I surely miss the heady days of the PC-based control marketing and technology wars. Smart, passionate people. Missing the marketing sweet spot and not recognizing the resiliance of the incumbants, but still great days.
Then there were the early days of the vision sensor wars. DVT v Cognex. Prices dropping. Ease-of-use constantly improving. Technology advances. Smart, passionate people. Ah, those days are gone as DVT sold out to Cognex and the market opened to a myriad of competition.
Now it’s safety. And principally Siemens and Rockwell, but ABB also gets a nod. A year ago, I wrote about ABB making an investment and Rockwell’s annointing as top overall safety supplier leader by analyst firm ARC Advisory Group.
Now, Siemens has reason to boast. ARC ranks Siemens at the top globally in machine safeguarding solutions.
“We are dedicated to remaining a market leader in the development of innovative products and solutions in the machine safeguarding category,” says Raj Batra, president, Industry Automation Division for Siemens Industry, Inc. “Our knowledge base of Totally Integrated Automation (TIA), coupled with a wide spectrum of products such as SIMATIC controllers, switches and relays, SINUMERIK motion controls and SIRIUS safety relays, provide Siemens with a solid foundation to continue servicing the needs of our current and future customers,” adds Batra.
The ARC study outlines the machine safeguarding sector, or solutions that evaluate equipment from a task-oriented perspective (operator interaction) and incorporates safety functions that effectively minimize the risk of operator injury. ARC has provided five year forecasts in order to show long-term trends in the machine safeguarding solutions marketplace, and regularly updates these forecasts based on changes in technology and global economic conditions.
I love competition.
