Bosch Rexroth Recognized for Innovative Software Solution

April 10, 2013
Company Wins Hermes Award for Open Core Engineering Project That Unites PLC and IT at Hannover Messe
During Hannover Messe's opening ceremony on April 7, Dr. Johanna Wanka, federal minister of education and research for Hannover Messe presented the tradeshow's annual Hermes Award to high-tech gear drive technology  provider Bosch Rexroth for being a leader in innovative solutions.Bosch Rexroth received the award for its Open Core Engineering project, which unites programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and information technology (IT). The project was created as a solution based on open standards, software tools, function packages and the Open Core Interface, according to Hannover Messe."Industry is on the threshold to a fourth industrial revolution," said Wanka. "The Open Core Engineering project is an outstanding example of the potential of Industry 4.0 for innovative and efficient communication in the field of production.""For many years the company has exhibited at Hannover Messe in order to present its dynamic innovation processes to decision-makers," said Dr. Jochen Köckler, member of the managing board at Deutsche Messe. "The award-winning solution makes a major contribution to 'Integrated Industry’ and will accelerate the trend towards networked industrial production."The project allows traditional PLC-based engineering to be combined with newly advanced programming languages. The new functions can run as native applications on handheld devices such as smartphones, which allows OEMs to read and write data directly to the controller, giving them the competitive advantage of creating customized software without support from their controller manufacturer."The award-winning solution will simplify the migration from today's factory-based world to the internet of things," said Dr. Wolfgang, chairman of the jury and CEO of the Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). "Open standards will ensure that the digital product memory will be available everywhere in real time."