Successful 2005 for Pilz

A Pilz Automation Technology product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jan 3, 2006

Pilz has certainly had a successful 2005, with product sales continuing to rise, and its team of engineers and consultants kept extremely busy.

Pilz has certainly had a successful 2005, with product sales continuing to rise, and its team of engineers and consultants kept extremely busy.

Not surprisingly, a recruitment campaign has been necessary to ensure that the company keeps pace with the workload.

Training has been very popular throughout the year, with courses taking place virtually every working day, and around 300 individuals benefiting as a result.

During 2005, Pilz became a recognised City and Guilds training centre, with one course receiving C and G accreditation and another received IOSH accreditation.

Customers have really started to appreciate the advantages offered by the PNOZmulti software-configurable modular safety controller, and there has been a continual flow of new base units, modules and configuration software to expand the functionality of this product family considerably (for example, in relation to fieldbus communications and speed/standstill monitoring).

Other new products launched in 2005 included user interfaces, one of which is specifically for displaying diagnostic data from Pilz PSS (programmable safety system) fail-safe controllers ("safety PLCs") and the SafetyBus p safety fieldbus.

Coded guard switches have been added to the PSEN family of fail-safe switches, together with electromechanical interlock switches.

A completely new range of innovative emergency stop switches was launched at the start of the year.

Other developments over the last 12 months included the launch of the Pilz Certified System Integrator programme, with Elite Control Systems being the first company to achieve the high standards required.

Following the acquisition of the Mayr Systems Division from Chr Mayr of Mauerstetten, Pilz is soon to launch its own range of motion control products and, shortly after that, a range of Pilz motion control (PMC) products will be available with integrated safety.

In addition, an agreement has been signed with Danfoss that will lead to Danfoss marketing a family of drives with integrated Pilz safety technology.

There is plenty to look forward to in 2006, including a host of new products for safety and non-safety-related applications, two more field sales engineers (there has been a tremendous response to the online recruitment campaign), a new website that will provide a number of useful new facilities for customers, plus some further developments for the recently redesigned "Safety update" e-mail newsletter.

Several new training courses are also planned, a new edition of the hugely popular "Guide to machinery safety" will be published, and Pilz will be supporting the machinery safety and functional safety seminars that are being organised by BARA (the British Automation and Robotics Association).

To keep up to date with all the developments, Pilz strongly recommends that customers subscribe on its website to receive the Pilz "Safety update" free e-mail newsletter that is published monthly.