headquarters in Verl is the location for all central departments. The domestic sales department is supplemented by subsidiaries all over Germany.[1]

On the international market, the company is represented by subsidiaries in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. Through co-operation with partners, Beckhoff is represented in more than 75 countries.

Beckhoff products are used for the automation of machines and plants as well as for building automation. The company creates standard and customized solutions for diverse applications in industries like:

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Beckhoff Automation - Wikipedia

The core experience of the game is the Grand Campaign. In this game mode, spanning from 1946 to 2020, you start your enterprise from scratch and try to become one of the most renowned car companies in the world. Many roads can potentially lead to success: catering to the masses with small, affordable cars, being an exclusive supercar manufacturer, or focusing on big luxurious flagship cars for the few.

Conquer niches with targeted marketing, or diversify while keeping an eye on brand awareness, brand reputation and prestige to build a loyal following. Compete in ever-shifting regional and global dynamic markets that come with various regulations, featuring many different market segments and buyer demographics.

Set up and manage your factories, expand your production capabilities and improve your cars by investing into research and development to get an edge over your competition. High quality cars and good quality assurance might cost a fortune, but may pay for themselves in the long term. Like in real life, in Automation car design and marketing is full of compromises.

To build and maintain a core team of leading engineers helping you shine in different areas of expertise is just as much part of running a successful business as to properly manage your finances. Keep track of commodity and stock markets and invest your hard-earned cash.

Multiplayer Campaign mode will be available, allowing you to cooperate or compete with other players.

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Automation - Official Site

In software testing, test automation is the use of special software (separate from the software being tested) to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes.[1] Test automation can automate some repetitive but necessary tasks in a formalized testing process already in place, or perform additional testing that would be difficult to do manually. Test automation is critical for continuous delivery and continuous testing.

Some software testing tasks, such as extensive low-level interface regression testing, can be laborious and time-consuming to do manually. In addition, a manual approach might not always be effective in finding certain classes of defects. Test automation offers a possibility to perform these types of testing effectively. Once automated tests have been developed, they can be run quickly and repeatedly. Many times, this can be a cost-effective method for regression testing of software products that have a long maintenance life. Even minor patches over the lifetime of the application can cause existing features to break which were working at an earlier point in time.

There are many approaches to test automation, however below are the general approaches used widely:

Test automation tools can be expensive, and are usually employed in combination with manual testing. Test automation can be made cost-effective in the long term, especially when used repeatedly in regression testing.For example A test case for common flow of an application can be a good candidate for test automation. such test case required to be executed (regression testing) every time when there is new future or enhancement done in the application. Using test automation, Manual testing effort can be eliminated.

In automated testing the Test Engineer or Software quality assurance person must have software coding ability, since the test cases are written in the form of source code which, when run, produce output according to the assertions that are a part of it.

One way to generate test cases automatically is model-based testing through use of a model of the system for test case generation, but research continues into a variety of alternative methodologies for doing so.[citation needed] In some cases, the model-based approach enables non-technical users to create automated business test cases in plain English so that no programming of any kind is needed in order to configure them for multiple operating systems, browsers, and smart devices.[2]

What to automate, when to automate, or even whether one really needs automation are crucial decisions which the testing (or development) team must make. Selecting the correct features of the product for automation largely determines the success of the automation. Automating unstable features or features that are undergoing changes should be avoided.[3]

A growing trend in software development is the use of testing frameworks such as the xUnit frameworks (for example, JUnit and NUnit) that allow the execution of unit tests to determine whether various sections of the code are acting as expected under various circumstances. Test cases describe tests that need to be run on the program to verify that the program runs as expected.

Test automation mostly using unit testing is a key feature of agile software development, where it is known as test-driven development (TDD). Unit tests are written to define the functionality before the code is written. However, these unit tests evolve and are extended as coding progresses, issues are discovered and the code is subjected to refactoring.[4] Only when all the tests for all the demanded features pass is the code considered complete. Proponents argue that it produces software that is both more reliable and less costly than code that is tested by manual exploration.[citation needed] It is considered more reliable because the code coverage is better, and because it is run constantly during development rather than once at the end of a waterfall development cycle. The developer discovers defects immediately upon making a change, when it is least expensive to fix. Finally, code refactoring is safer when unit testing is used; transforming the code into a simpler form with less code duplication, but equivalent behavior, is much less likely to introduce new defects when the refactored code is covered by unit tests.

