Integration of Development Tools

Efficient integration of Version 4 of B&R's Automation Studio engineering tool and EPLAN Electric P8 is now possible. These two tools provide support for the automated exchange and synchronization of hardware configurations, I/O mappings and process variables. This is made possible by an automated round-trip engineering feature. "With an interface very different from conventional import/export interfaces, users are able to intervene in the process at any time," said a company spokesperson.

A variety of development processes are supported. "It makes no difference if a project is started with software development or electrical planning," said the spokesperson. "It is even possible to handle projects in which extensive work is done in both of these disciplines at the same time, as is often the case with an efficient approach to project development. An intelligent comparison mechanism gives users a clear overview of differences between project versions at any time in addition to providing guidance when merging different project versions together. For projects large or small, the tight integration between Automation Studio and EPLAN Electric P8 offers maximum transparency and ease of use.

"Working on different processes in parallel reduces development times and improves response times. Automated data manipulation increases quality by doing away with errors that can occur when making changes manually. The constant synchronization of project data makes subsequent service work easier, and reduces costs later on down the road. The key to the successful development of future machine and system manufacturing projects lies in the efficient integration of the best development tools available."

For more information contact:

B&R Industrial Automation Corp.

1250 Northmeadow Parkway, S-100

Roswell, GA 30076

www.br-automation.com