We have recently had a couple of briefings from industry sources about trends they see in the automation market.
GE Fanuc Automation, moving rather quickly to assimilate Intellution into the fold, announced that components from its Cimplicity software and Intellution have been organized into the new Proficy Suite. I would expect to see further integration of elements from its Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions (nee, Manufacturing Execution Systems or MES) acquisition, Mountain Systems, in the future.
Speaking to editors during the press conference announcing formation of the suite, Craig Resnick, Research Director ARC Advisory Group, listed what he sees as the current Key Manufacturing Business Drivers.
These are:
Time-to-market
Globalization
Brand Rationalization
Operational Excellence (profitability, productivity)
Regulatory Requirements
Customer Requirements
Return on Assets
Safety & Security
Andrew Ross, temperature controls marketing manager at Danaher Industrial Controls division, stopped by our offices to discuss the Top 7 Trends in industrial control identified by its managers.
These are:
Ability to collect data remotely
Global availability
Customization
More performance in smaller, cheaper package
Ethernet
Fieldbus at device level
Behind The Panel controllers (or, control components located on the machine rather than in a central control enclosure)
I always find lists interesting to ponder. There[base ']s not a lot of overlap in these. They are focused on different levels of the enterprise. One common thread is globalization. If you are not thinking globally, then you are in danger.
Many of the Danaher points are customer requests to help them accomplish goals like maximize return on assets, meet regulatory requirements and achieve operational excellence.
At the plant level, users are looking for smaller components that are easily networked. We[base ']ve seen a plethora of products attempting to fill this need. In turn, this new architecture that eliminates large control enclosures has changed the visible layout of manufacturing plants.
All this data movement talked about by Danaher[base ']s Ross feed the systems that GE Fanuc (and others) is building to help entire manufacturing enterprises achieve operational excellence. It looks to me like suppliers are still finding ways to help their customers succeed. And the wise ones will use these products and solutions to win.
9:52:44 PM 
|
