{mosimage} The eyeglass manufacturer, Ophthonix Inc., in Vista, Calif., needed to integrate a lean-based flexible conveyor to accelerate production time and improve the quality of its custom-made lenses. The goal was to develop a variable speed drive module to run at a quicker pace with ample cooling. The company turned to Bosch Rexroth Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill., for a VarioFlow flexible conveyor and brought in Eagle Technologies Group, in Bridgman, Mich., as the systems integrator for the project.

Eagle came in early to help design and integrate a fully automated lab. Integrators are frequently brought in early in automation projects because they tend to be the engineers with the widest range of experience in plant automation, and they have the best overall knowledge of vendor tools. Eagle recommended using the facility’s 10,000 square-foot finishing lab like a cube to take advantage of vertical space.

In addition to mapping the layout, Eagle specified and built the conveyors, the vertical buffer system and a tray-up de-stacker to optimize the production process. Eagle had developed its creative problem-solving ideas at other plants in other industries. “Systems integrators have taken our products and done ingenious things to solve problems for our customers,” says Kevin Gingerich, director of linear motion and assembly technologies at Bosch Rexroth. “They’re taking their exposure to best practices and developing elegant ways of solving problems.”

An advantage of Eagle’s wide experience across many industries—automotive, medical, agriculture, furniture—was
the company’s ability to revamp the automation system quickly. “They were able to install the system in less than three weeks, which is a quick turnaround for a conveyer system of this magnitude,” says John Lemperle, vice president of operations at Ophthonix.

Systems integrators are taking a larger role in the installation and even maintenance of plant control systems. In difficult economic times, plants cut their engineering staffs. When conditions improved, engineers were not rehired. Many plants have effectively outsourced their engineering to integrators. Consequently, integrators are brought in earlier on projects and they’ve given more responsibility.

Integrators are also viewed as the experts in control engineering. Plants depend on integrators to know a range of control tools and to understand how these tools are used. Because integrators hop from industry to industry, and vendor to vendor, they bring a bag of best practices to their customers. “Our role is to help plants [specify] the hardware and software and get the control they want to end up with,” says Barry Stringer, president of Solvere, a Belmont, N.C., systems integrator. “Most customers use us because they outsource their control engineering. They have expertise, but they don’t keep up with the latest in control.”

Vendor agnostic

While many systems integrators work closely with specific vendors, they are expected to be familiar with a wide range of multi-vendor tools. “When you talk to vendor reps, you get their view. An independent systems integrator gives you advice based on familiarity with a number of vendors. They’ve seen other applications and they can tell you if they’re applicable,” says Russ Nowak, director of research at ARC Advisory Group Inc., in Dedham, Mass. “The integrator shares the good and the bad. The plant owners expect that from their integrators.”

When integrators work independently, they can bring in solutions from a range of possible vendors. “We provide more flexibility by providing a multiple-vendor control platform,” says Michael Gurney, an engineer at Concept Systems Inc., an integrator in Albany, Ore. “If a plant has a particular vendor in charge and they no longer want that vendor’s tools, they’re in a pinch. If we’re working with the plant, we can bring in a secondary solution.”

Years ago, systems integrators were hired to augment the plant’s engineering team. More and more, the integrator is part of the plant’s engineering staff. Many plants are effectively outsourcing their engineering to systems integrators. “When I first got into this business, eight engineers would follow me around to make sure I knew what I was doing,” says Bob Zeigenfuse, president, Avanceon LP, a systems integrator in Exton, Pa. “Now it’s hard to find an engineer.

“The overall trend over the last 30 years is that we’re gone from augmenting projects, to carrying the bulk of the lead, to completely leading the projects,” says Zeigenfuse. “We get involved early in projects and we actually formulate the requirements.”

Brian Beaufaux, president of Industrial Automation Engineering Inc., an integrator in Ham Lake, Minn., describes a similar experience. “When I started 20 years ago, there were four shop engineers for every ...