IO-Link – The Ideal Solution

Prospot save on costs and wiring using Balluff IO-Link.

IO-Link impresses first time users with the many installation advantages, as well as the enormous cost and time saving values. The intelligent combination of industrial networking with the IO-Link communication standard, provides companies with the ideal solution for faster, increasingly flexible, more efficient and more adaptable production. Furthermore, automating with IO-Link provides you with a powerful infrastructure for reliably managing the growing volume of data as well as transporting this data throughout the whole manufacturing process, enabling for seamless communication. Welding company, Prospot along with Balluff have fully utilised these IO-Link benefits into their workplace and the results are increasingly advantageous.

Prospot, established in 1997 are a leading supplier of resistance welding machinery and consumables. Prospot employs 42 highly skilled staff who operate from a 16,000 square feet factory in Tamworth. The company specialises in bespoke welding systems and resistance welding consumables as well as offering an extensive range of quality standard machines and spares.

Prospot is a fantastic example of how IO-Link can transform a working environment and an existing machine architecture. Prior to Balluff introducing IO-Link, Prospot were using a traditional method of mounting their fieldbus node in an enclosure on the assembly fixture, with field devices being wired to passive splitter boxes and then additionally hardwired back to the node. A very time consuming and costly method. In order to save time and money Balluff and Prospot worked together to create a solution.

By simply using an IO-Link master on the fixture, Balluff were able to provide Prospot with Tool ID as well as useful diagnostic information. They did this with fixed IO wired directly to slave IO-Link devices connected to the master with only a single M12 connection. “Wiring is much more efficient – effectively fixture IO wiring is halved” explained Andy Godfrey, Head of Engineering at Prospot. “Overall product cost is far more economic than the traditional solution previously employed” continued Mr Godfrey. “The application of the IO-Link system also allows the use of additional devices such as SmartLights and IO-Link specific sensors with the additional advantages such as smart parameterisation and additional functionality / data capabilities.”

Norman Hurley, Automotive Sales Manager at Balluff has been working together with Prospot since 2007 and has strived to offer customers like Prospot the best sensing and networking solutions. “It’s great to see Prospot adopting Balluff IO-Link on their machines and I look forward to helping them again in the future when it comes to introducing the latest industry 4.0 ready technologies” explained Mr Hurley.

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