The rapid advances in technology since the turn of the 21st century, have yielded countless applications; especially in the industrial and manufacturing sector.
Industrial automation involves the use of control systems such as computers or automated systems such as robots to simplify different processes in an industrial manufacturing sector.
In earlier days, the purpose of automation was improving the overall productivity, be it manufacturing of labor management.
Given the massive investments in automation, it is now being used for a variety of other purposes, including flexibility in applications, quality of output, and maintenance of industrial equipment.
Accounting for the exceptional advancements in technology over the past decade, Fortune Business Insights states that global industrial automation market is projected to reach a whopping $296.70 billion by the end of 2026.
In this article, we have labeled out the leading industry developments in the industrial automation market.
Siemens Completes Acquisition of Mendix
In August 2018, Siemens announced that it has completed the acquisition of Boston-based Mendix. The company is a low-code development enabler that possesses an exceptional range of digital transformation enabler platforms.
Siemens announced that it has completed the acquisition of Mendix for a whopping $700 million. The value of the takeover and the step taken by the global giant Siemens indicates that automation in the industrial sector is heading in the right direction.
The transaction value itself depicts the potential held by industrial automation across the world. Siemens will gain access to Mendix’s solutions and the company announced through a press release that it will look to enhance its cloud, digital enterprise, and IoT (Internet of Things) solutions.
Jan Mrosik, CEO of Siemens’ Digital Factory Division, says: “As part of our digitalization strategy, Siemens continues to invest in software offerings for the Digital Enterprise.
“With the acquisition of Mendix, Siemens continues to add to its comprehensive Digital Enterprise and MindSphere IoT portfolio, with cloud domain expertise, cloud-agnostic platform solutions and highly skilled people.”
Honeywell Comes up with ‘Connected Plant Solution’
Due to the rapid advances in automation, large scale companies across the world are seemingly focusing more on integrating the latest technologies and keeping in touch with the ongoing trends in industrial automation.
Safe to say, Honeywell Corporation is among the few companies who continue to amuse us and they have done it again; this time with a connected plant solution.
In February 2018, Honeywell announced this connected plant as part of its ambitions to establish an interconnected network between customers and manufacturers.
The company claims that this platform will connect the customer assets and equipment to the cloud and applies personalized analytical models. This is mainly done to reduce customer downtime and unnecessary maintenance. Once again, the company proves its ambition to provide enhanced customer satisfaction.
Emerson Looks to Strengthen its Position in the European Market
Emerson is one of the leading companies that has its roots spread in several major economies across the world. The company has always looked to operate through a global perspective.
In May 2018, the company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Aventics. The latter is a provider of smart pneumatics technologies that power machine and factory automation applications.
Aventics has well-established facilities in major European countries such as Germany and France. Through this acquisition, Emerson will look to establish a stronghold in the European market.
If one thing is evident from these industry developments, it is the massive potential held by industrial automation. The future looks promising for the vendors in the industrial automation space and this is attributable to the ‘technological trends’ that have been set in the past few decades.
As existing stakeholders are prioritizing the integration of automated concepts, new investors are lining up at the doors of start-ups as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Although the Covid-19 pandemic is set to dampen the future for numerous business sectors, industrial automation remains one of the few areas that are likely to be unaffected by the outbreak.
Abdout the author: Tanay Bhalla is an expert in embedded technology and robotics. He is a highly-driven writer with extensive knowledge of diverse industries. His approach to writing is simple, intended to ensure a seamless read.
