Need a generation-to-generation upgrade path? Opto 22 customers have it.

With all the buzz of Opto 22's 50-year anniversary in the air, many of us here at Opto 22 headquarters in Temecula, California, are sharing our Opto stories—mostly centered around memories of people and events. It wasn't until a live-chat message came in from a customer asking about migrating PID loops from a legacy Factory Floor application to PAC Control running on a groov EPIC that this blog post crystallized in my mind's eye.

What struck me even more than the question about migrating those mid-1990s PID loops is just how profound it is that the question actually does have an answer! (Stay tuned until the end.)

Were you in Chicago for Automate 2024? Dan White shares some highlights from last week's show.

As cities worldwide buzz back to life post-pandemic, trade shows are reclaiming their spotlight, and none more so than the recent Automate Show held in Chicago. With over 800 exhibitors showcasing the latest in automation and robotics tech, the McCormick Place was the place to be.

Start analyzing your energy data to manage and reduce your energy consumption.

Managing and reducing your energy consumption sounds like a no-brainer. Save thousands on electricity, maintain critical machine health, reduce carbon footprint? Sign me up! 

Where to begin? Well, the best place to start is analyzing your energy data, but unfortunately, you can’t find that data on your electric bill—it’s barely a summary. To manage your energy, start by measuring it. Once you determine where, when, and how that energy is consumed, areas for improvement become obvious. 

Mercer Technologies continues to innovate—adding energy cost per part.

Are you considering ways to include energy monitoring in your industrial applications? Now you can hear first hand how long-time Opto customer Mercer Technologies is making it happen.

The latest case study in the groov case study library features Mercer Technologies' story of innovation. See how they leverage energy monitoring data from Opto 22's groov product family.

Understanding different data types in your PAC Control programming.

You don’t need to have the title "software engineer" on your business card before you code up your first automation process. In fact, I suspect that many industrial automation folks are like me—self-taught and come from the school of hard knocks.

This blog post is more of a musing out loud than a "you must" edict. Programming, after all, is often more art than science.

Opto 22's Director of Technical Marketing, Dan White, explains the features and importance of modern edge devices in this new Control Engineering article.

The industrial automation industry is now being driven by the idea of digital transformation and the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Understanding the concepts of edge and cloud technology and how they relate is becoming a necessity.

Opto 22's Dan White does an excellent job of explaining these terms and what it means for you and your future designs and applications. He shares his insights on edge devices, data management and cybersecurity in this newly published article from Control Engineering, "Edge to cloud: Understanding new industrial architectures."

New case study shows how a new dosing and batching system saved labor costs and time.

Pinturas Tropical is a leading paint and coating producer operating in Santo Domingo, the capital city and main industrial hub of the Dominican Republic. They have been delivering durable paint products for over three decades. However, their existing PLC-controlled dosing and batching system required manual adjustments and led to waste in raw materials.

How Pinturas Tropical overcame these challenges is the subject of a new groov EPIC case study.  Read how and why they turned to renowned systems integrator and certified OptoPartner RMS Industrial Tech to revamp their batch control system through better visualization and record keeping.

Another opportunity to see groov EPIC and groov RIO demos using Ignition software.

Have you ever attended the Automate show? Considered the leading industrial automation event in North America, this year's Automate event takes place at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, May 6 - 9, 2024.

Opto 22 technology partner, Inductive Automation, will be there located in booth 5020. That's where you'll find the Opto 22 team doing live action demos of groov EPIC and groov RIO.

Some tech tip advice to help keep your industrial systems running smoothly.

Whenever I say this blog title out loud to the Premium Factory Training class attendees, I get some funny looks. I'm not sure if it's the Aussie accent, or the idea of adding delays to speed up that causes the double-take chuckles.

Compute power has come a long way in the last 10 years or so, but regardless, we programmers of all things industrial still need to be mindful of optimizing our code and systems to run as smoothly as they possibly can.

Arguably, one of the biggest tips for programming in PAC Control I can share with you all is to add delays through your flow charts and OptoScript blocks.

Make plans to attend the first annual Digital Transformation Forum at the Boston Convention Center, May 1-2.

Experience two days dedicated to helping manufacturers take on digital transformation challenges. Join Opto 22's Director of Technical Marketing, Dan White, at the upcoming DX Forum.

On May 1st at 1:45 p.m., see how ALTA Refrigeration created more efficient, productive, and secure systems by leveraging digital technology. Dan will be joined by ALTA's Peter Santoro and Todd Hedenstrom for a presentation of their case study.