March 2019

52 n EXECUTIVE VIEWPOINT March 2019 www.drivesncontrols.com OPC UA TSN at the field level: one comms standard to rule them all? Move on or face the consequences “It will allow customers to buy the best products from any vendor without worrying whether they will interoperate.” With the announcement at the recent SPS IPC Drives exhibition that all of the major global automation vendors are now planning to support the “OPC UA including TSN” initiative, OPC UA becomes the uniform communication standard in automation and industrial IoT. An important step in this direction is the standardisation and further development of OPC UA for the field level under the umbrella of the OPC Foundation. This fulfils a long-standing wish of the market – a manufacturer-independent and interface-free industrial communications technology. Put simply, it will allow customers to buy the best products from any vendor without worrying about whether they will interoperate or not. Managing Director, B&R Industrial Automation UK & Ireland Alan Conn Country Director, Eplan Ken Christie My job means I see a lot of electrical design and manufacturing operations. Some are very efficient, effective and well-organised, but sadly a lot are not. As we approach the third decade of the 21st century, too many companies still rely on processes from the 20th century. They’ve failed to move on, and I have a stark message for them: the automation sector is getting more competitive every day so if you continue to cling to the past, your business will find it harder and harder to compete. What are the problems? I see talented design engineers, whose time is costly, using generic CAD software that is years out of date. Also, the software was developed primarily for mechanical designers and lacks the functionality needed for efficient electrical design work. As a result, those engineers spend a frightening proportion of their time carrying out manual, repetitive tasks like wire numbering, producing terminal schedules, and repeatedly redesigning common circuit blocks. These tasks and many others can be automated, saving money and freeing up time for those engineers to concentrate on more creative work that will delight customers and boost profits.