The Beckhoff controller will be new for us. We were strictly AB but I coerced my boss into letting me try out a Beckhoff controlled machine with the next project. So, that is the primary reason for including the Beckhoff drives into the deliberations. However, if integrating either Emerson or Kollmorgen is equally as painless, then we have no objections with going with any of them. Most of our drives around the plant are either Emerson or AB, with just a couple old PacSci's (now Kollmorgen). I saw no reason to include AB into the discussions since this is a Beckhoff controller with EtherCAT and AB doesn't support EtherCAT with their devices, and no reason to introduce another comms protocol (SERCOS) into the system when I don't have to.
As far as local support, the Emerson drives we probably have the most local support from what I can tell. My Beckhoff contacts though have been quick with email and phone so far and he's about an hour drive away, plus another guy on the other side of the state (3 hours). Still, we are a small company so if the big boys here local like GM and Nexteer need any of their support, we are getting pushed to the backburner anyway. I would guess that both of those companies are probably heavy into AB products with a little bit of everything else maybe. There's a big GM plant and Nexteer plant just a few miles from us.
My sales contact for Beckhoff replied back that they don't have a motor that meets our requirements so if its Beckhoff drives that we go with, the drives will be paired with Kollmorgen motors. I'd prefer to keep the motors and drives from the same manufacturer instead of mixing them, but some of you said that Kollmorgen used to make the Beckhoff stuff?? Does anyone have opinions on going that route with Beckhoff drives paired with Kollmorgen motors?
-Don