Intelligent motion control is the core building block of smart manufacturing, enabling highly flexible and efficient manufacturing. Intelligent motion control combines precision feedback, advanced sensing, high performance control, and seamless connectivity to deliver deterministic motion solutions.

Motion control solutions have evolved from basic on/off fixed speed motors to complex multiaxis servo-drive solutions in robotics. This evolution has been driven by the increasing complexity of automation required to deliver higher levels of performance and autonomy in smart manufacturing.

Intelligent motion control is being accelerated by four key growth drivers: reduced energy consumption, agile production, digital transformation, and the move toward new service-based business models (which are based on reducing downtime and increased asset utilization in smart manufacturing).

Up to 70% of the electricity used in industry is consumed by electric motors. Intelligent motion solutions are delivering and will continue to deliver significant reductions in energy consumption by moving more applications from fixed speed motors to high efficiency motors and variable speed drives, in part driven by energy efficiency regulations.

As industries are adapting to keep up with consumer demand and changing buyer behaviors, agile production—based on reconfigurable production lines—is required to deliver more customization and faster turnaround times. Agile production increases resilience in a time of disruption and enables a faster response to changing customer demands.

Motion data and insights from advanced sensing are now more accessible, as motion assets are networked together to share data in real-time. This data can be analyzed by powerful cloud-computing and AI to optimize manufacturing flows and monitor the current state of health of the assets across the entire installation.

Intelligent motion applications are integrating condition monitoring capabilities to implement real-time monitoring of the assets’ health to eliminate unplanned downtime, deliver higher levels of productivity and asset utilization. This creates new business model opportunities for deployed assets with predictive maintenance, service-based contracts.