OMRON Corporation (HQ: Shimogyo-Ku, Kyoto. CEO: Yoshihito Yamada) announced on July 27 the global release in August of its new Industrial PC Platform (hereinafter “IPC”) to innovate manufacturing through IoT utilization and high-speed, high-precision automation.
The IPC is a PC architecture based platform that meets strict quality standards required for factory automation (FA) devices and can be supplied stably on a long-term basis. OMRON assists manufacturers to make production equipment smarter by utilizing IoT and big data through the IPC. At the same time, OMRON helps them boost both their equipment productivity and manufacturing quality by applying know-how on advanced fine-tuning control, which OMRON has gained through the Sysmac automation platform *1, to production lines and equipment.
The current trend to aim for innovative manufacturing by leveraging IoT, big data, and robotics at production sites is spreading. In order to collect data for preventive maintenance, a programmable logic controller (PLC) is connected with a PC for office environments which requires complex license management and is supported only for a short time. Moreover, builders of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and machine tools in-house produce dedicated boards, equipped with real-time operating systems, as main controllers. They are outsourcing development of general control functionality and concentrating resources on development of competitive core technology. These circumstances increase the global needs for PC architecture based controllers which provide environmental resistance and reliability and allow for flexible development.
OMRON has captured these needs and developed three types of IPCs. Users can choose the best IPC from box-type PC models and all-in-one PCs with built-in monitors to suit their system configurations and applications. The IPC supports EtherCAT that is an open network used for production lines and equipment all over the world, as well as providing a development environment that allows users to customize functionalities, which was impossible with previous PLC.