Many test automation tools provide record and playback features that allow users to interactively record user actions and replay them back any number of times, comparing actual results to those expected. The advantage of this approach is that it requires little or no software development. This approach can be applied to any application that has a graphical user interface. However, reliance on these features poses major reliability and maintainability problems. Relabelling a button or moving it to another part of the window may require the test to be re-recorded. Record and playback also often adds irrelevant activities or incorrectly records some activities.[citation needed]

A variation on this type of tool is for testing of web sites. Here, the "interface" is the web page. However, such a framework utilizes entirely different techniques because it is rendering HTML and listening to DOM Events instead of operating system events. Headless browsers or solutions based on Selenium Web Driver are normally used for this purpose.[5][6][7]

Another variation of this type of test automation tool is for testing mobile applications. This is very useful given the number of different sizes, resolutions, and operating systems used on mobile phones. For this variation, a framework is used in order to instantiate actions on the mobile device and to gather results of the actions.[8][bettersourceneeded]

Another variation is script-less test automation that does not use record and playback, but instead builds a model[clarification needed] of the application and then enables the tester to create test cases by simply inserting test parameters and conditions, which requires no scripting skills.

API testing is also being widely used by software testers due to the difficulty of creating and maintaining GUI-based automation testing. It involves directly testing APIs as part of integration testing, to determine if they meet expectations for functionality, reliability, performance, and security.[9] Since APIs lack a GUI, API testing is performed at the message layer.[10] API testing is considered critical when an API serves as the primary interface to application logic since GUI tests can be difficult to maintain with the short release cycles and frequent changes commonly used with agile software development and DevOps.[11][12]

Continuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline to obtain immediate feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate.[13][14] For Continuous Testing, the scope of testing extends from validating bottom-up requirements or user stories to assessing the system requirements associated with overarching business goals.[15]

Testing tools can help automate tasks such as product installation, test data creation, GUI interaction, problem detection (consider parsing or polling agents equipped with oracles, defect logging, etc., without necessarily automating tests in an end-to-end fashion.

One must keep satisfying popular requirements when thinking of test automation:

A test automation framework is an integrated system that sets the rules of automation of a specific product. This system integrates the function libraries, test data sources, object details and various reusable modules. These components act as small building blocks which need to be assembled to represent a business process. The framework provides the basis of test automation and simplifies the automation effort.

The main advantage of a framework of assumptions, concepts and tools that provide support for automated software testing is the low cost for maintenance. If there is change to any test case then only the test case file needs to be updated and the driver Script and startup script will remain the same. Ideally, there is no need to update the scripts in case of changes to the application.

Choosing the right framework/scripting technique helps in maintaining lower costs. The costs associated with test scripting are due to development and maintenance efforts. The approach of scripting used during test automation has effect on costs.

Various framework/scripting techniques are generally used:

The Testing framework is responsible for:[16]

Test automation interface are platforms that provide a single workspace for incorporating multiple testing tools and frameworks for System/Integration testing of application under test. The goal of Test Automation Interface is to simplify the process of mapping tests to business criteria without coding coming in the way of the process. Test automation interface are expected to improve the efficiency and flexibility of maintaining test scripts.[17]

Test Automation Interface consists of the following core modules:

Interface engines are built on top of Interface Environment. Interface engine consists of a parser and a test runner. The parser is present to parse the object files coming from the object repository into the test specific scripting language. The test runner executes the test scripts using a test harness.[17]

Object repositories are a collection of UI/Application object data recorded by the testing tool while exploring the application under test.[17]

Tools are specifically designed to target some particular test environment, such as Windows and web automation tools, etc. Tools serve as a driving agent for an automation process. However, an automation framework is not a tool to perform a specific task, but rather an infrastructure that provides the solution where different tools can do their job in a unified manner. This provides a common platform for the automation engineer.

There are various types of frameworks. They are categorized on the basis of the automation component they leverage. These are:

Read more:

Test automation - Wikipedia

joins

Piedmont Joins iAutomation! - Automation is pleased to announce the acquisition of Piedmont Automation as our latest affirmation of commitment to expand and improve services to our customers and the partnership with our strategic suppliers.

New Compact, Sturdy Solenoid Valves - It's your choice with the valve series VUVS and VUVG - Two ranges for lots of applications along with the usual Festo quality and an outstanding price, performance ratio.

Let's Clear the AIR (with pumps & compressors) - Many OEM pneumatic applications require the air stream to be clear of foreign particles such as oil. This is especially important in the medical, laboratory, environmental, and food preparation markets.

PREDICTIVE INTELLIGENCE FOR PNEUMATICS - Introducing IntelliSense, a technology platform enabling users to be proactive about maintenance and system optimization.

HYGIENIC/WASHDOWN SOLUTIONS - Check out these products designed to meet the toughest hygienic requirements.

