‘Now ready with custom made RFID product for installation in Zone 1 area’

September 1, 2021 7:24 pm

We bring intelligence to machines while ensuring reliable detection, transmission and processing of production data.

What prospects do you envision for factory and process automation post pandemic?

We could see aggressive momentum in both factory & process automation segment post pandemic. This momentum sets new crest reference in business for the future growth. Surge in demand poses a great challenge for the industries to shorten the duration of supply chain and this provides broader opportunities for the automation industry through multiple ways – Plant addition, capacity expansion, increased plant automation, increased safety norms, need for reduced breakdown time. The increased demand for smarter conveying & storage solutions seems to be promising. In short “Near future looks positive”.

Tell us about your company and range of products suited especially for the pharmaceutical sector.

We are a global automation company having experience of over 50 years in manufacturing and have about 4650 employees worldwide extending our reach to 60 countries. We craft the product for both factory & process industries. Our product pyramid starts from collection of real-world signals at the base level through our sensor portfolio, until visualising in our cloud at the top level. Capability to offer product & solution in this complete transformation is one of our key strengths in the industry. When it comes to pharma sector, our specialty product is Excom systems. New series of Ethernet based multiprotocol in these product groups has further enhanced our position. We are growing very stronger with this product in India. Our other products include sensors, connectivity, speed monitors, fieldbus solution for the biopharma equipment, RFID solution for the Hose pipe identification, inventory tracking, and material handling.

Could you elaborate about the Excom system & reason for its significant growth in the pharma industry?

I am excited to answer! Freedom always gives enormous happiness! Excom system gives opportunity for the customer to have complete freedom in interfacing the field devices from any location of the plant irrespective of Zone classification. This system collects & transmits signals in bidirectional way via standard communication protocols with the DCS/ PLC. The key advantage of this system is its capability to interface with intrinsically safe devices with wider signal options, thus ensuring the safe & reliable operation. Approvals are always major challenges when installing a product in pharma industry, we have understood it better & our system meets this requirement very well. In addition, customer gets maximum benefits in ease of installation, reduced commissioning time and cabling, field level diagnostics, centralised information of the field devices, and reduced space for control room – They are very much delighted to use this system. Thus, significant growth comes.

Could you talk more about your recently launched product Zone 1 RFID system?

When we talk about RFID products, we are highly versatile! We are having this in our portfolio for more than decade and we have been improving continuously on the existing products, launching new products to adapt to the expectation of market time to time. We are very honoured to say that we have strongest portfolio in the market with various options available to the customer to choose based on multiple parameters. Turck vilant provides complete RFID turnkey solution, we have strengthened our commitment to software, systems and services, which is of high strategic importance in terms of Industry 4.0

Until now, we had the installation restricted to only safe & zone 2 areas but with our recent launch of TN-R42TC series, we have achieved remarkable step in this product group once again. This is built of stainless-steel housing marking its usage even in clean room area. Now, we are ready with custom-made product suited for installation in zone 1 area and it has various applications in pharma, chemical or elsewhere segment. One of the prominent applications in these locations is Hose pipe identification and we are very much successful.

Digitalisation and technological advancement are growing. What smart manufacturing processes are being followed in your manufacturing facilities?

We manufacture over thousands of products, our demand for smart manufacturing starts even

from inception of order into the system until the distribution. Electronic manufacturing process being core area of the production process, it is highly important that we improve the quality, reduce errors during assembly and provide safety to the workforce. We have fully automated SMT manufacturing process and for the THT mounting – usage of visual guidance system, E-Kanban systems, synchronised component supplies from vendors, automated visual inspection of manufactured PCB’s, RFID based identification of tooling jigs & fixtures is being followed as part of error proof and efficient process. In the post manufacturing process, we have sorter conveyors with RFID installed to ensure the products are packed and ready for dispatch to right location across the world. Our manufacturing processes are all completely connected systems.

Can you share the feature for which your company received the 2020 award of excellence in digital manufacturing for innovation?

It was such a great honour to receive this award among 400 automation enterprises recommended for evaluation. As a leader in intelligent sensor technology and decentralised automation, we bring intelligence to machines while ensuring reliable detection, transmission and processing of production data from sensor to cloud. We offer best solution in automated production lines through our fieldbus & RFID products along with user-friendly software & services. All this feature enhanced our position stronger for recognition of this award.

What are plans for the next three years?

Next three years will be very important phase of our business. Our focus will be to maintain equilibrium of higher growth rate and consistency. We will continue the ongoing momentum of business and lay the foundation for future growth. Industry 4.0 products, decentralised automation, application specific solution, new markets are expected to empower the growth. There will be multiple product launches to fulfil demands of market; fewer custom products will be launched for specific segments. We are very much positive in achieving the bigger milestone.