By Joe Feeley, Editor in Chief
ONCE AGAIN, we put the choices where they rightly belong: in the capable hands of Control Design readers. They responded by telling us--quite clearly in many cases--which automation suppliers provide the best instrumentation, controls, and automation technologies for the industrial machine builder community. They also let us know what companies they think provide excellent service, too.
A few months ago, we sent survey forms to nearly 10,000 Control Design subscribers who said they have the authority to specify, recommend, or buy the industrial automation and control products that are installed on their machines. Vendors are ineligible to vote, so we didn’t knowingly send a ballot to any supplier.
The ballot was what marketers call an unaided survey. We didn't include a list of vendors to choose from. We just provided 50 hardware and software categories and asked the participants to fill in the single best company for the products he or she had experience with. We received responses from 300 readers.
While they were choosing the best companies, participants also were asked to rate the service and support they receive from these companies on a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent).
Among the 48 product categories we've listed, 34 (71% of the categories) returned clear margins of victory of 10 percentage points or greater versus the second-best vote-getter. Fourteen of those were landslides, with margins of victory of more than 25 percentage points, slightly less than the 16 landslide victories we recorded last year.
Similar to last year's result, 10 of the category results were squeakers, with a margin of victory of 5 percentage points or less, including five races that ended in statistical dead heats.
Of the 49 winners (there were some ties) listed last year, 35 defended their turf by winning the category again this year. Rockwell Automation successfully defended all 16 of its wins, as did Emerson Process Management in the four categories it won last year.
Our published results include only those companies that received at least a 5% share.
Out of Sight
Outright market domination was the result in a number of product categories. Seven categories had results where the winners garnered more than 50% of the vote.
If we were awarding a "Dominator Prize" this year, Rockwell Automation would take it home as a result of receiving 70% of the PLC category vote and 67% of the PLC Programming vote. No other company in either category received double-digit support. Hoffman also achieved a resounding 67% share in the Enclosure category.
Autodesk again had a commanding position in the E-CAD software category with 60% of the total. As might have been expected considering last year's result, Bebco again earned a 56% share in the Purging category. Belden retained a solid 56% majority in the Wiring and Cabling category. Bently-Nevada moved into the majority-vote category this year with a 52% result in the Vibration Measurement category.
There were seven other results where the winner didn't receive a majority, but beat the nearest competition by 25 percentage points or more. Emerson Process Management's victory in Pressure Measurement was 37 points, while GE Fanuc won the CNC Controller category by 26 percentage points and the CNC Software category by 25. Rockwell Automation's margin of victory exceeded 25 percentage points in four categories: 27 points in I/O Systems, 30 in Motor Starters, 36 in Electric Drives, and 41 in Operator Interface.
Rockwell Automation won or tied for first place in 14 hardware and three software categories. Other multiple winners included Emerson Process Management (Rosemount) for defending its four measurement categories, and Parker Automation with successful re-elections in both the hydraulic and pneumatic component categories, along with a first-place showing for Linear Actuators. GE Fanuc won twice with clear victories for CNC Controller and CNC Programming Software.
Down to the Wire
This year there were 10 highly contested categories. Honeywell and Siemens-Moore ended in a statistical dead heat for Loop Controller laurels, splitting 39% of the vote in a category where seven companies received at least 5% of the vote.
Advantech, Rockwell Automation, and Z-World tied for first place in the Single-Board Computer category, a group that showed a wide diversity of preference. The three companies shared just 26% of the vote, with no other company receiving even 5%.
Yokogawa unseated Honeywell in the Data Recorder category by a slim 28% to 25% margin, Rockwell Automation slipped past Phoenix Contact for Terminal Block honors, also by just 3 percentage points. Instrinsic Safety was another category with fierce competition: six companies received at least 5% of the vote. MTL, Pepperl+Fuchs, and RStahl all share the top spot, each having garnered 14% of the total.
All three Parker Automation wins were close races: The Daedal group finished ahead of Festo 13% to 8% in Linear Actuators; Compumotor/Parker nipped PacSci 21% to 17% in the Stepper Motor category; and Parker tied for first with SMC for Pneumatic Component honors, each garnering 19%.
The Safety Network/Components category was very competitive and finished in a statistical dead heat, with Rockwell Automation and STI sharing 36% of the votes cast. Four companies grabbed at least 11% of the vote, one of only two categories (Relays was the other) where four companies hit double-digit tallies. Safety Relays was tight, too, with Rockwell Automation edging past Pilz Automation Safety 27% to 23%.
Nothing Without Good Service
This year, 100 individual companies received enough votes to appear in the published results. You thought enough of 69 of them¯the same total as last year¯to give them service and support scores of 4.0 or better, representing very good-to-excellent performance on a scale of 1-5. As was the case last year, some of the 69 companies achieved these noteworthy service marks in multiple categories.
