IFP Automation’s Engineering Blog: Our thoughts on the latest innovations in controls, automation, fluid power and design solutions for the industrial and mobile marketplaces.
B&R is now ABB’s global center for machine and factory automation. Following approval by EU competition authorities, the acquisition of B&R by ABB became legally effective on July 6, 2017. B&R will operate as an independent business unit within the ABB Group’s Industrial Automation division. Division President Peter Terwiesch and B&R Managing Director Hans Wimmer announced an array of investments that will strengthen R&D activities and expand production capacity.
“Building close relationships with our customers is and remains essential to who we are as a company,” affirms Wimmer on announcing finalization of the acquisition process. “We will continue to work hand-in-hand with our customers to develop the most innovative solutions, and they will see no changes in their day-to-day points of contact.”
B&R’s primary focus will stay centered on the OEM market, accompanied by expansions to its factory automation portfolio. With B&R building on ABB’s global presence and complementary offerings, customers will see substantial benefits from the merger. B&R will also be intensifying its activities in the Industrial IoT arena and expanding on ABB’s industry-leading portfolio of digital solutions.
Industrial IoT for Brownfields
B&R’s Orange Box is the smart-factory upgrade for legacy equipment
At the 2017 Hannover Messe, B&R presents its new Orange Box solution. The Orange Box enables machine operators to collect and analyze data from previously isolated machines and lines and get them fit for the smart factory with a minimal effort.
An Orange Box consists of a controller and B&R mapp Technology’s preconfigured software blocks – known as mapps. The controller collects operating data from any machine via its I/O channels or a fieldbus connection. From this data, the mapps generate and display OEE ratings and other KPIs, and can also share the information with higher-level systems via OPC UA.
Simple as a smartphone
Installing the Orange Box requires no changes to existing hardware or software. Equipment owners can achieve a substantial boost in productivity with a remarkably small investment in time and cost. Thanks to the mapps, the Orange Box is as simple and intuitive to operate as a smartphone.
B&R’s Orange Box enables machine operators to collect and analyze data from previously isolated machines and lines and get them fit for the smart factory.
Many IFP Automation customers are interested in adding machine vision to their applications. In many cases, machine vision can add enhanced levels of quality inspection and part verification in a very powerful way. Are you looking for a sensor where maximum functional and operational flexibility go together with easy process integration? Our VeriSens® vision sensors offer all these benefits – and still many more.
What exactly is a VeriSens® vision sensor?
VeriSens® is a complete image processing system in the form of a sensor. An image sensor, illumination (or illumination connection), optics (also interchangeable lenses), hardware/software, as well as Ethernet and digital interfaces, e.g. for PLC connection, are
integrated in a compact, industry-suited housing. After typical one-time configuration on PC, a vision sensor is ready to perform a specific task like a conventional sensor. VeriSens® vision sensors solve inspection tasks and can perform up to 32 feature checks simultaneously:
How does a VeriSens® vision sensor work?
VeriSens® acquires images, evaluates them and communicates the results to the system control or to individual components in your system. Initial configuration on PC allows you entry of image
acquisition parameters, selecting tools for feature checks and setup of the required interfaces.
