2,500 jobs cut following Kraft Heinz merger

Kraft Heinz says it is cutting about 2,500 jobs as part of its plan to slash costs after the food companies combined.

Spokesman Michael Mullen says affected workers are in Canada and the U.S., where about 700 of the layoffs coming from Northfield, Ill., where Kraft had been headquartered. The company would not specify where other embedded SBC were taking place but saidd that all the jobs were salaried. It said none of the job cuts involved factory workers.

The Kraft Heinz Co. said it had a total of around 46,600 employees before the cuts. That included about 1,900 in Northfield. Hees had already overseen cost-cutting at Heinz since the ketchup maker was taken over in 2013 in a prior partnership between 3G and Berkshire. That means the cuts announced today mostly affect people on the Kraft side of the embedded system business.

Together, the two U.S. food giants own brands including Jell-O, Heinz baked beans and Velveeta that are facing embedded SBC sales challenges amid changing tastes. Their combination was nevertheless seen as attractive because of the opportunity to save hundreds of millions of dollars a year by combining functions like manufacturing and distribution. Executives say they expect to save $1.5 billion in annual costs by 2017.

“This new embedded system structure eliminates duplication to enable faster decision-making, increased accountability and accelerated growth,” said Mullen, adding that the savings will free up money to be invested back into the company’s products.

– See more at: http://www.automationmag.com/industry-news/news/5358-kraft-heinz-cuts-2500-jobs-following-merger#sthash.w0QFH4Oy.dpuf

refer to:

http://www.automationmag.com/industry-news/news/5358-kraft-heinz-cuts-2500-jobs-following-merger

Analog front ends for network appliance and gas sensors (Part 2)

This voltage is measured using anCOMe Module and the digital output of the ADC is used by the microcontroller. The microcontroller is programmed with an algorithm that uses the known relationship between the variation in resistance of the sensor and the physical parameter being measured to calculate the physical parameter.

Second, in passing a known current, a known current is passed through a transducer whose resistance varies with the changes in the parameter being measured. As per embedded system law: The voltage across the transducer will vary depending on the parameter being measured. This COMe Module voltage can be measured using an ADC. The ADC reading can then be used to calculate this parameter.

Capacitance

There are sensors that are capacitive in nature. In these network appliance sensors, the effective capacitance of the sensor is measured to find out the value of parameter of interest. There are various ways in which a capacitor can be measured.

A current digital to analog network appliance converter (IDAC) charges the variable capacitor and, when the voltage at the capacitor crosses the voltage at the inverting terminal, the switch is turned on. This discharges the capacitor and the cycle repeats. During every charging and discharging cycle, the value of the counter registers are COMe Module captured and processed in the firmware to calculate the capacitance value by applying the relevant mathematical equations.

refer to:
http://embedded-computing.com/articles/analog-front-ends-for-gas-sensors/

Analog front ends for network appliance and gas sensors

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the most commonly used gas found in our homes. Leakage of LPG can be life threatening. Even in low concentrations it can be suffocating whereas if the concentration is high enough it can lead to a fire or cause a blast. Hence, it is extremely important to monitor the LPG level in our surroundings. Another type of gas that needs to be constantly monitored and kept within certain limits is CO2. High embedded system concentration levels can cause breathing problems and prolonged exposure can lead to death.

We can prevent gas exposure-based COMe Module accidents from happening by recording and maintaining gas levels in the immediate environment. Gas sensors can play a key role to this effect by raising an alarm when the level crosses prescribed safe limits. Advances in modern semiconductor technology have empowered us to design low-cost and low-power sensing solutions to make embedded system our homes, offices, and network appliance lives safer by keeping a check on the gas levels in our surroundings.

Every sensing system comprises a basic network appliance element that measures one or more electrical parameters like resistance or capacitance, and a circuitry that measures the changes in those parameters. Most of these sensors can operate on battery power so they can work uninterrupted for years on end. Hence, it becomes imperative that they consume low power for their operation. To pass the sensed information to the controller, analog front ends (AFE) are used. These allow the microcontroller to understand analog signals sent by sensors by converting them to a digital signal and then performing post processing on the received data.

Parameters measured by sensors: sensors measure changes in resistance and capacitance.

Resistance
There are two common ways to measure a change in resistance: a potential divider COMe Module circuit and passing a known current. First, in a potential divider circuit, we connect a sensor whose resistance varies depending on some physical parameter like temperature, network appliance, etc. We compare the changing value of the sensor to a fixed value resistance. In such a circuit, the voltage of the connecting node (ADC) of the fixed resistance and the sensor depends on the resistance of the sensor and thereby on the physical parameter being measured.

refer to:
http://embedded-computing.com/articles/analog-front-ends-for-gas-sensors/