HMI and PLC combo streamlines modular automation equipment manufacturing

Edited by Mike Santora, Associate Editor

Inovatech uses Pro-face America’s LT4000M to help create its Modular Automation Station System. The MASS (shown here) is a slide-connect solution for low and high-volume automation within a single enclosure.

Inovatech Automation is an automation integrator specializing in modular automation equipment, fixtures, and customized product solutions. When the company decided they were losing too much time and money through programming on expensive HMI and PLC platforms, they contacted Pro-Face America.

Travis Buset, Director of Operations for Inovatech, explained that he needed a product that could provide universal robot and I/O link integration. Additionally, he wanted the HMI unit itself to be branded with the Inovatech logo. He also needed a more efficient way to program and downtime wasn’t an option.

“I was apprehensive at first. With so many of the projects I’m on, the timing is short. ‘We need to do it now; it has to get done now.’ So, I had concerns about learning something on the fly only to find out the onboarding experience and programming was now going take me twice as long,” says Buset.

The solution was the LT4000M. Using this HMI plus Control reduced the hardware cost by eliminating the PLC (combining HMI/PLC). This configuration also decreased engineering time by at least 50%. The LT4000M also offered easy integration to a Universal robot and IO link as requested. The Pro-face team also delivered on the custom overlay for the LT4000M, helping Invotech keep its brand intact. Ultimately, time and efficiency were the most significant upgrades with the new system in place. Buset’s concerns were short-lived.

“The other platform, for example, required two different types of software. Pro-face uses a single software, and it’s basically a drag-and-drop. Something that would’ve taken me 32 to 40 hours to program, now took me eight hours to program on the Pro-face. I had it programmed in eight hours, my first time programming.”

Buset also says that the ROI on the new platform was drastically improved. “This a very, very powerful unit. For the cost, it’s well worth it for what this configuration is capable of.” Inovatech estimates that it is now operating at as much as 75% greater efficiency than before. DW

Pro-face America
www.profaceamerica.com