Fast talk

Twenty years ago engineers checked individual fixtures by taking readings and making the necessary adjustments to ensure products came out ‘on spec’.

Now that machines have taken over much of the drudge of manufacturing and are offering cost-effective solutions in all areas, the major challenges are to build devices and plants that operate without large-scale human interaction, and making them and their components smarter by communicating better.

Of course, everyone has had their eyes on industrial fieldbus protocols, and the seemingly never-ending wrangling over an international standard that has still to properly materialise. with a few exceptions, the European market leader across many industries seems to be the Siemens-backed Profibus consortium.

Visitors to MTEC, Machine Building, IPOT and the other related shows on 15–16 February can see a demonstration of modern fault-finding tools on a working Profibus network, as well as a new multi-vendor demonstration system designed, built and operated by the team from the Profibus Competence Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University.