With the rapid growth and now more than 80 members in China, the IO-Link Community has accredited a new IO-Link Test Lab: Hefei Onsoon - first test lab outside Germany. Find out more about this successful accomplishment.
Three Regional PI Associations (RPAs) announce news this month. PI China participated in the CIIF tradeshow in Shanghai in September; PI Brazil has hosted multiple webinars over the past few months; and PI Netherlands recently put on a successful PROFI education week.
There are over 3,000 unique PROFIBUS and PROFINET products on the market. PI-China will publish a PROFIBUS & PROFINET Products Catalog to help end-users find them. At the moment, PI-China is collecting PROFIBUS and PROFINET product information from the majority of its device manufacturers.
This month's issue comes full of international news: Italy concludes a successful workshop; PI Southern Africa is set to exhibit at Electra Mining Africa 2020; PITC UK says goodbye to one of their founding members who is heading for retirement; and the IO-Link China Community is officially established.
The variety of domestic Chinese automation vendors supplying devices with a PROFINET interface has exploded. This was recently exhibited by PI-China at the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) in Shanghai in September.
The "PROFINET Angel Fund" project is aimed at spurring development of automation products based on PROFINET technology. More than two dozen manufacturers were selected; so far, 18 are in the R&D and testing phase, while 9 have completed certification.
Accredited PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) Competence Centers (PICCs) provide high-quality support for PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies worldwide. PI is very pleased with the continued strong interest on all the continents in adding to the list of accredited PICCs. In the past three months, three PICCs were established in South America, one in Turkey, one in Canada as well as yet another in Germany. And now in China.
Regional PI Associations in Australia, China, Middle East, and the UK have news in this issue. PI Australia looks back at 2016 and ahead to 2017. PI China appeared in the exhibition of the 2016 China International Industry Fair in Shanghai. PI Middle East hosted a PROFIday and conducted a PROFIBUS class in Dubai; they are planning a design course. PI UK is supporting (and offering discounts) to Industry 4.0 Summit & Factory of the Future Expo in 2017.
