Many medium-sized companies, whether in the food+bev industry, the packaging industry or electronics suppliers, are increasingly turning to robot-assisted applications (pick & place). Here, the work to integrate robots from different manufacturers is overly tedious and time consuming. PI is looking to change all that.
omlox will be at IMTS Chicago on Sep 12-17; PI will be at ACHEMA on Aug 22-26; there's a PROFINET class in Detroit on Aug 30; the PNO will present Digital Transformation in Kassel on Sep 20 and at TSN/A on Sep 28-29 in Stuttgart; and finally, join the PNO at their 3-day workshop in Nürtingen on Oct 11-13.
Three big events for the IO-Link Community are upcoming in Germany: An IO-Link User Workshop on Sep 20 in Kassel; An English-language “IO-Link Safety Certified Designer” training course on Oct 4-6 in Karlsruhe; And finally, on IO-Link Interop Workshop on Oct 11-12, in Bad Soden.
New products this month include: MQTT capability for PROFIBUS I/Os from Softing; cylinder position sensors with IO-Link from Turck; electronic position indicators with IO-Link from SIKO; and IO-Link Wireless solutions from Balluff.
Since the beginning of 2022, certification for the PROFIdrive and Encoder profile is mandatory. And so, the Profile Tester, a Windows-based tool with a graphical user interface, can be downloaded free of charge by all members to ease conformity testing to the specification.
The IO-Link Community came together in Frankfurt am Main, Germany for their annual Members' Assembly. A new Steering Committee was elected with participation by 18 active companies helping drive IO-Link success into the future.
A new concept for zoned areas is proposed: Place small remote I/O valve terminals instead of building central or large decentralized solutions. Collect the intrinsically safe signals on-site and supply the pneumatic drives via short pneumatic lines. Communication takes place directly via PROFINET to the controller.
The network is left out in every discussion on the implementation of digitization projects. This approach must change if the costs are not to eliminate the effect. Digitization projects must place a higher priority on the network, its planning, and ultimately its setup, particularly in greenfield installations.
