We are quite satisfied with 2017" - with these words, Beckhoff Managing Director Hans Beckhoff opened the press conference at the recent Hannover Messe, where he traditionally begins with a summary of the past financial year. Accordingly, the Verel-based provider of IPC-based automation technology was able to increase its turnover by 19% to 810 million euros in 2017. The company has massively expanded its production capacity in order to be able to absorb the current and, according to Hans Beckhoff, expected growth in the further course of 2018. For example, I/O production has moved into a 10,000 m² extension, doubling the previous production area. A further 40,000 m² of space will be available by the end of 2018. Last but not least, Beckhoff has expanded its Marktheidenfeld site in the Drive Technology division with its own mechanical production facility for servomotors. In order to cope with all the expansions still to come this year, investments of around 50 million euros in buildings and equipment are planned for 2018. Independently of this, a further 60 million euros will be invested annually in the development of new products and processes.

Keyword new products and processes: With the C6017, Beckhoff has expanded its ultra-compact IPC series at Hannover Messe 2018 to include a version with an extended range of interfaces and a 1-second UPS. At 82 mm × 82 mm × 66 mm, the size of the C6017 remains almost the same as the C6015. Only the height is 24 mm higher. Two additional RJ45 and USB 2.0 interfaces each supplement the previous equipment with a DisplayPort connection, an on-board dual Ethernet adapter with 2 × 100/1000Base-T connection and a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 port. With the integrated Intel Atom CPU with up to four processor cores, the passively cooled IPC in an aluminium die-cast zinc housing is also suitable for automation, visualization and communication tasks up to the medium performance range.

"Twincat, start tracing!"

From hardware to software: With Twincat, Beckhoff has an automation system that combines the functions of intelligence, sensor technology, motion control and, since the end of last year, image processing in a coordinated, integrated solution. With 'Twincat Speech', listening and speaking have now been added.

According to Hans Beckhoff, Twincat Speech enables multilingual input and output of requests and information in an industry-oriented manner. This makes interaction with the automation system much more efficient and convenient across all industries in applications ranging from mechanical engineering to building automation. For example, when working on a machine component, operating or maintenance personnel can simply ask how changed settings affect the current control or simulation program, even without a conventional operator terminal. Furthermore, alarm messages can be issued acoustically when critical values are reached on a system. Last but not least, Twincat Speech enables the user to remotely control Beckhoff's own Twincat HMI visualization system by voice - for example via commands such as "Open the Function menu" or "Show me the machine parameters".

Voice input is available as an offline function implemented via build-in functionalities of the Windows operating system, i.e. without an Internet or cloud connection. Twincat Speech, on the other hand, is available both as an offline function and as an online function. In the first case, this is supported by the corresponding functionalities of Windows and in the second case by the text-to-speech service Polly from Amazon. A realistic-sounding voice output is synthesized with the help of deep learning technologies. Different voices and the caching of audio files generated online are also possible.

Twincat Speech is expected to be available at the end of the year in a total of 26 languages.