Scan Magazine | Business Profile | Beckhoff
New automation technology Beckhoff Automation is one of the world’s leading companies when it comes to implementing open automation systems based on PC Control technology. By Nicolai Lisberg | Photos: Beckhoff Automation
It might sound very technical, but what Beckhoff Automation excels at is actually making complicated issues and big data both simple and available for their clients. Many of the automation technology standards that are taken for granted today were conceptualised by Beckhoff Automation at an early stage and successfully introduced to the market. “Right now we are working a lot with Internet of Things (IoT), Industrie 4.0 and big data. What we do is that we take the available data directly from the machines and components and put them into a cloud. We can deliver real-time data down to micro seconds so that it can be analysed right away,” explains Michael Nielsen, managing director at Beckhoff Automation Denmark. The German-owned company’s clients are typically machine builders. Beckhoff Automation has bases in 70 countries, 92 | Issue 98 | March 2017
over 3,500 employees and, in 2015, had a turnover of 620 million euros.
An intelligent future One of the projects Beckhoff Automation has been involved with lately is a student block in Aarhus. Alongside Grundfos, who built the dorm, and Microsoft, Beckhoff Automation installed a small system in all 156 apartments, providing information about everything that goes on in the building. “With this system we can log all kinds of information, such as temperature, humidity, and use of cold and hot water, in the cloud automatically every five seconds. Instead of just assuming that people usually get up at eight and take a shower at half past, we are now able to read the actual data and analyse it. Based on this data, it has been possible to improve the energy consumption
in the house,” says Nielsen. “This is, in many ways, the way to go when it comes to smart cities, where we optimise our infrastructure in a more ideal way. Beckhoff can deliver the hardware and make data available in a very simple way with the help of IoT, big data and Industrie 4.0. These tools are the future for automation technology and at Beckhoff we are well prepared for this future.”
For more information, please visit: www.beckhoff.dk