News & Events

Machine Builders Get a Boost

With changing economics and shrinking corporate engineering departments, users are shifting the responsibility for automation strategies to OEMs.



Today machine builders are being asked to deliver machines with higher capabilities at lower costs, and to an expanded geographic and industry marketplace. These all represent significant challenges for machine builders.

Helping to meet these needs, the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture concept which provides fully integrated, scalable solutions for the full range of control and information disciplines. It provides machine builders with the insight and performance they need to optimise production, respond quickly to user demands and reduce costs.

Being “fully” integrated means that our Logix Control Platform uses a single programming and configuration software package. This means machine builders can scale up or down whenever they need to. It also means that you don’t need separate controllers for disciplines like motion and sequential control. This single common environment provides better synchronisation and ease of operation.

In addition, OEMs are being asked to tie their machines closer to upstream and downstream operations, as well as enterprise-wide information systems. The Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture’s information-enabling capabilities are ideal for facilitating this horizontal and vertical convergence.

Focusing on the complete control solution
A key focus area is how to apply the right technology directly on the machine so the footprint is optimised, performance is leveraged and considerable time is driven out of the machine development process. This On-Machine TM strategy of architecting a machine doesn’t rely on one component or technology, but a discipline for the entire solution that goes into controlling a machine.

While the component cost itself may be higher, when you factor in component ordering, assembling, wiring and testing, your overall cost to design, develop and deliver a machine is typically less than a hard-wired solution.

Another major factor in our efforts to help OEMs reduce design and engineering costs is reusable code. We’ve dedicated considerable resources to develop pre-engineered code libraries using the Add-on Instructions (AOI) capabilities built into the RSLogix TM 5000 programming software and the Global Objects functionality in FactoryTalk View. These object-oriented tools let OEMs reuse code across multiple machines and applications so they can reduce customisation and programming time, training costs and other expenses.

Market trends
There are several major trends right now in the machine builder marketplace, not least of which is globalisation impact of globalisation is that many OEMs can no longer survive by delivering machines to a single geographic market — users’ cost, economies of scale and global strategies don’t allow it. If you’re a major supplier of packaging systems for the food industry, there’s a good chance your largest customer will be building its next plant in a country other than your home market. That creates some significant challenges for the machine builder in terms of meeting local electrical standards, spare parts availability, and the ability to provide high levels of service and support.

There is also a growing emphasis on standards. Machine builders are under increasing pressure to deliver complete solutions that help customers manage industry regulatory requirements and contain safety risks by design. The irony is that these standards can vary from industry to industry, customer to customer, and geography to geography.

We’re also seeing more cost sensitivity driven by increasing competition. Rockwell Automation estimates purchase price is only 40 percent of the average total machine ownership cost, so many OEMs are investing more in the control portion of a machine because that allows them to demonstrate value through improved engineering, maintenance, training, disposal, parts and service, installation and downtime.

These trends are all significant challenges for the OEM. Yet another is the frequent use of disparate control systems throughout the typical manufacturing plant. To address this, we’ve developed our Logix Control Platform to provide plant-wide control across all the major disciplines: sequential, motion, safety, process, batch and drive systems.

A further challenge is preventing programming flaws, which are among the biggest sources of delay in system integration. To help OEMs clearly identify specifications, use more efficient programming approaches and meet industry standards, Rockwell Automation created Power Programming, providing an integrated, modular approach to application development. OEMs can use and reuse code, directly resulting in reduced design time and, consequently, reduced costs for machine projects.

Rockwell Automation is investing significantly in resources to serve the OEM machine-builder market. Our deep experience in automation and unique understanding of the user’s manufacturing environment put us in an excellent position to impact machine-builder success.

For more information on OEM Solutions please visit: http://www.rockwellautomation.com/solutions/oem/

or e-mail us at: info_enews@ra.rockwell.com