Another important milestone for the worldwide use of PROFINET was reached on September 16 in Beijing. In an official ceremony in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, PROFINET was declared a Chinese national standard by Dr. Sun Wei, Director of the Standardization Administration of The Republic of China (SAC). This paves the way for Chinese manufacturers and users to rely on a dependable, stable, and future-proof standard. This was acknowledged in an official ceremony in the presence of more than 150 high-level representatives. A special expression of thanks was also given to the experts of PI and ITEI (the PI test lab in China) as well as the Chinese national standardization committee SAC/TC124 Industry Process Measurement and Control, whose close cooperation made this standardization undertaking possible.
Dr. Sun emphasized that PROFINET has been in widespread use in China for a while and that Chinese device manufacturers have already started to integrate PROFINET into
their devices and some have even been certified in the PROFINET test lab in Beijing. This was also highlighted by Karsten Schneider, Chairman of PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International). “The fact alone that three new PI Competence Centers were established in China this year shows how firmly rooted our technology is in Asia. PI China has in recent years developed into the third largest Regional PI Association.”
The main benefit for users and manufacturers is the local support for their projects. It makes a difference whether the support is provided in English or in the native language of the engineers. PI can offer this in almost 30 countries around the world.
With the issuance of the Chinese national standard, PROFINET is spreading even faster in China and additional manufacturers are supporting this communication standard. With that, PROFINET is underscoring its leading role in industrial automation.