November 2017

Welcome to the PLCopen® electronic newsletter.

For comments or additional information check either www.PLCopen.org or send an email to Wendelien@PLCopen.org.

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PLCopen Newsletter - November 2017

1. PLCopen celebrates 25th anniversary
2. Call for Participation on Industry 4.0 Administration Shell
3. Meet us at the IAS Shanghai, China
4. Meet us at SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg, Germany
5. Meet us at System Control Fair in Tokyo, Japan
6. PLCopen sponsors ARC’s 22nd Annual Industry Forum
7. PLCopen welcomes new members
8. New PLCopen Motion Control certifications

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1. PLCopen celebrates 25th anniversary

We are very proud to announce that PLCopen is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

PLCopen was founded in 1992 just after the programming standard IEC 61131-3 (originally 1131-3) was introduced. At that time the controller market was a very heterogeneous market with different types of programming methods for many different PLCs. Today, IEC 61131-3 is a highly accepted programming standard and many industrial software and hardware companies offer products based on this standard, which then are used in many different machinery and other application fields.

PLCopen has members from all fields of the industry and together we concentrate on technical specifications enhancing the IEC 61131-3 standard in order to reduce costs in industrial engineering. This resulted in standardized libraries for different application fields (Motion Control and Safety functionality), harmonized language conformity levels, engineering interfaces for exchange (XML based data exchange format) and transparent communication (mapping to the OPC Unified Architecture).

Since its foundation, PLCopen has grown into a professional worldwide association headquartered in Europe (The Netherlands) and with offices in the USA, Japan, China and Korea.

Software plays an ever-increasing role in industrial automation. This results in an increase of the software costs even to the point that it becomes the highest part of the total system. To control these costs, one needs higher efficiency during the application development, while increasing the software quality. PLCopen and IEC 61131-3 provide a basis for this. We enable faster application development, faster commissioning time and reduced life cycle costs. We are able to accomplish this by being a platform of cooperation for our members.  

Also in the future the practical automation tasks will be challenged by new industry demands and new products and PLCopen will remain focusing on global harmonization. It is very clear that we will become even more dependent on software. And the software will probably be in new areas that we are not aware of now. Certain initiatives like Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT and Made in China 2025 already show the prominent role of software. Communication is key and new ways of communication make new architectures possible, creating new business opportunities that were not possible before. PLCopen will continue to support these trends.

Have a look at 25 years PLCopen

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2. Call for Participation on Industry 4.0 Administration Shell

Industry 4.0, or Industrie 4.0, is a movement that has great impact on the world of industrial automation. Within this activity, a Management Shell has been defined (see picture hereunder). Within this shell the physical aspects of the assets are defined in eClass. However the functionalities of these assets and components are not defined, while many of these are specified by PLCopen, like for motion control, safety and communication. It would be great if we could specify these functionalities within I4.0.

For this reason we want to start a working group within PLCopen to make a proposal to the Industry 4.0 initiative how this can be done.

Date: December 12, Modena, Italy. 

Proposed agenda:

-  9:00 Opening
-  Who is who
-  Introduction on I4.0 and the role of PLCopen
-  Proposals activities and vision of members
-  Discussion on the Administration Shell: what is it, how can we add, what can we add, can we agree?
-  Definition of goals
-  Identification of next steps and first work items

If you want to participate, contact Eelco van der Wal via email.

Background information I4.0 Administration Shell:

http://www.plattform-i40.de/I40/Redaktion/EN/Downloads/Publikation/struc...

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3. Meet us at the IAS Shanghai, China

The Industrial Automation Show (IAS), the industry barometer for the China automation market, takes place at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) during November 7–11.

PLCopen has a booth in hall 5.1H # B009 and the Managing Director Eelco van der Wal will attend. Come and meet him there.

Check: www.industrial-automation-show.com to find out more about this show.

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4. Meet us at SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg, Germany

PLCopen will have a booth at the upcoming SPS IPC Drives which takes place in Nuremberg from November 28-30. SPS IPC Drives is Europe’s leading exhibition for electric automation.

You will find us in Hall 7, booth number 570.

For more information on the event check: www.mesago.de

Or, follow this link  and register with the number 1712241653 for your complimentary entry ticket. You will receive your personal entry ticket via email. This ticket entitles you for free entry on all three days of the exhibition.

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5. Meet us at System Control Fair in Tokyo, Japan

PLCopen supports the System Control Fair 2017 which takes place from November 29 - December 1 at Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo International Exhibition Center). You will find us in West Hall 1, Booth 1-17. The Chairman of PLCopen, Prof Dr Rene Simon will attend this event. So if you want to speak to the PLCopen Japan participants or the PLCopen Chairman, come to the booth.

SCF2017 provides the latest information on control systems, equipment and software for industrial fields such as factory automation. PLCopen Japan members are demonstrating IEC 61131-3 3rd edition capabilities at the booth to meet customer needs.

For more information on this event: http://scfmcs.jp/exhibit/en/index.html.

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6. PLCopen sponsors ARC’s 22nd Annual Industry Forum

The ARC Industry Forum is the “must attend” learning event of the year for industry executives and technology solution providers.

PLCopen is sponsoring ARC’s 22nd Annual Industry Forum – ‘Digitizing and Securing Industry, Infrastructure, and Cities’, which takes place from February 10-15, 2018 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Check their website for more information on this Forum.

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7. PLCopen welcomes new members

PLCopen is very pleased to announce three new members:

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8. New PLCopen Motion Control certification

We are glad to announce that one of our members has been awarded the PLCopen Motion Control Certificate:

  • SEW-EURODRIVE for version 2190 of their product Library ‘MPLCMotion_MDX’ for MOVI-PLC DHP11B and MOVIDRIVER B.

This brings the total number of certified companies to 34 and of certified products to 66.

For more information please check our website www.PLCopen.org.

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