Customer demand for smaller, more reliable, more cost-effective motor and machine control products has sparked an intense period of innovation in design and manufacturing processes by suppliers. The result is a growing portfolio of control products that use fewer components to deliver greater functionality.
The most important control product innovations are modular components that allow OEMs greater freedom to customize machines and control systems for their customers, smaller footprints that make it easier to automate smaller machines, and built-in information technologies that simplify connectivity for the sharing of plant floor information.
In addition to advances in control technology, suppliers have also improved manufacturing processes and are making new control products more reliable and affordable.
Customers are benefiting in many ways. First, the balance between performance and price is allowing equipment makers to replace traditional electromechanical controls with electronic components in many applications. As a result, OEMs can make their equipment more reliable, contributing to increased production uptime and lower maintenance costs for end users.
As the world's leading manufacturer of starters and drives, Schneider Electric has already begun to see the shift from electromechanical to electronic devices. While until recently the split has been 80/20 between starters and drives, for example, the trend in new customer orders clearly indicates an emerging preference for drives. While the change will not happen overnight, the economic payback compared to the efficiency gains that can be achieved with drives is now apparent.
Technology Improves Performance, Adds Value
Manufacturers continue to add leading edge technology to their control products to increase their performance and resulting value to customers. Sensorless flux vector technology, for example, which delivers better control at lower speeds, is now being used in even the smallest drives. Schneider Electric's newest AC drive, the ALTIVAR 11, is the world's only nano drive with sensorless flux vector control. Starter technology also continues to advance. Schneider's newest starter, the ALTISTART 48, has a patented torque control system that delivers improved performance in a smaller and less expensive unit.
Contributing to the increased reliability of components are automated assembly tools and test equipment that enable suppliers to achieve more consistent product quality. Schneider Electric drives, for example, are manufactured using an automated torque driver that literally counts the number of screws used and the number of turns made on each screw during the manufacturing process to ensure that proper electrical connections are made. Since electrical connections are a major point of failure on a drive, better process control during manufacturing assures greater reliability in use.
We're also seeing a customer trend toward using motor control centers instead of electrical panels. Because today's intelligent motor control centers come from the factory pre-engineered and pre-wired, they significantly reduce startup time and labor costs on the factory floor. Given the downsizing in factory staffing due to weak manufacturing demand, motor control centers greatly simplify component integration and maintenance for plant engineering staff.
In addition to greater reliability and performance, there are many other benefits with new control products. The smaller footprint of many controls, for example, reduces panel space, allowing for smaller electrical panels on machines or more automated processes within the same size panel. For end users, more compact control systems also mean more efficient use of manufacturing space.
Common Standards Facilitate Global Product Development
Another development with great potential to simplify equipment operation and inventory for both equipment makers and their customers is the move toward commonality of standards between the U.S. and Europe. The new NFPA 79 electrical standard, for example, was closely patterned on Europe's IEC 60204-1 requirements. The IEC 61131-3 standard for PLC programming is another example where an approach developed in Europe is now being widely adopted by U.S. manufacturers and customers.
The result of this trend toward commonality is that global product development is finally becoming practical. When Schneider Electric set out to design a new generation of sensors several years ago, the fact that body shapes and footprints had become universal made it possible to develop new products with a common global look and operational approach. The new sensors now have the same part numbers, no matter where in the world they are purchased, which also assures worldwide serviceability and simplifies the process for obtaining replacement parts.
Schneider Electric involved customers from around the world in designing the new sensors, focusing its engineering efforts on solving universal customer problems. As a result, the new Osiconcept® family of photoelectric, ultrasonic, and proximity sensors and limit switches achieved a breakthrough in making sensors easier to select, install, and operate.
With modular components, self-teach buttons that simplify setup, and broad operating parameters that allow a single sensor to be used for many applications, Schneider's new sensors dramatically reduce inventory requirements and engineering time for OEMs and their customers.
Modular control products also make it easier for OEMs to customize control systems to fit the needs of different customers. The plug-and-play capabilities of these modular components eliminate a lot of engineering costs for machine designers. Modular components also make it simple for industrial customers to replace elements of the product when there's a failure, again an important consideration given the downsizing of plant staff.
Finally, the introduction of information technologies into traditional motor and machine control products has important labor and cost reducing benefits for hard-pressed plant managers. Companies like Schneider Electric, which pioneered web-enabled programmable logic controllers, are now building web and Ethernet technologies into drives, switchgear, motor control centers, and power monitoring systems as well as automation products. Our latest drive, the ALTIVAR® 58 TRX, for example, comes with built-in MODBUS protocol that enables direct connectivity to Ethernet.
The ability to get information from any device in a plant quickly and easily over a company's secure Local Area Network or Wide Area Network, using the web browser in a PC, laptop, or PDA, provides a powerful tool that plant managers can use to make decisions, troubleshoot production lines, and improve manufacturing productivity. Information is the key to success in the future, and being able to get better information, faster will dramatically improve the efficiency of manufacturing operations.
