HOW did this become a bash Automationdirect/Koyo products.To clear up a few statements
Automation direct is a marketing Company not a true technology Company. I have had limited exposure to their products,
Automationdirect.com, originally founded as PLCDirect in 1994, has quickly grown from a tiny PLC company to a well-recognized name in the industrial automation market. As the first industrial controls company to successfully use a direct sales catalog for PLC products, Automationdirect.com is now using its cyberspace superstore, in addition to its 800 number, to reach the next plateau in industrial control sales.
PLCDirect was established as a privately held Georgia corporation that is a subsidiary of Koyo Electronics (part of the multi-billion dollar Koyo Seiko group of companies). Koyo had designed and manufactured PLCs for some of the world's largest PLC companies, including General Electric, Texas Instruments, and Siemens. However, the future plans of these companies and Koyo were not compatible. Tim Hohmann, founder and company captain of PLCDirect, established the company in January 1994 as the first entity within the Koyo Seiko group to concentrate on the micro PLC market. At its inception, PLCDirect consisted of a handful of people working out of a tiny leased building. Its first catalog consisted of 200 pages featuring about 200 products. For the first five years the company focused on practical ways to deliver quality PLCs to customers at prices that were typically half of the traditional automation companies, including Allen-Bradley, GE Fanuc, and Siemens. Their competitive comparisons shown in advertisements and the catalog, combined with numerous Editor's Choice awards for innovative products, customer love letters, and their phenomenal sales growth, proved to tens of thousands of customers that PLCDirect was a solid choice for PLCs. In 1997, the company moved into a new facility, and completed an expansion in March 1998. In April 1999, the company changed its name to Automationdirect.com and launched its e-commerce site. The 2002 catalog has grown to over 1,300 pages featuring over 3,500 name brand and private label products.
As can be seen by going to their website this is KOYO marketing their own product.
Their tech support is nowhere near as good as AB's.
KEN nothing against you or AB overall in my statement. The biggest issue with AB is FINDING the support you need when you need it, support will always be an issue with any item/company BUT overall I think KOYO/Automationdirect has proven its support to those that do use them.
Koyo made earlier TI 305, GE Series One, Siemens 305 and still do..ie and older system that you can buy new parts for.
Networking??? Profibus, Modbus, Ethernet, DeviceNet? Any of this ring a bell?
Field I/O - Ethernet, Modbus, Devicenet
Operator Interfaces
Think & DO
Its hard to singly disseminate your statements because as you stated: I have limited exposure to their products...ie you have no idea what you are talking about.
With the market as it is now more companies will look at bottom line, AB will have its market, GE theirs, Siemens theirs, but Automationdirect will have theirs too.
With the way large corporations are screwing up recently AB could fold just as fast as anyone, actually they could anyway. Being part of a large corporation does not automatically mean security/longevity.
Now I will wait to see Tom's reply.