The FDT Group has founded in May this year a new working group for the interests of Machine Building and Factory Automation. This group will drive specifically the application of FDT in these branches.
Leading suppliers of automation solutions for Factory Automation and Machine Building have found a new “home” within the FDT Group. The FDT Group Board of Directors has decided to found a new ad hoc working group “Factory Automation” under the lead of OMRON with the task to implement the FDT Technology in products for Factory Automation and Machine Building. This initiative is also aimed at balancing the requirements between Process and Factory Automation. A growing number of hybrid applications in machines and plants have requirements from both sides and demand an approach at large for integrating automation components. With the FDT Technology being an open specification of interfaces, it ideally bridges the different requirements.
Members of the working group are Infoteam, Omron, Pepperl+Fuchs, Phoenix Contact, Schneider Electric, Sick, Turck, WAGO, and the group’s latest member Bosch Rexroth. These companies already had their inaugural meeting as well as their first working group meeting and have agreed on a common proceeding and defined their priorities. Together, integration solutions for IO-Link, safety products and drives will be defined and the benefits of the FDT Technology for Factory Automation will be shown. All companies are committed to launch FDT based products.
The segmentation of the TCI (Tool Calling Interface), which is specified by the PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation (PNO; PROFIBUS Users Organization), and the FDT Technology for applications in factory automation is another target of this working group. Only with the FDT Technology end users in Factory Automation and suppliers in Machine Building will be able to access the full benefits of Asset Management Systems. Maintenance and service are fundamental for reliable and permanently available machines and plants. These criteria are finally essential for cost optimization in the operation.
The new working group will be in close collaboration with the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) to involve plant operators and other mechanical engineers. Further international partnerships are to be tied, to ensure a broad acceptance of all end users.
About the FDT Group AISBL™
The FDT Group AISBL is a not-for-profit corporation consisting of over 50 leading process and factory automation companies worldwide whose major purpose is to provide an open and non proprietary interface for the integration of field devices with engineering, automation and asset management systems. In this environment, end users, manufacturers, universities and research organizations are working together to develop the technology, provide development tools, support and training, coordinate field trials and demonstrations, and enable product interoperability.
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