Welcome back to the Automation
Podcast. My name is Sean Tierney, and this week on the show I meet up
with Bill Mindel from Rock Automation to learn about their new branch motor
control and Protection solutions. Bill, thank you for coming on
the Automation podcast. I'm looking forward to learning all
about the next generation of branch motor control and protection
solutions from Rockwell. We saw this and we covered this
on our daily automation news show. Uh, we saw the press release that came
out, it says February 27th, and, uh, it was pretty exciting. And I know
since then you guys have sent me a, uh, a sample kit, which I, uh, showed on
the morning show as well. But, um, you know, as my background is
mostly PLCs, HMI, scada, I was, uh, I'm really glad that you agreed to come
on the show and talk to us about these products because, um, especially what's
new, because to the untrained eye, it looks like the standard Alan Barley
products. So let me turn it over to you. Uh, before you jump into the
product, could you just, uh, maybe send 30 seconds telling
the audience who you are? Absolutely. Sean, thank you so much for having me
and inviting me on the show today. I'm glad you're excited
about the demo kit. I, I am certainly excited about it
as well. So, I'm Bill Mindel. I am our global business manager for
what we call our motor control and protection devices. And I'm gonna
talk a lot about, uh, those today and, and the next gen of products
that we recently released. Uh, people I think will be
familiar with these, uh, with these use cases and
with these applications, uh, that I'm gonna talk about and how
these products get utilized in, uh, in factories and in production every
day. Uh, while it may not be the, uh, typical P L C H M I device, uh, they're critical to, uh, to,
to move in material and, um, protecting our, our customers
and equipment. All right, before I get into the specific products, I do wanna share the value and, and
the way that these products get used. Uh, so we have invested, uh, a lot of, a lot of time and energy and people
in releasing these updated products to really deliver some key
customer outcomes and value. So, uh, our, our branch motor control, uh, portfolio, the, the new products that we recently have
released over the last couple of years, um, one of the key aspects here is we have
designed and tested these together, uh, for ease of selection, ease of, uh, installation and commissioning
and, and ease of use. I'm gonna share, uh, through
the next few minutes, um, how we're delivering
some of those, uh, some of those and what we have
brought to market, uh, for a, a really a global audience. One of the outcomes
that we really see, uh, with this updated portfolio
has been an increase in, uh, in should deliver an increase in,
uh, productivity for our customers. Um, you know, Alan Bradley, of course, has that brand history
of quality and, uh, no, no change here for us.
Um, but one of the, uh, one of the other things that we,
of course have to consider is, uh, making sure that our equipment
interacts well together and, uh, and we offer, uh, devices
that are, are compatible. And so, uh, we do, uh, extensive, uh, design and testing to make
sure, uh, these devices, uh, interact and are, are
easy to utilize, uh, in, in a variety of applications. I
talked a little bit about the, uh, the selection and installation. We
have, uh, a variety of online tools, uh, and documentation that allow, uh, customers such as panel
builders, OEM system integrators, even end users to, uh, to select, uh, and identify compatible products, as well as share information
around ratings, uh, in those combinations. So often
these products do not get used, uh, as a standalone. They're
used, uh, in combination to, uh, to run and control and,
uh, of course, stop, uh, or reverse motors. We've got
a variety of accessories, whether they are, uh,
interconnects between devices, uh, in a line or across multiple
devices to really, again, make it make it easier for, uh, people in whatever panel or,
or system or application, uh, that they can, they can quickly install
and, uh, and, and don't need to, uh, add their own wiring. For
example. We all know, uh, in, in today's world and market,
uh, it, it can be difficult to, uh, manage and, and maintain inventory, the flexibility that we offer in these
products through some wide range coils, which Sean, I think you'll be interested
in, in hearing a little bit about, um, one of our low power
consumption coils, uh, and, uh, wide range current adjustments on
our overload relays, uh, allow our, our customers, whether it's a machine
builder or, or an end user to, uh, to reduce their inventory and
then even possibly scale their, their offering. And then finally,
again, we, we talk about quality, but of course, uh, damage
can, uh, can occur. Um, we know that, uh,
that, that labor costs and, and labor talent is also,
is also difficult, um, uh, a a difficult challenge right now. So the way that we have
developed these products, uh, they're really designed to ensure
that, uh, our customers can, can quickly and, uh, and
reliably, uh, replace when, when needed. Uh, this is
done through things like, um, front contacts, front
auxiliary contacts, or again, those, uh, those accessory
interconnects that allow for, uh, quick wiring between the,
uh, the various devices. So what I really wanna highlight
today from a product standpoint is, uh, is the products that we have recently
brought to market that deliver that value above that I have referenced. Before we get to that, I
have a special announcement. I've just released my very first book. It's an ebook and it's entitled
Logic's Book of Knowledge. What I did is I combined all my control
logics articles from the last 10 years into an e-book. I updated
them, I added new pictures, and I made it all available
for just $9 and 99 cents. So if you appreciate what I'm doing, if you wanna support the show
and the channel and the blog, then please check out my brand new
e-book logics book and knowledge, which you can get
over@theautomationblog.com slash b o k one. Um, so you can see on
the, on the left there, we've got our one 40 mt and one 40 ut and, and these, these deliver,
uh, typically in a system a, a branch circuit
protection. Uh, one of the, one of the advantages to our one
40 mt is it actually has, uh, overload protection,
uh, offered in it, um, internal to the device. So you
can, you can actually only, uh, you actually only need this, uh, in conjunction with a contactor for
what's called a two component starter. Uh, the one 40 ut is a,
is a really compact, um, traditional molded case circuit
breaker, uh, delivers really high, uh, short circuit current ratings
and, and can actually be used, uh, as that, not even in a,
in a motor uh, application. Next up are the, uh, the a hundred
e contactors. Uh, these, uh, you can see the, uh, the, the
current range is there nine to, to 2,650 amps a really wide range there. And, uh, one of the things that we
released on this is a, is a low, um, a low coil consumption.