The Service and Support table (See Sidebar below) lists those companies that readers identified as providing service with ratings of 4.0.
For 2002, you gave service and support grades of 4.5 or higher 11 times to nine different companies, compared with nine times and eight companies in 2001.
The highest service rating this year was 4.7, given to Compumotor/Parker for Motion Control Software. Compumotor and GE Fanuc both received 4.6 scores for Servo Motor.
AutomationDirect for PLC, Honeywell for Industrial Computer, Rockwell Automation for both Alarm/Annunciator and Electrical Connectors, and 3COM for Network Components received service scores of 4.5. In addition, Banner Engineering, ifm efector, and Pepperl+Fuchs all received 4.5 service ratings for the Presence Sensor category.
Eighteen companies, a noteworthy increase from last year's 13, received 4.0 or better service scores in two or more categories. Rockwell Automation/Rockwell Software achieved these scores in 20 product categories, three times receiving scores of 4.3 or higher.
General Electric/GE Fanuc/GE Cisco was given very good or better service scores in eight separate categories, also reaching or exceeding 4.3 on three occasions.
Emerson Process Management (Fisher-Rosemount/Rosemount/MicroMotion) scored 4.0 or better in seven product categories, five of which achieved scores of 4.3 or better.
Banner Engineering made the great service list four times, twice scoring 4.3 or better, while a group of six companies earned triple recognition for service: Compumotor/Parker, Pepperl+Fuchs, Phoenix Contact, Siemens, Scientific Technologies Inc., and Invensys (Wonderware/Triconex/Foxboro).
Seven other companies were recognized twice for service: AutomationDirect, Bosch-Rexroth, Honeywell, National Instruments, Omega Engineering, Schneider Electric, and Turck.
Here are the complete results. We welcome your further analysis and comment about this year's outcome.
Alarm/Annunciator
1. 25% Ametek/Panalarm
2.* 13% Rockwell Automation
11% Federal Signal
4. 9% Ronan Engineering
5. 6% SquareD/Schneider Electric
Controller, CNC System
1. 46% GE Fanuc
2. 20% Rockwell Automation
3. 11% Siemens E&A
Controller, Loop
1. 20% Siemens Moore
19% Honeywell
3.* 8% Rockwell Automation
8% Yokogawa
7% Foxboro/Invensys
6.* 5% ABB
5% Fisher-Rosemount/Emerson Process Management
Controller, Programmable Logic
1. 70% Rockwell Automation
2.* 6% Siemens E&A
5% GE Fanuc
5% AutomationDirect
Data Acquisition System
1. 30% National Instruments
2.* 8% Honeywell
8% Rockwell Automation
Data Recorder
1. 28% Yokogawa
2. 25% Honeywell
3. 10% Eurotherm-Chessel
4. 5% Foxboro
Electrical Connectors
1. 24% AMP/Tyco Electronics
2.* 9% Thomas & Betts
7% Phoenix Contact
4.* 5% Amphenol
5% Rockwell Automation
Electric Drive
1. 42% Rockwell Automation
2.* 6% ABB
6% Siemens E&A
6% Yaskawa
5% GE Fanuc
Encoder/Resolver
1. 23% BEI
2.* 11% Rockwell Automation
10%
;Encoder Products Co.
