Independent market study on PLC systems
Profinet most widespread, OPC UA on the rise
98% of machine manufacturers use Ethernet protocols to connect to PLC systems. This is the result of the independent market study "PLC systems". One company made strong gains in the level of awareness of PLC manufacturers.
Ethernet is and remains the technology of choice for machine manufacturers when it comes to connecting to PLC systems: 98% use it, with Profinet being the most widely used protocol at 75%. This is the result of the independent market study "PLC systems", which was carried out by business economist Michaela Rothhöft, a freelance researcher at the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences, with the support of the VDMA Control Technology Working Group. The current study is a repetition of studies from 2005, 2010 and 2014, in which more than 300 mechanical engineering companies were surveyed in January/February 2018 on topics including Ethernet protocols used, technology requirements, trends in the field of PLC systems and the future development of purchasing behavior.
OPC UA and Beckhoff on the advance
Although Profinet is currently by far the most widespread protocol, OPC UA is also growing strongly. According to the study, it is now used by one in four machine manufacturers. This figure is set to rise to 42% in the future.
When asked about the level of awareness of PLC manufacturers, one company has been able to work its way up to 2nd place behind Siemens in recent years: Beckhoff has worked its way up from 6 % in 2001 to 60 %. The person responsible for the study interprets the result to mean that smaller and medium-sized companies also have a good chance of celebrating success on the market compared to international corporations. Their greatest advantages are the fulfillment of technical requirements and a good price.
Technical requirements for PLC systems
The technical requirements for PLC systems were also surveyed. Three out of four machine builders demand the integration of functional safety into the control system as well as an integrated HMI. Every second company would like to use a cloud connection in the future; this is primarily required in connection with diagnostics, monitoring, data acquisition and analysis. The coordination of machines via cloud services, on the other hand, is only very rarely intended. ag
Further information and studies can be found at http://www.marktstudien.org
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