Congratulations on 30 years of Delta Logic! Looking back: What was the most significant technological development of your company?

Thank you for the congratulations! Since the company was founded 30 years ago, we have had one constant in our products, our ACCON-AGLink communication library. It forms the basis or the core of many other products that we have developed and continue to develop. ACCON-AGLink enables access to a Siemens controller from a PC. This allows data to be read and written without having to change anything in the PLC program or elsewhere. The range of functions and the supported operating systems, programming languages and communication paths are unique on the market. An important component is also the support of the latest hardware and software versions, such as PLC firmware, communication protocol or TIA Portal versions. Support for the TIA Portal in particular was probably one of the biggest developments in the company's history. In 2014, we were the first outside the Siemens product world to support the new TIA Portal file format, the new communication protocol with access to the optimized data blocks and the associated utilization of performance with our ACCON-AGLink.

Is there an absolute 'bestseller' and what makes it so?

Our customers' absolute favorite product is the ACCON-NetLink-PRO compact S7 communication adapter. It enables access to older controller models that do not have an Ethernet connection. This applies in particular to the older S7-200, S7-300 and S7-400 as well as the Sinumerik 840D pl controllers. The adapter is small, handy, inexpensive, quickly ready for use and reliable. It is the result of a cooperation project, with Delta Logic contributing the software side and being responsible for optimal integration into the world of Siemens engineering tools, among other things.

It's not all rosy in 30 years - what do you think was the most difficult time for the company?

You're right about that. The most difficult times so far have been the corona pandemic on the one hand and the economic crisis in 2008 on the other. Both situations have posed some challenges for the company and the entire team. However, the economic crisis had the greatest negative impact on the company due to the relatively rapid and drastic effect on the market. It was particularly difficult for us that we had to make redundancies in the course of the 2008 crisis for the first and only time in the company's history. Selecting employees for redundancy and knowing that there is a personal fate behind every redundancy does not go unnoticed.

What is the roadmap for the next ten to 15 years?

Basically, our goal is to remain at the forefront. This includes developing innovative and useful products and further expanding existing ones. As a software manufacturer, the development of additional functionalities, support for further hardware and the development of new products are all part of this. We also work together with our cooperation partners in order to combine the best of different worlds. Of course, we don't want to give too much away here in terms of technology.

What technological trends do you see that are or will be important for Delta Logic?

We think we will see a lot of developments and innovations in the near future, especially in the area of OPC UA and ACCON-AGLink. In the areas of store floor, ERP, MES, BDE, OEE, digital twin, etc., we have a huge field of activity for further innovations.

What do you think will be the biggest challenge over the next few years, in terms of business and/or technology?

Such a technical market is of course always subject to innovations and changes. It is important to have a good feel for the market and to recognize new trends and major changes as early as possible in order to be able to react accordingly and be prepared for them. In my opinion, not missing out on important innovations and losing the potential to be one of the first on the market is and remains one of the most important points as a company.