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Streamlining Machine Connectivity With Enclosure-Less I/O Systems

As manufacturing automation strategies embraced design for manufacturability (DFM), new automation technology advances and investments in industrial control systems for equipment, machinery and infrastructure led to distributed I/O, and now, to enclosure-less I/O. While quick-disconnect connectors and enclosure-less I/O systems have been available for years, new industrial designs often still use enclosure-based strategies for I/O. These older, centralized enclosures come at a high price. This paper explores the impacts connectivity and cabling have had on streamlining equipment and machinery, and the tradeoffs between enclosure-based systems and enclosure-less I/O systems.