Automation and Standards
I just had a conversation with Aubert Martin, CEO and president of Siemens Energy & Automation based in Alpharetta, Ga. He wanted to chat about a topic near and dear to my heart--the correct and judicious use of automation to make manufacturing competitive even for companies in high wage geographies. The interview will be published in the December issue of Automation World (http://www.automationworld.com).
One of Martin's main topics is how use of standards enables integrated control and information platforms. This feat of technology is so powerful, in his view, that it would pay for many manufacturers to migrate existing platforms to modern, standards-based platforms. Two weeks ago I was at Rockwell's Automation Fair and heard similar stories. Another editor in the industry opined that Rockwell was the leader among "major" companies in developing a standards-based platform. He forgot that Siemens has been dedicated to this same development for a few years, as well. Of course, they're both following in footsteps of the trail blazed by Opto 22 well over 10 years ago. As often happens, innovation begins with "smaller" companies only to be picked up by larger ones.
Two trends Martin sees in the automation industry are attention paid to solutions for hybrid industries. These include pharma, food & beverage, chemicals and the like. The second is new developoments in the software category once called MES (manufacturing execution systems). Once the pervue of niche applications, the category is being invaded by the automation "majors" in the likes of GE Fanuc Automation (Cimplicity and Intellution), Rockwell Automation and Siemens.
Yesterday I was at a seminar learning about a new Ethernet implementation aimed at real-time, deterministic applications like motion control. Power Link, originally developed by B&R Automation, an Austrian company that champions CANoopen, and now adopted by about 60 other comanies, consists of a stack that operates on the Ethernet physical layer and works around the typical TCP/UDP/IP stack. It looks technologically sound, but the companies are all smaller. It is directly targeting SERCOS. It remains to be seen if the champions have enough marketing muscle to give it traction. With Microsoft as the prime example, best technologies don't always make it as the market leader. This contested networking segment will be interesting to watch. Look for more in the pages of Automation World.
7:20:11 AM 
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