Right-sizing control and motion without compromising future flexibility

Deloitte's 2025 Smart Manufacturing Survey found that nearly half of manufacturers rank process automation among their top investment priorities over the next two years. As customer expectations evolve, machine builders must balance performance, flexibility and cost while ensuring machines remain adaptable over their lifecycle. Increasingly, the real challenge is not pushing for maximum performance but choosing automation that keeps the machine simple today and adaptable tomorrow.

Not every machine requires the highest levels of control complexity or motion performance. However, over-specifying machines can increase upfront costs, extend commissioning times and add unnecessary engineering effort. It can also increase cabinet space requirements, spare parts inventories and maintenance demands.

At the same time, selecting a more basic, less flexible control platform can create challenges as machine requirements evolve. Machine builders may need to replace hardware, migrate software or redesign parts of the control system to introduce new functionality. Therefore, introducing scalable architecture from the outset helps preserve engineering continuity while making future changes simpler and less disruptive.

Machine builders are often balancing today's application requirements with tomorrow's possibilities. While a machine may be designed around current customer specifications, fixed functionality can limit future development as new applications, performance requirements or machine variants emerge. Designing systems with flexibility in mind from the outset allows OEMs to adapt machines more easily over their lifecycle, without unnecessary complexity or costly redesigns.

Many automation suppliers segment their portfolios into separate controller families that limit functionality and constrain future scalability. As machine requirements grow, users often face a costly rip-and-replace exercise, replacing hardware and learning entirely new engineering environments.

One way to address this problem is to keep control, motion and safety within one automation environment. A machine can begin with a compact controller for basic positioning tasks and move to a high-performance industrial PC for more advanced motion control without needing to change the underlying software or communication architecture.

This enables clearer upgrade paths for machine builders. They can begin with a streamlined specification and add capabilities later, rather than having to switch between product families or redesign the control architecture as requirements change.

Fit-for-purpose motion solutions

Beckhoff has developed a new range of products that extends this philosophy to motion hardware. Solutions such as the AX1000 economy servo drive, AF1000 variable frequency drive and ASI/AMI integrated stepper and servo drive provide optimised performance for applications that do not require the highest level of precision control, whilst offering designers the choice of flexible mounting options and system architectures.

The EtherCAT-connected AX1000 also simplifies cabinet design by reducing the need for external components, helping OEMs optimise both footprint and cost. This technology is designed for less complex machines, where maximum control or advanced motion is not required, allowing machine builders to match automation performance to the needs of the machine while retaining the flexibility.

By maintaining a consistent engineering environment through TwinCAT software, EtherCAT communication and PC-based control, machine builders can begin with a streamlined specification and add capabilities such as coordinated motion, enhanced safety or greater data connectivity as requirements evolve.

A machine designed with more control and motion capability than the application needs can introduce unnecessary cost and complexity. By choosing automation that is right-sized from the outset, machine builders can meet today's requirements while remaining ready for tomorrow's requirements.