Software set to simplify industrial automation projects

Automation Builder provides an integrated development environment for control and motion systems based on PLCs, safety PLCs, robotics, motion control and related automation components. ABB claims it reduces software complexity, cuts time to market and lowers cost of ownership. "Industrial automation projects are becoming much more complex, and it's leading to spiralling software development costs and project timescales," said the company's Soenke Kock. "Automation Builder addresses this imbalance by giving automation developers and owners the means to simplify the control engineering task and standardize on a single development platform for all projects - regardless of scale. We believe it's a major milestone on the path to fully integrated engineering solutions for industrial automation."