So you actually, uh, command the contactor to open and
close through, uh, in auxiliary, we offer, uh, a variety
of AC and DC coils, but we actually have a
low consumption coil, uh, that can be wired to the
output of a plc. Nice. So, uh, John, I'm not sure if, uh, if you've
ever had an experience, you know, know, putting some interposing relays in
mm-hmm. to, uh, to activate, uh, a contactor, but we actually
have this now where, uh, it can be done directly. And then finally,
our E 100 electronic overload relay. So, uh, this provides
that, uh, kind of, uh, longer term thermal protection of
a motor, uh, historically, and, and this is a, a electronic overload
relay, uh, with that, that wide current, uh, adjustment range wide, uh,
capability ranges as well. If you, uh, if you add some external
current transformers, uh, and we've got a couple different
versions of that, but, uh, one of the, one of the things I had highlighted
was, uh, some of the abilities that, uh, some of the direct connect abilities. So we actually offer the E
100 overload relay with a, uh, um, uh, from the factory direct connect
capability into our hundred e contactors. We also offer that into our, uh, hundred C contactors that have
been out in the market for a while. So between our, our motor protection
circuit breakers, here are some, uh, our, our contactors or overload relays.
Here are just some, um, visually of, uh, of those products that, um, many of
our customers, I bet are, are I bet, uh, very familiar with, uh, today.
Uh, we also offer some, um, some mounting systems that,
uh, really can reduce the, uh, the installation and wiring needs,
as well as a variety of accessories, whether it's, you know, external
disconnects, um, advanced functionality, uh, or, or, uh, wiring to,
uh, to simplify and, uh, and, and more quickly, um,
distribute power, for example. Those are the, uh, those are the slides
I wanted to cover today, Sean. Uh, I'm sure you've got a, a
bunch of questions you're, you're looking to get answers on.
So how, how, what can I do for you? Well, I th you know, I think you make a good point
because by re by updating the line, you've reduced the number
of catalog numbers. If I'm understanding you correctly, you've actually reduced the number of
catalog numbers, so there's actually, uh, you more, these products actually fit
more applications than the previous line, so you can get away with having less
products in your, in your inventory. Do I understand that correctly? Yeah, that's, act that, that's
absolutely correct, Sean. So, um, we, we reduced, uh, greatly the, uh, the number of SKUs here,
um, by adding that, that wi those wider ranges,
for example, and, and that, uh, application flexibility. Um, there,
there's also some advantages there that, uh, allow customers with similar devices to
scale their offerings if they want a, uh, you know, uh, maybe a simpler, um, scenario versus a, a more advanced
functionality, uh, they can use, uh, uh, they could use, they could choose to
use the same device of course, or, uh, they could, they could select, um, one's
in the same family, which would, um, which, which could make it
simpler from a you, you know, a panel layout and design standpoint.