Hydraulic Components
1. 42% Parker Hannifin
2.* 19% Vickers/Eaton
17% Bosch-Rexroth
Industrial Computer
1. 17% Rockwell Automation
2.* 11% Dell
10% Advantech
4.* 5% Honeywell
5% Siemens E&A
5% Xycom Automation
Industrial Enclosures
1. 67% Hoffman
2. 12% Rittal
3. 5% Saginaw
Industrial Network Components
1. 24% Rockwell Automation
2.* 9% GE Cisco
9% Siemens E&A
4.* 5% 3COM
5% Hirschmann
5% Phoenix Contact
Input/Output System
1. 40% Rockwell Automation
2. 13% Opto 22
3.* 6% National Instruments
6% Siemens E&A
Intrinsic Safety
1.* 14% MTL
14% Pepperl+Fuchs
14% RStahl
4.* 9% STI
7% Turck
6. 5% Rockwell Automation
Interlock Switch
1. 38% Rockwell Automation
2.* 16% STI
15% Schmersal
4. 5% SquareD/Schneider Electric
Light Tower
1. 38% Rockwell Automation
2. 22% SquareD/Schneider Electric
3. 13% Federal Signal
4. 9% Patlite
Linear Actuator
1. 13% Parker Daedal
2. 8% Festo
6% SMC
Measurement, Flow
1. 25% Rosemount/Emerson Process Management
2.* 9% MicroMotion/Emerson Process Management
8% Foxboro/Invensys
4.* 6% Endress+Hauser
5% Omega Engineering
Measurement, Level
1. 26% Rosemount/Emerson Process Management
2. 10% Siemens Milltronics
3. 7% Magnetrol
6% Endress+Hauser
Measurement, Load Cell/Weighing
1. 22% Mettler Toldeo
2. 12% Hardy Instruments
3. 9% BLH
4. 6% Kistler-Morse
Measurement, Pressure
1. 45% Rosemount/Emerson Process Management
2. 8% Foxboro/Invensys
Measurement, Temperature
1. 25% Rosemount/Emerson Process Management
2. 13% Omega Engineering
3. 6% Honeywell
Measurement, Vibration
1. 52% Bently Nevada
2.* 8% Entek/Rockwell Automation
6% PMC/Beta
Motor, Electric
1. 37% Baldor
2. 17% Rockwell Automation
3.* 9% GE
9% Regal-Beloit
5. 6% U.S. Motors/Emerson Electric
Motor Starter
1. 49% Rockwell Automation
2. 19% SquareD/Schneider Electric
3.* 7% Cutler-Hammer
7% GE
Motor, Servo
1. 27% Rockwell Automation
2.* 10% Emerson Motor Technologies
10% Yaskawa
8% GE Fanuc
5.* 7% Bosch-Rexroth
6% Compumotor/Parker
Motor, Stepper
1. 21% Compumotor/Parker
2. 17% Superior/PacSci
3. 10% Rockwell Automation
4. 7% GE Fanuc
Operator Interface
1. 49% Rockwell Automation
2.* 8% GE Fanuc
7% Cutler-Hammer
Panel Meter
1. 35% Red Lion
2. 17% Simpson
3. 6% Yokogawa
Pneumatic Components
1.* 19% Parker Hannifin
19% SMC
3. 13% Festo
4. 8% MAC
5. 5% Numatics
Power Supply
1. 32% Sola/Hevi-Duty
2. 13% Acopian
3.* 7% Phoenix Contact
6% Lambda
6% PowerOne
Presence Sensor
1. 23% Turck
2.* 14% ifm efector
13% Banner Engineering
12% Rockwell Automation
5. 7% Pepperl+Fuchs
Purging System
1. 56% Bebco Industries
2. 7% Pepperl+Fuchs
Relay
1. 27% Rockwell Automation
2. 17% Idec
3.* 14% Potter & Brumfield
12% Omron
5. 5% SquareD/Schneider Electric
Safety Curtain
1. 43% Banner Engineering
2. 30% STI
3.* 10% Rockwell Automation
8% Sick
Safety Network/Components
1.* 18% Rockwell Automation
16% STI
3.* 11% Banner Engineering
11% Pilz Automation Safety
5. 8% Triconex/Invensys
Safety Relay
1. 27% Rockwell Automation
2. 23% Pilz Automation Safety
3. 12% STI
4.* 7% Banner Engineering
5% SquareD/Schneider Electric
Signal Conditioner
1. 20% Moore Industries
2. 13% Action Instruments
3.* 7% Phoenix Contact
6% Sola/Hevi-Duty
Single-Board Computer
1.* 10% Z-World
8% Advantech
8% Rockwell Automation
Software, CNC
1. 47% GE Fanuc
2. 22% Rockwell Software
3. 9% Siemens E&A
Software, Electrical CAD
1. 60% Autodesk
2. 12% Via Development
3. 8% ECT Intl.
Software, HMI
1. 29% Rockwell Automation
2. 23% Wonderware/Invensys
3. 12% Intellution/Emerson Process Management
Software, Motion Control
1. 30% Rockwell Software
2. 8% Compumotor/Parker
3.* 5% Emerson Motor Technologies
5% Yaskawa
Software, PLC Programming
1. 67& Rockwell Software
2.* 6% AutomationDirect
6% GE Fanuc
Terminal Block
1. 25% Rockwell Automation
2. 22% Phoenix Contact
3. 13% Wiedmüller
4.* 9% Wago
8% Entrelec
Vision System
1. 32% DVT
2. 22% Cognex
3.* 8% Keyence
6% Omron
Wire and Cable
1. 56% Belden
2. 6% General Wire & Cable
2002 Readers' Choice Awards:
The Best in Customer Service
TOUGH TIMES are no time to purchase lackluster products from indifferent suppliers. Our second annual Readers' Choice Awards survey found the vendors with the best technologies...and rated their customer service efforts.
Another key measure of every supplier is customer service. So we also asked readers to rank their suppliers' customer service on a scale of 1 (for poor) to 5 (excellent). Those results follow.
