News
Practical writing on automation integration, robotics, workforce transformation, training and sustainability.
In short
The Wartens UK news hub publishes practical writing on automation integration, legacy PLC migration, virtual commissioning, robotics, workforce training and energy storage controls, written by an automation group working since 2013.
Featured 路 Training
Practising ladder logic usually needs a licence and a controller. LADX Ladder is a free ladder logic simulator in the browser that models the scan properly. Here is how to use it well.
路 7 min read
Engineering software
The schematic set is half a control package, yet it usually lives in a different tool from the code. Here is what a complete set contains and how LADX CAD drafts it on the same project.
路 7 min read
Engineering software
Documentation is the most disliked and most billable part of a controls job. Here is the document set a UK project owes, from FDS to O&M manual, and how to stop it going stale.
路 7 min read
Engineering software
Siemens, Rockwell and Beckhoff each offer an AI assistant for their own tools. Integrators who touch all three in a week need something else. Here is how LADX approaches it.
路 8 min read
Engineering software
Water and energy control programs are not something you paste into a public chatbot. Here is how an offline AI set-up with LADX Studio and a local model works, and where it stops.
路 8 min read
Digital twins
An operational twin is a live 3D replica of a water asset fed by SCADA and sensor data. Here is what one does, what iUNI delivers and how to keep it safely separate from control.
路 8 min read
Digital twins
Testing logic on a model is one thing. Rehearsing the actual site sequence, with the people who will do it, is what shortens the outage. Here is how a rehearsal on a digital twin runs.
路 8 min read
Training
Most colleges have fewer PLC rigs than learners. A VR PLC lab adds practice time without more hardware. Here is what iUNI's lab does, what it cannot replace and how to pilot it.
路 8 min read
Digital twins
A plain product brief: what an iUNI digital twin is, which UK manufacturers it suits, how it is built, what it costs to start and where it does not help.
路 8 min read
Digital twins
Most virtual commissioning advice is written by one vendor about its own tools. Mixed lines need a method that works whatever the controller. Here is how we approach it.
路 8 min read
Energy storage
Most BESS controls disputes trace back to a thin specification. Here is what an EPC contractor should write down before letting the SCADA and controls package.
路 8 min read
Water & wastewater
AMP8 automation work is landing on control engineers now. Here is where the PLC, SCADA and telemetry scope sits in the 拢104bn programme and how to plan for it.
路 6 min read
Water & wastewater
A treatment works cannot stop for a control upgrade. This is how we plan PLC and SCADA replacement so the plant keeps running and the software works first time.
路 6 min read
Water & wastewater
Thousands of water network sites still report over copper. Here is how to plan telemetry outstation replacement before analogue lines are switched off.
路 6 min read
Water & wastewater
Every storm overflow in England now has a monitor. The hard part is the data chain behind it. Here is what EDM requires and how to engineer it properly.
路 6 min read
Water & wastewater
Pumping stations caused 693 pollution incidents in England in 2024. Most control upgrades can cut that risk with better logic, backup levels and alarms.
路 6 min read
Water & wastewater
Too many alarms are as dangerous as too few. This is how to run an alarm rationalisation on a SCADA system without stopping the plant.
路 6 min read
Water & wastewater
Every SCADA and telemetry upgrade changes the attack surface. Here is how to design security in from the start, in a form your security team can assess.
路 6 min read
Digital twins
A digital twin of a treatment works does not have to start as a national programme. Start with one process, real control logic and the data you already collect.
路 6 min read
Manufacturing automation
Made Smarter offers match-funded grants of up to 拢20,000 in most English regions. Here is how to scope an automation project that qualifies and actually pays back.
路 7 min read
Manufacturing automation
The machine is often less than half the cost of an automation project. Here is where the rest of the money goes and how to budget so nothing surprises you.
路 7 min read
Machine safety & standards
BS EN 60204-1 is the standard behind almost every machine control panel in the UK. Here is what it covers and where projects most often fall short.
路 7 min read
Machine safety & standards
The UK still recognises CE marking, but UKCA has not gone away. Here is what applies to machinery placed on the GB market in 2026, including own-use machines.
路 7 min read
Manufacturing automation
The S7-300 is available until 2033, which sounds like plenty of time. It is not, if you have dozens of machines. Here is how to plan the migration.
路 7 min read
Manufacturing automation
Food and drink is the UK's largest manufacturing subsector, yet many sites still pack and palletise by hand. Here is how to pick the right first automation project.
路 7 min read
Manufacturing automation
Most packaging lines lose more time to short stops than to breakdowns. OEE monitoring shows where, if you capture the right signals. Here is how.
路 7 min read
Manufacturing automation
Palletising is one of the most common first robot projects for UK SMEs. Here is how to choose between a cobot and an industrial robot and specify the cell properly.
路 7 min read
Energy storage
Great Britain's battery fleet passed 7 GW in early 2026. Every site depends on SCADA and controls that work on day one. Here is what a good BESS SCADA includes.
路 7 min read
Energy storage
Dynamic Containment needs full response within a second. Here is what that means for frequency measurement, controller design, state of energy and proof of delivery.
路 7 min read
Energy storage
Most GB batteries connect to distribution networks under G99. Here is the controls and documentation work that decides how smoothly that connection goes.
路 7 min read
Digital twins
Virtual commissioning moves PLC debugging from the factory floor to the office. Here is how it works, what results are published and how to start small.
路 7 min read
Training
VR lets people practise the jobs where a mistake is too dangerous to learn from. Here is how manufacturers choose the right modules and measure the result.
路 7 min read
Training
Skills England expects demand for 148,000 workers in advanced manufacturing priority occupations by 2035. PLC skills are near the top of the list. Here is how to train them.
路 7 min read