IKO settles on Rockwell

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 24, 2002

Slide and rail manufacturer IKO Nippon Thompson has selected Rockwell Automation as its preferred supplier of control products.

When leading linear slide and rail manufacturer IKO Nippon Thompson was designing its LT series of high-rigidity long-stroke linear motion tables for the UK market, it conducted a thorough investigation of available control products from a variety of sources, including a number of interested leading motor manufacturers before settling on Rockwell Automation as its preferred supplier.

Rockwell Automation is a leading manufacturer and supplier of the type of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and associated drive products that IKO was looking to integrate into its new LT Series of motion tables, which use advanced linear motors to provide the most powerful linear motion tables of a type unrivalled by any competing manufacturer.

The compact LT-C series boasts a table height of just 30mm whereas the higher-rigidity LT-L series table height is still impressively shallow at just 40mm.

Built into the table depth of either type is the field coil, an optical linear scale sensor, a C-shaped magnet yolk, a moving coil, the moving table, a coil board, linear ways, limit sensors and all of the components that enable movement at up to 3m/s over stroke lengths up to 2760mm.

The maximum thrust is an impressive 450N.

Whichever type is selected, purchasers will acquire a superbly engineered, direct drive positioning table whose movement is plotted by Rockwell Automation's Allen Bradley Ultra3000 PLC with built-in indexing, making them the best-in-the-business.

Bob Howell at IKO Nippon Thompson takes up the story: "We had been carefully looking into a controller supply source for some months and had been in negotiations with a number of respected potential suppliers including Rockwell Automation.

Our detailed investigations showed that their products were best suited to our needs and so they have become our preferred supplier".

IKO Nippon Thompson has a number of strategic alliances with preferred suppliers.

In addition to product, preferred suppliers might also be asked to supply design assistance and technical support in order that IKO can help customers arrive at unique solutions for their application.