ces to directly support OEMs and help reduce their total costs to design, develop, and deliver machines. These resources include Global OEM Technical Consultants (GOTC's) and Program Managers. In addition, we have put a lot of effort into developing technologies that help OEMs reduce design and engineering costs. Reusable code has played a major factor in this effort. We’ve dedicated considerable resources to Power Programming, or the use of tag-based programming and pre-engineered
libraries. This enables OEMs to reuse solutions across multiple machines and applications, allowing for reduced customization and programming time, training costs, and other expenses.
A key focus area that we believe is important to the OEM community is how to apply the right technology directly on the machine so that the footprint is optimized, performance is leveraged, and some cost is driven out of the machine development process. This On-Machine strategy of architecting a machine relies not on one component or technology, but a discipline for the entire solution that goes into controlling a machine. Another issue facing our customers – both OEMs and end users – is information management. It’s more than sending data back and forth; it’s taking that data, which is generated in huge volumes in the manufacturing environment, and turning it into useful information for better decision making. We’re developing information technologies that help convert data to knowledge so that operators can easily make changes that affect not only performance, but also predict failure. Using Integrated Architecture, Rockwell Automation combines the Logix control platform and FactoryTalk integrated production and performance software suite into an attractive proposition for OEMs looking to convert manufacturing data into valuable business information.
