♦  The global market for factory automation equipment will expand from $120bn in 2010 to $185bn by 2016 – with a CAGR of 7.58% between 2011 and 2016 – according to a new forecast from MarketsandMarkets. It expects Asia-Pacific to be the fastest-growing regional market.

♦  Following their acquisition of Siemens’ Flender Cavex wormgear business last year, the new German owners Welter Zahnrad and Zahnradfertingung OTT have formed a company called Cavex and set up a new factory to manufacture the gearboxes. Salmon Consultancy has been appointed Cavex’s agent for the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia.

♦  The Finnish drives-maker Vacon has inaugurated a 2,500m² factory in Bangalore, India, to design and manufacture drives and to act as an after-sales service centre. Vacon established its Indian subsidiary in 2006.

♦  According to the ARC Advisory Group, Foundation Fieldbus accounted for nearly three quarters of the process fieldbus market in 2011. ARC expects the market to continue growing by more than 10% a year for the next five years.

♦  Emerson has acquired Avtron Loadbank which manufactures resistive and reactive loadbanks, neutral earthing resistors and test systems for standby power equipment.

♦  The Finnish drives-maker Vacon has started a co-operation with a Finnish battery manufacturer, European Batteries, to work on technologies that combine battery systems with AC drives. They believe that as energy production becomes more fragmented, battery systems will become increasingly widespread in energy production and could support or replace traditional transmission systems.

♦  All large enterprises in Europe will have to undergo an energy audit every four years from 2014, under a draft European Union directive aimed at saving energy, reducing CO₂ emissions, and thus demand for emission allowances under the EU`s emissions trading scheme.