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Into the 1960’s cars were simple. It was a time when the shade tree mechanic could literally climb inside the engine compartment, make adjustments and replace parts with the skills of a farm boy. However, regular maintenance tasks such as timing, replacement of plugs and points, and valve jobs kept maintainers busy.

By the 1970’s and 1980’s, things like emissions controls, permanently lubricated
drivetrain components and early computers had made cars far more complex to maintain.
But they also laid the groundwork for a third generation of vehicles with such tight manufacturing tolerances, advanced materials and sophisticated onboard control systems, that we would eventually change spark plugs at 50,000 mile intervals. And when was the last time you needed a valve job?

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Around the world, B&R Industrial Automation has earned a reputation for excellence in a variety of automation applications. Through our partnership with B&R, IFP provides both automation components as well as complete system solutions for machine automation, motion control, HMI and integrated safety technology.

Below, we share some of the reasons why OEMs, end users, and system integrators have decided to work with our B&R Automation products. We think you’ll find B&R to be a welcome alternative to the status quo.

1. There’s a good reason you may not know B&R yet

B&R Industrial Automation is the technology behind some of the largest, best known names in automated machinery, from entire beverage plants to turnkey pharmaceutical lines.
But instead of B&R on the control panel, you often see the OEM’s name because we’ve customized their B&R control panel. Ask us for our stellar references, you’ll be confident you’re going with a winner.

2. More performance for your money
B&R comes from a land where quality matters. In the countryside outside Salzburg, Austria, you’ll find our highly automated 800,000 square foot factory…and an engineering department numbering over 500 strong.
It’s the perfect equation for innovation, performance, quality and low cost production. It turns out that B&R is a powerhouse in automation technology, consuming 60,000,000 electronic components per month!

3. Relax, B&R is easy to own!

Such as?

• Familiar ladder programming with powerful function blocks
• Simplified motion blocks.
• Superb diagnostics, including a free diagnostic software package and economical maintenance software.
• Hot swappable I/O that prevents you from putting a block in the wrong slot.
• Replacement drives that adjust to your firmware version automatically.

Plant maintenance personnel really appreciate B&R once they get to know us!

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B & R Automation has released their new Energy Monitoring System. Before you can make your production more efficient, you first have to know where, when and how much energy is actually being consumed. A significantly higher level of process optimization can be attained by controlling and monitoring not just a single production line, but rather an entire plant along with all of its auxiliary equipment.

B&R Automation has released Automation Studio 4.0 – a new generation of software for “Smart Engineering”. After having successfully completed an intensive testing phase with pilot customers all over the world, Automation Studio 4 is now being made available to all users. We’ve recently had a chance to work with and learn more about Automation Studio 4.0, and thought we’d share a bit of information about this new update to the popular software package. For those new to Automation Studio, the software is a complete all-in-one automation suite, combining HMI visualization, PLC controls, communication, motion, diagnostics and safety.

This newly designed integrated automation software fulfills three important goals at once: Keeping quality high, engineering costs low and time to market short. These are each critical goals that IFP and B&R have found that our customers are exceedingly reaching for when designing a modern industrial control system.  Here are some examples of ways that Automation Studio has helped controls engineers achieve these benefits.

Configure hardware faster

Copy & Paste: Hardware configuration made easier

With the new System Designer tool, hardware can be configured more easily than ever, faster than ever and with fewer errors than ever thanks to a visual editor and lifelike representations of hardware components. This design tool includes an automated plausibility check and configures basic parameter settings in addition to offering highly effective functions for reusing entire parts of a system. This approach goes a long way in providing optimal support for creating modular machines with all of their variants and options.

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B&R AutomationCON – A packed house during a workshop session

IFP Automation had a chance to attend the 3 day AutomationCON event at Emory University in Atlanta last week. The event was well attended by numerous industrial OEMs, end-users, and automation partner firms. AutomationCON was put on by B&R Automation, and provided participants with an excellent opportunity to grow their knowledge in B&R products, learn about upcoming automation industry developments, and share their experiences in control technology. The event’s agenda included a number of presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities. A few of the highlights:

• The latest Industrial PCs from B&R, including innovations in multitouch technology for HMIs. B&R Multitouch is allowing machine designers to do amazing things with industrial touch interfaces.
• Automation Studio 4.0, the latest generation of B&R’s all-in-one software tool for controls, visualization, communication, and safety.
• B&R EnMon – A product which allows simple and autonomous energy monitoring of industrial machinery.
• A valuable opportunity to network with end users, OEMs, and other automation firms who have been using B&R Automation in their facilities, machines, and projects.

B&R continues to be a leader in new automation technology, and this event provided a great chance to see how others have been successful in utilizing their products. If you would like to learn more about Smart Engineering with B&R products, the following page is a great read:

Smart Engineering – by B&R Automation

Thanks for reading!