Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, visiting HARTING’s booth at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) on Wednesday, applauded the company’s contributions to the state and helping promote a local culture of manufacturing. Due to HARTING’s enormous success in the region, the expansion of engineering, development and the manufacturing footprint in North America are underway.
For Governor Rauner and HARTING, it was an opportunity to renew acquaintances; in April, he visited HARTING’s global headquarters in Espelkamp, Germany, where he was briefed on issues such as apprenticeship training and HARTING USA’s plans to expand scientific and entrepreneurial partnerships and collaborations.
Governor Rauner was welcomed at HARTING’s IMTS booth by Jon DeSouza, President and CEO of HARTING Americas. “We’re delighted to welcome the Governor again – we were privileged to have him visit us in Germany, and now once again here in Chicago, where we can show him our key innovations for the smart manufacturing concepts of today and tomorrow.”
The Governor noted the strong, enduring partnership between HARTING and Illinois. “Thank you to the HARTING family and Jon for your commitment in Illinois. It’s a commitment that continues to grow, an endorsement of our state’s ability to provide a strong culture of manufacturing in which companies like HARTING can prosper.”
DeSouza cited HARTING innovations and innovating thinking that address six key trends in advanced manufacturing through industrial connectivity: miniaturization, modularization, identification, integration, customization and digitalization.
“Digitalization, for example, means taking things that typically do not transmit data or are analog and make them digital so that they can be integrated into larger IIoT systems,” said DeSouza. “Our Hermes award-winning MICA edge computing system helps make this possible. With the flexible configuration possibilities MICA offers, shop floor and machine operations can be retrofitted to perform digital, networked applications like predictive maintenance and documentation of process data.”
Addressing the six key trends also means making IIoT accessible to new adopters. That’s the philosophy behind the launch of three MICA IIoT starter kits, which DeSouza also demonstrated for Governor Rauner. The three starter kits make it quick, easy and economical for businesses to incorporate IIoT concepts into their operations. The HARTING MICA CISS Complete IIoT Starter kit contains everything needed for a basic condition monitoring application. The HARTING MICA RF-300 Complete RFID Starter Kit has everything needed for a basic RFID asset tracking application and the HARTING MICA Basic Ethernet kit allows users to connect periphery devices through Ethernet that may communicate over protocols such as Modbus-TCP or OPC UA. These kits are designed to have an initial IIoT application up and running in just minutes.
In addition, HARTING’s IMTS booth showcases advanced connectivity products like the first new Han-Smart® inserts for the Han-Modular® connector series that cater to digitalization, miniaturization, identification and modularization – helping move manufacturing towards the next decade and beyond.