But yeah, absolutely. The, uh, the application ranges
have, uh, have expanded, um, from the previous generations of products. You know. Um, so I got another
question for you and, and, you know, if I go back, when I
got started back in 90, we always used to use the catalogs
or after that the selection guides to choose the products we needed. And, uh, once integrated Architecture
builder came out, was kind of like, why would I want to carry those books
around or even keep those PDFs on my hard drive? I get this great software package that
can help me select things so much faster. Do you guys have any utilities
on these type of products, right? So do I still need to grab the catalog
or PDF or do you guys have an app or utility, a software package that I can use to help
me select the right bill of materials? I mean, is this something that's in proposal
works that I could use there that select what I need? We, we do have some tools
that allow, uh, customers to, to easily select. One of the, one of
the tools I'll, I'll highlight, uh, initially is our, our
global S C C R tool. Okay. So global short circuit
current rating tool. Uh, you can see actually how the, uh, these, these products have been rated
together for various applications. Um, additionally, you know, you can use some of these products in
conjunction with other Rockwell products. Uh, for example, the motor protection circuit
breakers can be used in front of our VFDs, uh, some of our smaller
VFDs as branch circuit protection. And so we've got, uh, we've got
updates in that tool that, uh, allow a customer to see
what that circuit rating, the short circuit current rating is, uh, with this one 40 MT and
their powerflex five 20 year Powerflex seven 50 series
drive. One of the, uh, one of the other offerings we have is we
actually do some factory assembling of, uh, of these devices. So you can,
uh, purchase a, uh, an order, uh, something that we actually build
and ship as, as one combined unit. So it's a one 40 mt and a contactor
and an overload relay. Uh, you can kind of see that in
the mounting system picture. You can see an image of that. That far
right is actually, uh, a rev reverse air. So, uh, a motor reversing, uh, system. So you've got your branch circuit
protection, you have two, uh, contactors that allow you
to, uh, to reverse the, the motor direction and then one overload. That's always helpful, especially if you're gotta do like a
hundred machines or a hundred lines. It's, they have it all come
preassembled is great. Uh, we've got M c s star,
which, uh, which can help, uh, you select and configure some
of those devices as well. That's excellent. Um, the other thing I
wanted to ask you about is, of course, I'm a PLC guy, right? So
, um, you know, I is, are there any smart, any
new smart products? Are, are
all of these non-network, like non io, link, non ethernet ip, uh, or any of these new products come
with that type of intelligence? Uh, great question, Sean. So today, uh, none of the newer products
include any kind of, uh, network connectivity. Uh, I will, uh, share that our E 300 product that has
been out on the market for a while, uh, as an overload, electronic
overload, uh, does have, uh, an ethernet communications
option as well as a, uh, a non-network, uh, control
option and a device net, uh, control option there. Uh, so we do
offer that in the overload relay today. Uh, I will, uh, I will share
that, uh, certainly, uh, um, on the roadmap, uh, in,
in the future, uh, we, we want to deliver that connected
enterprise to our, to our customers. And, uh, uh, I'll just
share that we've got some, some things under development that, uh, that actually these products
will be able to allow a customer to, uh, um, to move to, uh, to that connected version,
uh, in the future. Well, that's cool. So there's some
good things coming down the pike for, for those techies in us, in us.
Um, so I wanna ask, we got, uh, automation fair, I'm kind of excited about it cuz
it's out here in Boston this year, which is only three hours for
me. Um, are you gonna be, um, and you don't have to tell me
any, any secrets or anything, but are you gonna be showing any, any new products at Automation Fair
that kind of fall into your bucket? Uh, absolutely. Yeah,
that is the plan. So I, I didn't get into the specific
details of, uh, of the, uh, all the releases here that we've
already done, but yeah, we have, um, some additional, uh, motor protection circuit breakers that
are scheduled to be released and will certainly be shown at Automation
Fair this year. Um, both a, uh, both from a a thermal perspective, so a thermal overload perspective
like we have today. Um, and then also, uh, in an electronic version,
electronic overload version. Well, I'm looking forward to that. If
anybody listening is going, please, uh, be sure to not only check out Bill's
products there, but I'll try to find, hunt me down and say hi. Cuz I plan on
being at the show the whole time and, uh, just checking out all the new stuff
that's coming out there. So Bill, I think I'm gonna give you the last word. Is there anything else we wanted
to cover today in this, uh, in this episode of the podcast? Uh, the only thing I will end on,
uh, Sean, is, uh, is these are, you know, I know a lot of, uh, there's been a lot of challenges
with supply chain, uh, over the last several years. Uh, it's
a, it's a frequent question we get, uh, common request for, um, you
know, expedites or what can we do, how quickly can we get this?
Sure. I wanna share that the, uh, the organization has, has done an
excellent job on, uh, on those, those product lines
that I had highlighted, the one 40 mt the 100 e
and the E 100. We've got, we've got global, uh,
inventory and stock, uh, available for, uh, for
ordering today. Um, you know, they can ship same week. Uh,
and that is uh, that is a, a global, um, stocking
and inventory that we, uh, that we've been able to maintain
through, uh, you know, our excellent, uh, supply chain team. That's excellent. I know there's nothing
people like, you know, hate more than, you know, they hear about a brand new product and
then they go to order and it's outta stock. So , great job on, uh, and I know you guys have done
this in the past too many, many times and other vendors do it too, but great job on building
up that inventory before
launching the product, so, um, well that's great Bill. I really
appreciate you coming on the show and, uh, telling us all about this new line of
branch motor control and protection components and um, just, uh, thank you for coming on and
bringing us up to speed on it. Great, Sean, thank you
so much for having me. I really appreciate it and I look forward
to meeting you in person in Boston. Awesome, me too. Well, I hope you enjoy that episode and I wanna
thank Bill for taking time out of his busy schedule to come on the show and
bring us up to speed on Rockwell's new branch Motor Control and
Protection Solutions. Now, if you did enjoy this episode, please
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With that, I want to wish you a very safe, healthy, and happy day. And until
next time, my friends peace.