Remember the battle between Beta and VHS? Maybe you don’t. Netflix won.
Rexroth wasn’t involved in that fight, but they’re ready for the equivalent tech battle shaping up in the Internet of Things. Maciej Kranz, author of Building the Internet of Things: Implement New Business Models, Disrupt Competitors, Transform Your Industry, used the Beta/VHS comparison in his discussion of the need for standards and interoperability in IoT.
Without common standards, the journey toward smart factories will be slowed. It is, as Kranz points out, too important for that.
Rexroth’s Open Core is an important step toward common standards and interoperability. Rexroth is also involved in the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), where hundreds of companies work together to establish and test ideas like the new Ethernet IEEE 802 standards.
With secure access to all devices and shared standards for connections, it’s practical to connect motion applications, robots, and vehicles in ways that open new possibilities for industry.
Automation is on the rise in U.S. manufacturing. The obstacles to automation are beginning to pale in comparison to the advantages.
The National Association of Manufacturers reports that there are 256,363 manufacturing firms in the U.S. 250,000 of them have fewer than 500 workers. The lack of skilled workers and the increasing cost of offshoring as wages rise sharply in China are factors that will continue to make automation appealing to these smaller companies. The upfront cost and the demand for small footprints and customization make it essential that machines from different manufacturers be able to work together.
Without that compatibility and the chance to connect machines, automation will continue to be less accessible to SMEs.
Rexroth’s ongoing commitment to open standards and interfaces supports these necessary innovations.
It’s just one more reason that we believe Rexroth makes the best electric industrial motion control on the planet. We’re specialists in these machines and can help with both legacy components and those from the current IndraDrive range.