The application area for the safety logic to be developed with safety-relevant inputs and outputs was a machine family for cable processing in the field of factory automation. The project was to replace PLC-based safety solutions in various machine families with an integrated safety solution.
The development of the safety product started with the use of MESCO Safety Design Packages taking into account the customer requirements. In this initial requirements phase, it was crucial to work with the customer to agree on the modifications to the existing design packages that would be required in this case. Due to the granularity and flexibility of the design packages, there were restrictions on the free choice of functionality. Due to the close cooperation between MESCO and the customer, this first phase was successfully completed and all development work was initiated in parallel.
To speed up the development process, a parallel approach was adopted with simultaneous hardware and software development at both MESCO and the customer.
Thanks to close and cooperative collaboration, the software was completed quickly, as was the final hardware and system test setup. Integration of the hardware, software and test setup went smoothly and required minimal troubleshooting.
In this project, MESCO successfully implemented a proven approach by using Safety Design Packages that include reusable design artifacts for both hardware and software.
The key success factors of this success story can be outlined as follows:
- Proven MESCO Safety Design Packages
- Close cooperation with the customer throughout the project
- Solution-oriented problem solving approach
- Willingness to compromise on both supplier and customer side
- Early software implementation of hardware close to the end product.