To stand the pace and keep its place on the international track, German machine engineering is faced with the task of producing individual systems for the price of a system off the rack. A balancing act, one that also puts demands on providers of automation technology: "They have to create solutions allowing builders of machines to manufacture other products on their systems without the kind of setup and retooling times that cost time and money", says Michael Matthesius, global manager for machine engineering at Weidmüller. In addition to the modular criterion, the decentralization aspect was gaining in importance. And in concrete terms what does that mean for Weidmüller? Adds Matthesius: "We see a stronger trend to mechatronic solutions, and more software entering the scene. So we have to move more into developing application-oriented product packages. Functional integration is the keyword."

One answer from Weidmüller to decentralization is the FieldPower control concept: made-to-measure function boxes for control and monitoring on the power bus. Terminals, electrical and electronic components and housings, switching and protection devices turn the power distributor into a decentral control box graded IP54/65.

Another building block in decentralization is u-remote. Launched two years back as a fully new remote I/O system, Weidmüller has now grown the solution for this year‘s SPS IPC Drives by a number of extra modules. These include the two safety modules 4DI/4DO and 8DI for connection to Profisafe or Fail Safe over Ethercat (FSoE). The safe modules enable parts of an installation to be selectively disconnected by the two (4DI/4DO) or four (8DI) parameterizable inputs and outputs (P- or N-switching).

Through the u-remote webserver users can query the status and remotely diagnose an I/O system, either locally over the USB interface or over the field bus. New is update 2.0 of the web server, including upload/download functionality for configuration files, which is likely to be of interest for builders of series machines in particular. Not yet available, but firmly planned for 2016 are field bus couplers for Powerlink. While ideas are brewing for more couplers, like for CipSafety and OpenSafety, or modules with an integrated safety relay.

Outlook to u-link

Extra to innovations in the remote I/O system, Weidmüller is showcasing the future web-based u-link system, a box of bricks with which the user can create their individual remote maintenance concept. Modules with TCP/IP capability from other producers can be integrated in addition to communication-enabled Weidmüller components. Remote access to machines and plant is over a secure VPN link regardless of global location – but not until releasing it by a hardware switch. And: "The cloud service backing this runs on secured servers in Germany", emphasizes Matthesius.

At the show Weidmüller is first presenting the free version of u-link, which comes with two VPN tunnels for instance. The Hanover Fair 2016 will then see the standard version with three VPN tunnels. If that is not enough, further tunnels can be purchased. The standard version will also include comprehensive rights management plus guaranteed bandwidth.