According to a recent study published by ITQ in cooperation with universities and the trade magazine Computer&AUTOMATION, 16% of all German machine and system manufacturers are already programming their control systems using Automation Studio. As a result, nearly one in six German machine manufacturers are working with the B&R software tool.
The analysis of the survey also points out that controller hardware is now no longer the sole criteria when making a decision and that the engineering environment provided by the manufacturer is becoming increasingly important. This indicates a significant change for machine and system manufacturing as more and more companies place their trust in integrated software development environments such as Automation Studio to handle the increasing complexity of industrial automation tasks.
Survey respondents listed factors such as intuitive program operation, software quality assurance and the ability to port existing software as having high priority. 92% were adamant about the importance of reusing existing software in light of the fact that companies are now placing a very large portion of their expertise into the software they develop.
Efficient and sustainable development with Automation Studio 4
With Automation Studio 4, B&R offers even smarter development methods for machine and system manufacturing in the form of a fully integrated tool. Working simultaneously on different tasks and dividing individual projects into modules not only increases efficiency, it also reduces time to market. Reusing software in subsequent machine generations also ensures a maximum return on investment.
More information about this study can be found on the Computer&AUTOMATION website at www.computer-automation.de.
