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We all have one in our pocket or bag: a smartphone. Are you already playing games with it too because the gaming industry is increasingly taking notice of this platform. Why not: powerful, always at your fingertips and easy to individualise. The gaming industry is constantly reinventing itself by quickly adapting to changing and new needs. Lenze is also inspired by the innovativeness, customer focus and speed of the games industry through their ‘platform thinking’. Lenze is transferring this concept to the automation world with its NUPANO Suite. Because engineering can also be plug-and-play.
Last year, the gaming industry realised global revenues of $180 billion, more than what film and music combined bring in. The biggest driver behind this success is the platform strategy of the major game studios and console manufacturers. As gamers, we buy a console that we can easily set up thanks to the platform behind it, from the resolution on your screen to the internet connection, from creating an account in the online shop to setting up user roles with different access rights. All without interruptions, all in one and the same place. This allows gamers to discover new games quickly and effortlessly, without having to go through a manual. A simple plug-and-play solution. Lenze will apply this platform thinking to the lifecycle of machines. That way, mechanical engineers can easily and quickly create a new generation of machines, laced with digital added value.
Selecting hardware, creating a simple set-up, activating programming and efficiently managing additional functionalities, collaborating with partners ... it's all possible with the NUPANO Suite. More than that, you can perform updates for better performance and more security. That future of mechanical engineering is possible by using standards. These enable Lenze to carry out engineering at the highest level throughout a machine's lifecycle. It's all about speed in development, commissioning, collaboration and new business models through a single platform. Lenze can provide the full chain of ‘tools’: from the initial idea for a machine to its operation. The automation pros have built the suite according to the lifecycle of a product, divided into three blocks.
When planning, users have full access to tools such as System Designer. The wizard supports the user in planning from single-axis applications to complex machine solutions (from Lenze and third-party components). The wizard is based on Lenze's in-depth domain knowledge and the calculation models are based on actual experience. Drive systems can also be dimensioned energy-efficiently. Everyone involved in the planning process works together. The machine process is modularised and the user can select solution elements or use wizards. Lenze provides the connection to digital services such as CAD, EPLAN and supports the user in creating templates.
Here, the focus is on engineering, commissioning and series production. The mechanical engineer has access to a software framework to integrate, test and scale up ready-made software modules from Lenze into his machine software, for example. Commissioning is first performed virtually while the control cabinet and machine are under construction. Developing software for mechanical and electrical systems in parallel reduces development time. Lenze offers a tool that easily and efficiently installs and manages software on serial machines. The supplier does not have to reprogram its applications. The customer's software just has to run, because IT capacity is scarce everywhere. The platform requirements: everything must be secure, open, simple and understandable for the mechanical engineer.
Once the machines are active, the machine builder supports his customers in operating them. Through the centralised machine management in the suite, he can, for example, offer service ticketing applications or add anomaly detection. This phase is all about constantly improving availability and productivity, because that is what counts today. There is also transparency for the machine builder, as he has an overview of all machines, including software version.
Lenze previewed a new generation of controllers at the SPS. The machine controller can take over control and IT tasks and therefore fits perfectly into its platform strategy. The automation specialist also presented an edge device with a pre-installed app management tool that allows IT to scale outside or independent of the controllers in machines. This allows customers to transfer out-of-the-box IT applications to the device. With the new hardware and the NUPANO Suite, machine builders enter a new engineering and business level with new capabilities - from the drive to the platform for new revenue streams, more transparency and security, and the necessary computing power and connectivity. This approach is all the more compelling for customers, especially in view of the Cyber Resilience Act and NIS2. In the gaming world, this would probably be called an extra life or an asset that keeps the player in the game - or just the extra competitive edge.