TRACEABILITY = VISIBILITY = ACTIONABLE DATA - Traceability is the act of documenting every step in a process chain. This means recording the history, location, or use of an item by means of automated identification.

See more of the Latest Innovative Products

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iAutomation

Automation GT designs and manufactures custom machines for clients in need of reliable, efficient, and precise automated systems. Whether you have utilized automation machinery in your manufacturing processes for years or you are new to the concept of automation, we guarantee to help you at every stage of design and manufacture to ensure that you get the machine that will best meet your needs.

Since our founding in 2002, we have developed a reputation for design perfection and innovative practice, andin every facet of our business practice we live out our values of consistency, reliability, and exceptional customer service.

Our core competencies are in innovative automation and robotics design. In our company history, we have established ourselves as experienced manufacturers of machines used in a variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical device production, aerospace and defense, automotive manufacturing and renewable energy. We are highly knowledgeable on production standards and requirements in each of these fields, but we do not limit ourselves to these industries, and we welcome your inquiries on machinery for other purposes.

We take pride in staying involved in our community and local Southern California automation industry, but we are global in scope and welcome new partnerships from clients all over the world.

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Custom Automation & Machine Design | Automation GT

How to Get a Job

The best way to get and keep a job through Automation is to help us please our customers. Without them, we have no jobs to offer.

Notify your supervisor immediately. He/She will coordinate with Automation to see that you get appropriate medical care. In the event of an emergency, you will be taken to the nearest emergency room. For other injuries, you will be taken to our primary care center. Never drive yourself to the clinic.

Were glad to have you join our team! We hope to help you find work that puts you closer to fulfilling your personal and career goals.

Included in this brochure are some of our guidelines, procedures and policies. Please read it over and ask any questions.

In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions at Automation Personnel Services will be based on merit, qualifications and abilities. Automation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or any other characteristic protected by law.

Automation will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in an undue hardship. This policy governs all aspects of employment, including selection, job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.

Automation is committed to providing a work environment that is free of discrimination and unlawful harassment. Actions, jokes or comments based on an individuals sex, race, ethnicity, age, religion, or any other legally protected characteristic will not be tolerated. Anyone engaging in sexual or other unlawful harassment will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Any employee who wants to report an incident of sexual or other unlawful harassment, or feels that they have been discriminated against should promptly report the matter to the branch manager, regional manager, vice president, or the president of Automation. Such reports will be kept confidential and can be made without fear of reprisal.

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Job Seekers - Automation Personnel Services

In software testing, test automation is the use of special software (separate from the software being tested) to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes.[1] Test automation can automate some repetitive but necessary tasks in a formalized testing process already in place, or perform additional testing that would be difficult to do manually. Test automation is critical for continuous delivery and continuous testing.

Some software testing tasks, such as extensive low-level interface regression testing, can be laborious and time-consuming to do manually. In addition, a manual approach might not always be effective in finding certain classes of defects. Test automation offers a possibility to perform these types of testing effectively. Once automated tests have been developed, they can be run quickly and repeatedly. Many times, this can be a cost-effective method for regression testing of software products that have a long maintenance life. Even minor patches over the lifetime of the application can cause existing features to break which were working at an earlier point in time.

There are many approaches to test automation, however below are the general approaches used widely:

Test automation tools can be expensive, and are usually employed in combination with manual testing. Test automation can be made cost-effective in the long term, especially when used repeatedly in regression testing.[citation needed]

In automated testing the Test Engineer or Software quality assurance person must have software coding ability, since the test cases are written in the form of source code which, when run, produce output according to the assertions that are a part of it.

One way to generate test cases automatically is model-based testing through use of a model of the system for test case generation, but research continues into a variety of alternative methodologies for doing so.[citation needed] In some cases, the model-based approach enables non-technical users to create automated business test cases in plain English so that no programming of any kind is needed in order to configure them for multiple operating systems, browsers, and smart devices.[2]

What to automate, when to automate, or even whether one really needs automation are crucial decisions which the testing (or development) team must make. Selecting the correct features of the product for automation largely determines the success of the automation. Automating unstable features or features that are undergoing changes should be avoided.[3]

A growing trend in software development is the use of testing frameworks such as the xUnit frameworks (for example, JUnit and NUnit) that allow the execution of unit tests to determine whether various sections of the code are acting as expected under various circumstances. Test cases describe tests that need to be run on the program to verify that the program runs as expected.

