Send the machine, not a part number.
Phoenix looks at the function, the environment, the quantity and the cost target, and comes back with a control architecture and a price at your volume.
A controller sized to the machine.
If the software needs a routine written, Russell writes it and you paste it in. If the hardware needs a custom mount or a branded bezel, the factory quotes it. None of this is billed.
I/O, drives and the first application.
The first machine on a new platform is where a supplier is either a partner or a problem. Phoenix commits three to eight engineering hours a week until the first unit is running. After the first three to six months that tapers, because it has to, and by then your team owns the platform.
Then, production.
Repeatable models mean repeatable orders. Phoenix holds stock, reboxes and ships from Illinois, and keeps the factory relationship warm so the next revision costs less than the last one. When a distributor makes sense for inventory, we will say so. When it does not, we will say that too.
HMI and touchscreens
Operator interfaces from small panel displays to full-glass fronts, branded to your machine.
PLC and controllers
Controllers sized to the machine, with application code support from Phoenix.
I/O and networking
Remote I/O, fieldbus and the network layout to make it all talk.
Custom operator panels
Cab operating panels, hall stations, glass fronts with integrated phone, at production cost.
Questions OEM engineers ask first
- Is this a distributor?
- Phoenix supplies hardware, yes. The reason customers stay for twenty years is the engineering around it. If you only need a box moved, there are cheaper ways to move a box.
- What is the learning curve on the platform?
- Real, and we say so. That is why the first application gets an engineer. It is also why we prefer customers with engineers on staff: once the platform is learned, it is yours.
- What quantities make customisation worthwhile?
- It depends on the part, but as a guide, a custom operator panel becomes economical in the low thousands a year. Under that, we will tell you to use the standard part and put the money elsewhere.
- Where is it made?
- Phoenix works with a long-standing factory partner overseas and holds stock in Illinois. Russell has stood on that factory floor; ask him about it.