After the connection technology specialist Weidmüller re-entered the I/O business in September 2013 with 'u-remote', the announcement of its first own PLC followed last year. The market release of the so-called 'u control 2000' finally took place in November of this year, just in time for this year's SPS IPC Drives. Equipped with a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 with 624 MHz and 512 MB RAM as well as up to 32 GB program memory, this Linux-based controller is primarily aimed at small to medium-sized applications - for example stand-alone machines such as carton erectors. According to Michael Matthesius, Head of the Automation Products & Solutions Division at Weidmüller, the special feature of this controller is that the engineering software was developed entirely using open web technologies (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript). This means that the browser becomes the application platform for the user and allows system configuration, programming in accordance with IEC 61131-3 and connection to interfaces (e.g. HMI) in a web-based engineering tool.

Weidmüller is now going one step further: in Nuremberg, the Detmold-based company announced that it would be expanding its portfolio by acquiring Keba products in future. In return, the Austrian automation technology provider will also add Weimüller's analytics and machine learning modules and the 'u-link' remote maintenance solution to its range. "Individual Weidmüller components such as switched-mode power supplies, routers and switches can also be integrated very well into Keba projects," says Matthesius. Last but not least, both companies want to work closely together in the future to further develop their product, solution and service offerings.

As a first step, the cooperation will focus on 'KeStudio', Keba's all-in-one engineering suite for all phases of the automation process. From now on, Weidmüller will offer it under the name 'u-create studio'. The software has a Codesys V3.5 development environment and supports all programming languages defined in IEC 61131-3, such as ST, IL, LD, FBD and AS. In addition, a C/C++ environment allows object-oriented programming. In future, users of the 'u control 2000' will have the choice of using either the completely web-based engineering software 'u-create web' from Weidmüller or the Codesys-based 'u-create studio' as an engineering environment. "Keba also has many other interesting automation products on offer for Weidmüller's project business that can ideally complement our portfolio - such as mobile handheld control units," says Matthesius.

Weidmüller will also be presenting the new 'u-create IoT' tool at the trade fair: a web-based, license-free software for u-control that can be accessed with a standard web browser and ultimately transforms the controller into an IoT controller. Data can be sent directly to the cloud via Node-RED. Cloud providers such as Microsoft, IBM and Amazon are supported.