Incorporating a motion controller, servo and motor control into your machine design process has been the simple, accepted approach to motion control engineering for some time now. With more packaging automation applications existing today and more complex controls required, it is essential for designers to move from a standard design layout to a motion-centric approach — the machine tasks more closely inform the control system design. In this article Tom Jensen, Lenze, discusses how to manage multiplying demands of motion system applications and leverage modular multi-axis robotics to simplify complex tasks.