Motion Control
The axis moved. It did not stop where it was supposed to.
You call because an axis is not stopping in the same place, or two axes that should stay together have drifted and the part is late or crooked. A servo faults in the middle of the cycle and the line stops. The screen shows a fault, and nobody at the machine can tell which move failed. The time the machine was built to hold is gone.
We look at the move before we look at a part number. What has to travel, where it has to stop, and what else has to be there when it arrives. A drive, a motor, and the feedback can all look fine while a sensor never comes in, a limit sits in the wrong place, or the PLC tells the axis to go before the last move has finished. That shows up as a motion fault. The program, the drives, and the network between them have to agree.
We design that motion and hook it up, on new equipment or on a machine you already own. When the axes have to stay together, that is Beckhoff TwinCAT motion with EtherCAT. ABB drives and servos, and Schneider Electric Lexium drives and controls, go on the jobs that use them. Servo motors, actuators, and the I/O are picked for the move. The axis should stop where the job needs it, do that on the next cycle, and leave the machine able to hold its time.
One drive and a speed, or axes that have to move together
A conveyor that needs a speed is one drive. You set it, you watch the load, and a fault has to stop the belt. Packaging, assembly, and a test stand are usually more than a speed. A pusher, a lift, and a place have to happen in order. One of them early and the part is not there. One of them late and the cycle slips.
CNC machines and multi-axis tooling have the same requirement. The axes have to stay together through the move, not only finish near each other. A robot cell needs it at the handoff. The arm can move, and the conveyor, the fixture, or the nest still has to be where the program expects. On a test stand or an inspection station, the part has to be in place before the check means anything.
The motion is tied into the PLC, the HMI, the safety, and the sensors. A scanner or a gate that says a person is in the way has to stop the move. The screen has to show which axis faulted and what it was doing. We program it, run it on the machine, and work the faults until the moves and the stops match the job.
Motion shows up with CNC retrofits, robot cells, and AC drives.