Rockwell Automation powers hands-on motor control technology event

As technology continues to advance at a rapid rate, fuelled by enabling technologies such as the Internet of Things, leveraging new technologies to stay ahead of the competition is now more important than ever.

To showcase new trends and technologies in motor control, Rockwell Automation recently held the inaugural Power TechED event on the Gold Coast. This educational event focused on the latest integrated MCC, safety and energy monitoring trends and technologies in an interactive learning environment.

Power TechED featured hands-on labs, workshops and presentations, and attracted people from a wide variety of industries such as manufacturing, food and beverage, through to mining and heavy industries.

“It was great to see the event so well attended with people from a variety of industries. There was a good mix of EPCs, system integrators, equipment builders and end users, which provided a solid basis for networking and information sharing. As a result of the success of this year’s event, we will be taking Power TechED to Perth in May next year,” said Matthew Treeby, commercial marketing manager at Rockwell Automation.

Austmine’s CEO, Christine Gibbs Stewart, delivered an informative keynote presentation, titled ‘Delivering New Value from Mining’. In the presentation she discussed the important role that innovation and technology plays to help increase productivity and also described the vision that the organisation is working towards to make Australia a global mining equipment, technology and services (METS) innovation hub.

“In today’s tough market environment, companies need to be at the forefront of advancements in technology and innovation to be competitive. Power TechED provided this opportunity by bringing together key experts and showcasing the latest innovations in power and energy. The hands-on workshops gave participants a great understanding of new technologies, while providing practical examples of how they could be applied. Conferences like Power TechED greatly contribute to advancing industry development and technology dissemination,” said Gibbs Stewart.

Power TechED was held in association with Rockwell Automation distributors NHP Electrical Engineering and Rexel Industrial Automation. Both distributors displayed complementary products to the Rockwell Automation offering, which provided attendees with a complete picture of how these devices can be connected together to deliver an integrated solution.

“In addition to our distributors, our Encompass Partners, Panduit and Prosoft Technology, were also on hand to discuss specific applications. Being able to bring together all this expertise and equipment under the one roof provided our customers with an understanding of how these devices and solutions can work together to provide real business value,” said Rosanne Sabiston, business manager power control business at Rockwell Automation.

“Motors use up to 50% of the world’s energy consumption so naturally a key topic discussed at the event was energy management. Energy monitoring and efficiency technologies are advancing their real-time data capabilities and mobility, which provides the opportunity to leverage the intelligence that already exists in many ‘smart’ motor control and energy devices. This information can deliver real actionable insights to help optimise energy usage,” she explained.

Paul Brodie, principal at Brodie Engineering Services, delivered a practical keynote on the second day of the event that provided information about how to prepare an effective energy management plan. He discussed some practical examples detailing how measuring key parameters and analysing this data can provide significant energy savings to a plant.

“Intelligence was another key focus of the event as motor control devices are gaining improved integration and connectivity. Through interactive Ethernet networking and automation workshops, attendees were able to update their skills in this area and really see firsthand how leveraging real-time data can help improve productivity,” said Treeby.

In addition to next year’s Power TechED event in Perth, there will also be a power-focused stream at Rockwell Automation TechED in Auckland next March.