By combining all the tools needed to configure, program, debug, and maintain automation projects from a common, intuitive interface, Automation Builder reduces the single largest cost element in most current industrial automation projects: the software.
Automation Builder builds on the success of ABB's well-known Control Builder Plus tool for PLC programming. This provides powerful PLC development resources in the CoDeSys IEC 61131-3 compliant development environment format, including the HMI-oriented Panel Builder tool. These elements are now complemented by tools for configuring and programming a new generation of safety PLCs, the RobotStudio tool for simulating and programming industrial robot applications, the Mint Workbench tool, and pre-integrated, tested libraries for controlling drives and other devices connected via fieldbuses, networks, or the internet.
Automation Builder integrates all these capabilities into a single environment with common data and an intuitive user interface. This ensures data consistency, eliminating the need for repeated data entry and avoiding programming effort and potential problems associated with data exchange between the controller and all the various devices in the automation system, such as servo drives, robotic arms, operator panels, and I/O. Third-party devices can also interact within the environment.
By using ABB’s new suite of tools, development teams with application experts and software and hardware engineers can now focus their time and effort entirely on developing the application, rather than wasting time on the thousands of interaction issues that can arise when building systems using many different types of automation devices. ABB estimates that the Automation Builder environment can significantly reduce development times—by a third for complex systems. This new level of efficiency addresses important emerging challenges in the field of industrial automation, such as the trend toward improving performance with more complex and dynamic control algorithms, the rapidly growing trend toward incorporating much more sophisticated safety mechanisms, and the demand for automation networks in larger factories.
Furthermore, ABB's Automation Builder offers the means to reduce the total cost of ownership of automation systems, as it provides a common platform ensuring continuous maintenance throughout the life cycle of the systems, from commissioning to diagnostics, remote access, or system expansion and upgrades.
