CHICAGO — Barber-Colman Co., known for selling its machine controllers to plastics equipment makers, now is targeting the retrofitting market of plastics processors, through its Foxtracker program, officials announced at NPE in Chicago.
Barber-Colman also introduced its I/A Series of plantwide supervisory software that runs on Windows NT at the June 16-20 show.
Barber-Colman of Loves Park, Ill., has developed the program with its sister company, Foxboro Co. of Foxboro, Mass. Both firms are owned by Siebe plc, a $5 billion company based in Windsor, England. Foxboro is a leader in information systems based on Windows NT.
Under Foxtracker, Barber-Colman will install a turnkey supervisory software system for its Maco controller, or virtually any existing machine controller, the company said.
The base price is $25,000 for a four-machine application, which includes hardware, software, installation and an application package. It is available for injection molding, extrusion and blow molding.
``It's very flexible. We actually ask the customer what points they want to include,'' John Simontacchi, vice president and general manager, said at the show, held June 16-20 in Chicago.
Simontacchi said he wants ``end-user'' products, such as Foxtracker, to generate 10 percent of sales this year.
For the I/A software, Barber-Colman took Foxboro's software and created controls especially for injection molding, blow molding and extrusion.
Supervisory software — which gives managers access to data from machines on the plant floor, is a fast-growing part of the control industry, according to George Sarney, president and chief operating officer of Siebe Control Systems in Foxboro.
``What is happening today is, all devices that are on the factory floor are becoming part of a control network,'' Sarney said. ``The integration of controls with information is really where the industry is at.''
Sarney announced that Siebe purchased APV plc, a London company that makes mixers, valves and pumps for the food-processing and pharmaceutical industries. The acquisition gives Siebe another $1 billion in sales, he said.