Test automation mostly using unit testing is a key feature of agile software development, where it is known as test-driven development (TDD). Unit tests are written to define the functionality before the code is written. However, these unit tests evolve and are extended as coding progresses, issues are discovered and the code is subjected to refactoring.[4] Only when all the tests for all the demanded features pass is the code considered complete. Proponents argue that it produces software that is both more reliable and less costly than code that is tested by manual exploration.[citation needed] It is considered more reliable because the code coverage is better, and because it is run constantly during development rather than once at the end of a waterfall development cycle. The developer discovers defects immediately upon making a change, when it is least expensive to fix. Finally, code refactoring is safer when unit testing is used; transforming the code into a simpler form with less code duplication, but equivalent behavior, is much less likely to introduce new defects when the refactored code is covered by unit tests.

Many test automation tools provide record and playback features that allow users to interactively record user actions and replay them back any number of times, comparing actual results to those expected. The advantage of this approach is that it requires little or no software development. This approach can be applied to any application that has a graphical user interface. However, reliance on these features poses major reliability and maintainability problems. Relabelling a button or moving it to another part of the window may require the test to be re-recorded. Record and playback also often adds irrelevant activities or incorrectly records some activities.[citation needed]

A variation on this type of tool is for testing of web sites. Here, the "interface" is the web page. However, such a framework utilizes entirely different techniques because it is rendering HTML and listening to DOM Events instead of operating system events. Headless browsers or solutions based on Selenium Web Driver are normally used for this purpose.[5][6][7]

Another variation of this type of test automation tool is for testing mobile applications. This is very useful given the number of different sizes, resolutions, and operating systems used on mobile phones. For this variation, a framework is used in order to instantiate actions on the mobile device and to gather results of the actions.[8][bettersourceneeded]

Another variation is script-less test automation that does not use record and playback, but instead builds a model[clarification needed] of the application and then enables the tester to create test cases by simply inserting test parameters and conditions, which requires no scripting skills.

API testing is also being widely used by software testers due to the difficulty of creating and maintaining GUI-based automation testing. It involves directly testing APIs as part of integration testing, to determine if they meet expectations for functionality, reliability, performance, and security.[9] Since APIs lack a GUI, API testing is performed at the message layer.[10] API testing is considered critical when an API serves as the primary interface to application logic since GUI tests can be difficult to maintain with the short release cycles and frequent changes commonly used with agile software development and DevOps.[11][12]

Continuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline to obtain immediate feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate.[13][14] For Continuous Testing, the scope of testing extends from validating bottom-up requirements or user stories to assessing the system requirements associated with overarching business goals.[15]

Testing tools can help automate tasks such as product installation, test data creation, GUI interaction, problem detection (consider parsing or polling agents equipped with oracles, defect logging, etc., without necessarily automating tests in an end-to-end fashion.

One must keep satisfying popular requirements when thinking of test automation:

A test automation framework is an integrated system that sets the rules of automation of a specific product. This system integrates the function libraries, test data sources, object details and various reusable modules. These components act as small building blocks which need to be assembled to represent a business process. The framework provides the basis of test automation and simplifies the automation effort.

The main advantage of a framework of assumptions, concepts and tools that provide support for automated software testing is the low cost for maintenance. If there is change to any test case then only the test case file needs to be updated and the driver Script and startup script will remain the same. Ideally, there is no need to update the scripts in case of changes to the application.

Choosing the right framework/scripting technique helps in maintaining lower costs. The costs associated with test scripting are due to development and maintenance efforts. The approach of scripting used during test automation has effect on costs.

Various framework/scripting techniques are generally used:

The Testing framework is responsible for:[16]

Test automation interface are platforms that provide a single workspace for incorporating multiple testing tools and frameworks for System/Integration testing of application under test. The goal of Test Automation Interface is to simplify the process of mapping tests to business criteria without coding coming in the way of the process. Test automation interface are expected to improve the efficiency and flexibility of maintaining test scripts.[17]

Test Automation Interface consists of the following core modules:

Interface engines are built on top of Interface Environment. Interface engine consists of a parser and a test runner. The parser is present to parse the object files coming from the object repository into the test specific scripting language. The test runner executes the test scripts using a test harness.[17]

Object repositories are a collection of UI/Application object data recorded by the testing tool while exploring the application under test.[17]

Tools are specifically designed to target some particular test environment, such as Windows and web automation tools, etc. Tools serve as a driving agent for an automation process. However, an automation framework is not a tool to perform a specific task, but rather an infrastructure that provides the solution where different tools can do their job in a unified manner. This provides a common platform for the automation engineer.

