An industry organization dedicated to fostering collaboration among disparate field devices said that Rockwell Automation, Omron Electronics LLC, and Woodhead Industries Inc. have joined as members.
The organization, called the FTD Joint Interest Group, supports the Field Device Tool, an open specification for the management of field devices. The group was formed last year as an effort to universalize field device communications, enabling users to mix HART, Profibus, and Fieldbus networking specifications.
At ISA Expo 2003, Rockwell, Omron, and Woodhead announced support, raising membership to over 25 companies. Other members include Siemens, SICK, Smar, and Invensys plc, which helped spearhead the group's formation.
Conspicuously absent, however, are Emerson, Honeywell International Inc., and Yokogawa Electric Corp., all of which are aggressively being pursued, group representatives said during a press conference. Large manufacturers are also being approached in order to start an end user council.
Other efforts underway unite FTD and OPC, which is a common structure for managing plant devices. The companies that have joined the FTD group are working on integrating these technologies into field devices.
"End users will push this forward because they want one tool for device management and configuration," says Tom Burke, president of OPC Foundation.