ctrlX AUTOMATION apps pave the way for Engineering 4.0
Bosch Rexroth and partners provide digital tools in the ecosystem to enable advanced engineering
- Co-creation in the ctrlX World: partners provide apps to enable straightforward engineering
- CODESYS solution for programming PLCs and additional functions
- Cordis SUITE platform for low-code software development
- Digital process model generated directly in PLC program with SELMOstudio
Digitalized processes, increasing customization, short lead times and further requirements are changing how engineers work in industries such as mechanical engineering. As such, they need tools that can support them in carrying out their daily tasks, some of which are completely new to them. Bosch Rexroth is therefore gradually expanding its ctrlX AUTOMATION platform and related ecosystem with apps for modern engineering. These help, for example, to speed up the engineering process as software development is accounting for an increasingly large proportion of the time involved in mechanical engineering.
Apps for ctrlX AUTOMATION enable users to solve new types of engineering tasks.
“We have created an ecosystem for our automation platform whereby not only do we provide solutions but our partners can also provide their own solutions. This ensures that users have an increasingly large number of apps to choose from which they can easily download. One of the aims of our product range is to help make engineering tasks easier”, says Hans Michael Krause, Product Manager ctrlX World at Bosch Rexroth.
One of Bosch Rexroth’s engineering partners is the CODESYS Group, which is known for its CODESYS automation suite and the related product portfolio. Together with Bosch Rexroth, the software manufacturer provides automation specialists across different industries with a comprehensive, open solution for programming PLCs based on IEC 61131-3.
In addition to their existing technology partnership, Bosch Rexroth and the CODESYS Group are now also ramping up cooperation with regard to applications. As such, CODESYS as a product partner now provides a range of apps in the ctrlX World, the ctrlX AUTOMATION platform’s ecosystem. This means that users now have useful additional functions at their disposal. The range of apps includes, for example, comprehensive libraries for communication in the IIoT and for motion control, modern visualization solutions, and tools for the professional development of control applications.
“Bosch Rexroth has been deploying our CODESYS IEC-61131-3 automation platform since 2003 – in thousands of applications all around the world. This also now applies for ctrlX AUTOMATION. Users of the automation platform can use our standard automation software to develop their applications and hence simplify and speed up their work using numerous CODESYS additional components”, says Dieter Hess, CEO of the CODESYS Group.
What’s more, Cordis Products B.V. also helps ctrlX AUTOMATION users with the engineering process through low-code software development. The Cordis SUITE solution can be seamlessly integrated into ctrlX AUTOMATION. During the development process, the software enables users to focus solely on the machine’s behavior rather than having to concentrate on implementing the control program. The latter is automatically generated, imported into the control project, compiled and downloaded to the PLC. The Cordis SUITE low-code platform is available as engineering software for ctrlX AUTOMATION in the ctrlX Store.
“Low-code software development opens up a whole new world in industrial automation. The development process is three to five times faster and provides an error-free code. As an example, when machines’ operating data are collected and stored, every variable, every parameter and every status created in the UML module is automatically made available to the outside world at the press of a button. The low-code model also automatically generates structured data and therefore unlocks big data”, says Benno Beuting, Managing Director of Cordis Products B.V.
SELMO Technology GmbH has also joined the ctrlX World. The company has developed the SELMOstudio engineering tool. This is a modeling tool for a digital process model which generates an executable model directly in a PLC program and the HMI. As a PLC program, the model controls and monitors the machine. SELMOstudio is available as engineering software in the ctrlX Store.
“In order to launch our new technology on the market, it was important for us to join the ctrlX AUTOMATION ecosystem. The kit of components available in relation to Bosch Rexroth’s automation platform covers everything you could need for engineering in the digital world. Together, we are meeting industry’s need for stable and fail-safe systems that are easy to operate and maintain”, explains Reinhard Haslauer, Business Development Manager at SELMO Technology GmbH.
As one of the world’s leading suppliers of drive and control technologies, Bosch Rexroth ensures efficient, powerful and safe movement in machines and systems of any size. The company bundles global application experience in the market segments of Mobile Applications, Machinery Applications and Engineering, and Factory Automation. With its intelligent components, customized system solutions and services, Bosch Rexroth is creating the necessary environment for fully connected applications. Bosch Rexroth offers its customers hydraulics, electric drive and control technology, gear technology and linear motion and assembly technology, including software and interfaces to the Internet of Things. With locations in over 80 countries more than 29,600 associates generated sales revenue of around 5.2 billion euros in 2020.
To learn more, please visit www.boschrexroth.com
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 395,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2020). The company generated sales of 71.5 billion euros in 2020. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. With its more than 400 locations worldwide, the Bosch Group has been carbon neutral since the first quarter of 2020. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 129 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 73,000 associates in research and development, of which nearly 34,000 are software engineers.
Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, https://twitter.com/BoschPress
Hans Michael Krause
Game Changer
ctrlX World