There are various types of frameworks. They are categorized on the basis of the automation component they leverage. These are:

See the original post:

Test automation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After a bit less than two weeks in open beta with seven bugfix updates, most things have been sorted out and we are ready for the main release of this big update

Below you will find an overview of the main new features.

Buyer Demographics & Market Regions

You now get direct feedback on what your car is good and how many people can afford to buy it in 60 different demographics that all have distinctly different tastes and budgets. Optimize your cars to become the most competitive throughout the game.

A first rough implementation of three different, fictional, static markets for you to try and conquer with your designs. Every region has plenty of characteristics that influence buyer choices, even in this incomplete stage of their development.

Rear-Engined Cars

Finally you can put engines on or behind the rear axle of your cars, but watch out for that massive oversteer coming your way.

V6 Turbo Engines & Plenty of Little Things

Wanted to put a twin-turbo system on your V6 designs? Now you can!

That is of course not the only changes to the game, there have been plenty of additions, just some of them are:

A big thank you to everyone who helped find and report bugs in the open beta phase of this update cycle! In the next days we will give you news on what the next subproject will include in a Little Dev Update.

Thank you for your patience and have fun with this update. Cheers!

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News | Automation | The Car Company Tycoon Game

PLEASE, do not simply see my "not recommended" and assume I'm saying this is a bad game.

The concept behind this is absolutely amazing, and I want this game to be finished so badly. The way things are set up (so far) are very easy to learn, and work well. The creation system is basically broken down into a series of many choices, with explanations for the impacts of your choices when the option is moused over. The fluidity of the system thus far only makes me more anxious to play the finished product.

Now, to the point. I do not recommend this game to anyone, as it currently exists. I have been burned quite a few times by early access games, and I usually take a stance of not buying them under any circumstances. My excitement for this concept got the better of me, and I just had to know if it was good.

As of the time of this writing, the tycoon/campaign mode has not been implemented. All you can do is create cars/engines etc. It is entertaining for a little while, but not enough to be worth the price. That is why I don't recommend this. I do recommend that you keep a very close eye on this one, if this concept interests you, and consider buying it when the tycoon mode has been added.

If the devs do this right, this could be an absolutely amazing game. My advice is simply to wait and see how they do with the first major addition to this game.

I will update/change this review as updates are released for the game.

EDIT (23 June 2015): I just hopped on again to test it out since I haven't touched this one in a while, and I still stand by what I said. The bug fixes and improvements made since my review are very apparent. The whole car making process is very smooth, and still fun. It appears the devs are trying to get the creation process completely done before implementing the campaign/tycoon. I regularly check the announcements, and haven't heard them mention anything about that mode coming anytime soon. I find this particularly strange, considering they're in the open beta stage of the game. Why would they consider the game to be in the beta phase when not a single piece of the main game mode has been implemented, or even said to be coming soon? Personally, I think the creation mode is in a good enough state where they could easily get to work on tycoon mode, and throw small bug fixes and content updates here and there. Every time I play this game, I find myself disappointed when I reach the end of the creation process and then have to say "well...I guess that's it." and then go play something else. For me, at least, it feels like a waste of time to make a car, and not be able to do anything with it.

Read more:

Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game on Steam

A letter from our founder

Friends of EVA,

I am beyond thrilled to announce that we have acquired Bowers & Wilkinsin my opinion, the absolute quality and design leader in high-end audio equipment. Ive personally been a huge fan and loyal customer of Bowers & Wilkins for decades and truly admire and respect their Chairman, Joe Atkins. What he and his team have created over the past 30 years is simply inspiring.

Since I founded EVA Automation two years ago, we have been working hard to create fantastic home A/V user experiences. When it was time to seek out partners for our journey ahead, Bowers & Wilkins was unquestionably our #1 choice, and after I met Joe and his team, it was immediately clear that we share the same long term product vision and sincere passion for home entertainment.

To my new friends at Bowers & Wilkins: I cant wait to meet all of you! Your brand and heritage are second to none, and we at EVA are excited to operate as one combined company under the Bowers & Wilkins name. Joe Atkins has graciously agreed to remain the CEO of our combined company, while I will be our Executive Chairman. There are very few leaders in home A/V as experienced, respected and successful as Joe, and I look forward to partnering with and learning from himand all of you.

One of the most important parts of our acquisition is that Joe is maintaining a significant equity stake in our combined company and will be joining our board of directors, further aligning all of our interests.

We will have much, much more to announce when the time is right about our vision and our products. In the meantime, we will continue to work hard on developing a truly special, highly integrated, and easy to use home A/V experience that I know youll love.

Until then,

Gideon Yu Executive Chairman Bowers & Wilkins

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EVA Automation