GE Fanuc and Pepprl + Fuchs join to provide Profibus communication

Charlottesville, VA — GE Fanuc Automation , a unit of GE Industrial, and Pepperl + Fuchs North America joined to provide interface components that create connections in industrial automation systems, including Profibus-based analog signal transfer and digital fieldbus communication. GE Fanuc’s process control system, Proficy Process Systems , will use Pepperl + Fuchs for Profibus connectivity.

The Proficy systems are designed to offer value to hybrid and continuous customers in the life sciences, food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, ethanol, oil and gas, power and energy, milled products, and water and wastewater industries. GE Fanuc currently serves thousands of customers in these process industries, and Proficy Process Systems represents a significant addition to the company’s product offering.

“GE Fanuc is providing our customers with the freedom to implement a system that meets their needs today, and [can] grow and expand to meet their needs tomorrow,” says Steve Ryan, GE Fanuc director of process solutions. “One of the key ways we are providing freedom to our customers is to allow them to choose the fieldbus technologies they need for their applications. Pepperl + Fuchs is recognized as an industry expert in Profibus communications, and will provide our customers with the capability to choose that as a fieldbus technology for their system.”

As a team, P+F and GE Fanuc plan to provide the necessary hardware, knowledge and support on fieldbus applications. The combination of GE Fanuc’s control system and Pepperl + Fuchs’ infrastructure equipment and diagnostic tools will help mutual customers to take advantage of the powerful features of fieldbus, says Pepperl + Fuchs’ chief operating officer, Jim Bolin.

—Edited by Lisa Sutor , Control Engineering Daily News Desk

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