The Service Leaders
The 69 Companies Receiving Service Grades of Very Good and Better
(5=Excellent, 4=Very Good, 3=Good, 2=Marginal; 1=Unsatisfactory):
4.7
Compumotor/Parker Software, Motion Control
4.6
GE Fanuc Motor, Servo
Compumotor/Parker Motor, Servo
4.5
3COM Industrial Network Components
AutomationDirect Controller, Programmable Logic
Banner Engineering Presence Sensor
Honeywell Industrial Computer
ifm efector Presence Sensor
Pepperl+Fuchs Presence Sensor
Rockwell Automation Alarm/Annunciator
Rockwell Automation Electrical Connectors
4.4
AutomationDirect Software, PLC Programming
Bently-Nevada Measurement, Vibration
Bosch-Rexroth Hydraulic Components
Dell Industrial Computer
Emerson Motor Technologies Motor, Servo
Encoder Products Co. Encoder/Resolver
Festo Pneumatic Components
General Wire & Cable Wire and Cable
Magnetrol Measurement, Level
MicroMotion/Emerson Process Management Measurement, Flow
Pepperl+Fuchs Intrinsic Safety
Rosemount/Emerson Process Management Measurement, Level
Rosemount/Emerson Process Management Measurement, Temperature
Turck Intrinsic Safety
4.3
Banner Engineering Safety Network/Components
Bosch-Rexroth Motor, Servo
Endress+Hauser Measurement, Flow
GE Fanuc Electric Drive
GE Fanuc Controller, Programmable Logic
National Instruments Data Acquisition Systems
Compumotor/Parker Motor, Stepper
Pepperl+Fuchs Purging System
Phoenix Contact Industrial Network Components
Rittal Industrial Enclosures
Rockwell Automation Interlock Switch
Rosemount/Emerson Process Management Measurement, Flow
SMC Pneumatic Components
Triconex/Invensys Safety Network/Components
4.2
ABB Electric Drive
Banner Engineering Safety Relay
DVT Vision System
General Electric Motor Starter
General Electric Motor, Electric
GE Fanuc Software, CNC
Hoffman Industrial Enclosures
Keyence Vision System
Omega Engineering Measurement, Temperature
Rockwell Automation Controller, Programmable Logic
Rockwell Automation Input/Output System
Rockwell Automation Intrinsic Safety
Rockwell Automation Safety Curtain
Rockwell Automation Terminal Block
Rosemount/Emerson Process Management Measurement, Pressure
Saginaw Industrial Enclosures
Siemens Milltronics Measurement, Level
Superior/PacSci Motor, Stepper
Thomas & Betts Electrical Connectors
Wiedmüller Terminal Block
Z-World Single-Board Computer
4.1
Acopian Power Supply
Banner Engineering Safety Curtain
BEI Encoder/Resolver
Foxboro/Invensys Measurement, Pressure
Mettler Toledo Measurement, Weighing/Load Cell
Moore Industries Signal Conditioner
Opto 22 Input/Output System
Phoenix Contact Power Supply
Phoenix Contact Terminal Block
Regal-Beloit Motor, Electric
Rockwell Automation Industrial Computer
Rockwell Automation Motor Starter
Rockwell Automation Presence Sensor
Rockwell Automation Relay
Rockwell Automation Software, HMI
Rockwell Software Software, PLC Programming
SquareD/Schneider Electric Motor Starter
SquareD/Schneider Electric Relay
Siemens E&A Controller, Programmable Logic
Simpson Panel Meter
Vickers/Eaton Hydraulic Components
Yaskawa Electric Drive
4.0
Advantech Single-Board Computer
Belden Wire and Cable
Cutler-Hammer Operator Interface
ECT Intl. Software, Electrical CAD
Fisher-Rosemount/Emerson Process Management Controller, Loop
GE Cisco Industrial Network Components
GE Fanuc Controller, CNC System
Hardy Instruments Measurement, Weighing/Load Cell
Honeywell Data Acquisition Systems1
Kistler-Morse Measurement, Weighing/Load Cell
National Instruments Input/Output System
Numatics Pneumatic Components
Omega Engineering Measurement, Flow
Patlite Light Tower
PMC/Beta Measurement, Vibration
Rockwell Automation Electric Drive
Rockwell Automation Light Tower
Rockwell Automation Operator Interface
Rockwell Automation Safety Network/Components
Rockwell Automation Safety Relay
Rockwell Automation Single-Board Computer 4.3
Sick Safety Curtain
Siemens-Moore Controller, Loop
SMC Linear Actuator
Sola/Hevi-Duty Power Supply
STI Interlock Switch
STI Safety Curtain
STI Safety Relay
Turck Presence Sensor
Via Development Software, Electrical CAD
Wonderware/Invensys Software, HMI
Yokogawa Controller, Loop
Leaders relevant to this article: