Zimmer Group : Automation Specialists
Zimmer Group Ltd was established in 1980 in Rheinau-Freistett by brothers, Martin and Günther Zimmer. With the company’s HQ based in Germany, Zimmer Group specialise in the manufacturing of automation products. Their industry sector is quite expansive, as they provide services in automation, placing them in a bigger spectrum. Zimmer Group Ltd offers bespoke and dedicated application engineering solutions; they merged and consolidated their company in 2013. This has benefitted the company greatly, as they now have one common ground and are now able to gain further access to products for clients and customers. The company’s customers range from those at BMW, Tesla, AMRC and many others.
The company have a ‘Know-How’ Factory that reaches out to 125 countries. This group aims to give great service and solutions in each technology sector. The Know How Factory deals with handling, damping, linear, processing, tooling and machine tooling technology. The Know How team provide solutions and on hand advice to give customers the best possible service, which is always on the top of their agenda and at the heart of the company’s ethics.
IO-Link is one of the company’s newest additions to the Zimmer group family. The aim of this product is to achieve machine construction and automation; IO-Link is great for simple use and cost effectiveness. The IO-Link can be best described as having similar properties to a USB, as both of these products have communication methods and ways to transfer power. The benefits and advantages of IO-Link is that it has sensors and actuators which allows for the passing of information. As well as offering immediate advantages, it also has long term compensations such as efficiency with production and improved availability with machines and systems.
Zimmer Group Ltd is thrilled to say that they rely on their IO-Link product as is offers an intelligent integration of components that has an easy installation and setup process, resulting in quick and accurate outcomes that reduced downtimes and increases machine availability.
Integrating intelligent sensors and actuators with IO-Link
IO-Link is the first standardized IO technology worldwide for communication from the control system to the lowest level of automation. This IO-Link standard serves as a point-to-point connection independent of the fieldbus and works with an unshielded industrial cable as a universal interface. Zimmer Group relies on the communication system IO-Link to integrate intelligent components into an automation system. In this system, the individual sensors and actuators (the IO-Link devices) are connected to an IO-Link master, which serves as an interface to the higher-level control system (PLC) and controls the communication with the connected IO-Link devices.
IO-Link transmits all signals between sensors and actuators and the control system. This allows for clear control and transparent diagnostics of the entire system. All IO-Link devices have a unique serial number which makes it possible to identify them positively. Moreover, their memory system stores parameter data which can be read out or written via the IO-Link protocol. In the case of an intelligent gripper, for example, this could be the intensity of the gripping force or gripping speed. Since these parameters can be changed at any time by the PLC, IO-Link makes it possible to adapt the gripper based on the results from a downstream measurement or even to adjust it to a different product version.
