Rockwell Automation Fair 2018 unveils new brand

Automation Fair 2018, hosted by Rockwell Automation and members of its PartnerNetwork on 14-15 November in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, officially unveiled the company’s new branding and shared announcements about innovative solutions for customers.

The new brand promise, Expanding Human Possibility, supports Rockwell Automation emphasis on bringing The Connected Enterprise to life and how, by connecting people, machines and data digitally across an entire organisation, manufacturers can become more effective and productive.

“The new Rockwell Automation brand builds on our company’s legacy and emphasises the central role that people play in advanced manufacturing. It underscores our focus on the ways we can help businesses maximise performance, advance innovation and drive growth,” said Blake Moret, chairman and CEO, Rockwell Automation. “Together with our partners at Automation Fair, we demonstrated how to bring The Connected Enterprise to life, empowering our customers to build more efficient, nimble and productive businesses.”

Automation Fair 2018 saw thousands of global manufacturing leaders gather in Philadelphia to experience the latest technology and discuss industry trends impacting today’s manufacturing climate such as digitization, cybersecurity, female leadership, the skills gap, and STEM.

Automation Fair also saw the launch of innovative new solutions, FactoryTalk InnovationSuite and MetsoMetrics, from Rockwell Automation and its PartnerNetwork members, that are designed to create value and increase productivity by harnessing the information within organisations.

Joe Sousa, president, Asia Pacific, Rockwell Automation, commented: “The new Rockwell Automation branding underlines our single-minded commitment to bringing the Connected Enterprise to life. By combining our expertise with that of our PartnerNetwork members, we can bring to market innovative new solutions and helping customers to define their Industry 4.0 journey.

“The Asia Pacific region is extremely diverse and fast-moving. Our full range of solutions allow customers to achieve deeper insights into their business and ensure their preparation for success, whatever market they are in, and the ability to overcome the unique conditions that their business or industry may face,” said Sousa.

FactoryTalk InnovationSuite: following the announcement of the partnership between Rockwell Automation and PTC in June 2018, Automation Fair saw the launch of Factory Talk InnovationSuite, a new collaborative solution from Rockwell Automation and PTC offering designed to drive digital transformation across industrial enterprises.

FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC, improves connectivity to operational technology (OT) devices on the plant floor, natively supporting the rapid, scalable, and secure connection of the most commonly used industrial equipment. Combined with data from information technology (IT) applications and systems, decision makers can now gain a complete digital representation of their industrial equipment, lines, and facilities from anywhere in the enterprise.

Metso Metrics: a new predictive maintenance solution for the mining industry and a collaboration between Metso and Rockwell Automation was launched during Automation Fair. Designed to provide global mining customers improved visibility and new insights into their equipment and processes, Metso Metrics allows for deeper insights into analytics, condition monitoring, and predictive maintenance.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution is built on the Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Cloud platform, powered by Microsoft Azure. It securely collects data from hundreds of sensors within Metso equipment all used to assess process performance, as well as predict component wear and failure. Metso performance teams analyse the data with the support of advanced machine learning algorithms, to help customers optimise equipment operations and processes.