industrial//industrial ecosystem//system integrator

The company that joins equipment of different manufacturers into one working system: a Siemens PLC with ABB drives, Endress+Hauser sensors and an Ignition SCADA. It programs, configures communications, builds HMI and SCADA screens and carries out commissioning.

The company that joins equipment of different manufacturers into one working system: a Siemens PLC with ABB drives, Endress+Hauser sensors and an Ignition SCADA. It programs, configures communications, builds HMI and SCADA screens and carries out commissioning.

Its knowledge is precisely the seams: which protocol each box speaks, which register map the meter uses, how a KUKA robot controller handshakes with a Rockwell PLC (industrial Ethernet).

An integrator does not necessarily program the SCADA and disappear. It can design the automation, commission it, and then stay five, ten or more years under a maintenance contract for PLCs, DCS, SCADA, networks, program changes, migrations, new machines, spares and 24/7 support. That turns an initial hardware sale into a very long aftermarket relationship.

It buys from vendors, works for plants, EPCs and OEMs, and negotiates with a sophisticated buyer that knows what its hours are worth.