As a manufacturer of process automation, there are many options to test new products. However, these tests are seldom performed early in the development phase under real conditions at the company’s own plant. Rockwell Automation and Endress+Hauser have now inaugurated their first joint test plant for validation purposes in Europe.
Core elements of the test plant at Endress+Hauser’s site in Maulburg, Germany, are three massive oil tanks. On the tanks, more than 20 instruments from Endress+Hauser with different measuring methods have been installed, all of them communicating with Rockwell Automation’s Plant
PAx control system. In this way, all personnel at the test centre obtain specific information and diagnostics relating to the tank contents.
Representatives of Rockwell Automation and Endress+Hauser in front of the new test centre.
For customer training and product validation
The original idea of a joint installation came from training centres established by Endress+Hauser, with the support of Rockwell Automation in recent years: so-called Process Training Units. At 10 facilities in the USA, Colombia, China and Canada, sales representatives and product specialists from both companies host practical training sessions for their customers. These courses comprise installation training, simulations under real conditions, diagnostics and comparisons of different technologies.
With an investment of several hundred thousand Euros, the first joint test centre for Europe takes this concept a few steps further and establishes new standards: it is surrounded by the Endress+Hauser production site for level and pressure measurement technology and focuses on product validation.
Research and development takes centre stage to align new products to customer requirements at an early phase under real application and environmental conditions. “All of our products must pass testing at the validation centre and prove that they create sustainable added value for customers,” emphasised Gerd Gritsch, division manager Quality Management with Endress+Hauser Maulburg.
Automation specialists join forces
Increasing customer benefit was the trigger for a strategic alliance between Rockwell Automation and Endress+Hauser more than 10 years ago. The former CEOs, Keith Nosbusch and Klaus Endress, promised to combine their strengths for the benefit of customers and to create systems which communicate flawlessly with each other.
In Maulburg this includes training employees and customers at the validation centre and offering hands-on learning for students. Last year, 2600 external visitors trained on the test plant’s tanks and systems.
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