Less wiring, more flexibility: How Springer has standardised its acknowledgment stations!

One control point instead of a multitude of variants: this is how the Austrian special-purpose machine manufacturer for the sawmill and wood-processing industry connects its acknowledgment stations via IO-Link.

Special-purpose machine manufacturing – sawmill and wood-processing industry (since 1952, Friesach, Carinthia)

IO-Link Class A via M12 connectors

Drastically reduced wiring effort & integrated diagnostics

The challenge: When hardwiring reaches its limits

As a special purpose machine manufacturer, Springer implements customer requirements on a case-by-case basis – which makes standardised solutions that can be flexibly adapted all the more important.

Until now, at the acknowledgement stations on safety guards, each switching contact of a pushbutton or selector switch was individually routed to the control system.

Springer needed a solution that:

significantly reduces the increasing effort involved in wiring, connecting terminals and documentation for complex machines,
reduces the growing number of different control points (and thus also design, assembly and stock management),
enables functional changes without having to interfere with the wiring.

The solution: a standardised IO-Link operating unit

As IO-Link was already established in the systems, Springer, in collaboration with SCHLEGEL, also integrated the acknowledgment units into the communication concept – implemented as a standardised operating unit with three control points:

Just three cables: Three acknowledgment stations can be connected via a Class A IO-Link device – the M12 connection technology enables quick cabling without the need for a specialist.
Integrated diagnostics: Lamp failures are detected and the switching cycles of the control elements are monitored – rapid fault analysis via the parameterisation interface.
Flexible configuration: Two normally open contacts per operating position allow the control units to be replaced at a later date without altering the wiring.
Secure on safety guards: The enclosure can only be opened with a tool – yet maintenance via the M12 connector remains straightforward.

The result: standardisation meets digital flexibility

The IO-Link solution has been in series production since the end of 2024 – it took just a few weeks from the initial concept to the prototype:

Less wiring: Multiple operating units are connected together via IO-Link – significantly reducing the installation effort.
Fewer variants: A standardised hardware platform reduces the number of variants in design, production and spare parts management.
More flexibility: Functional changes can be implemented in the software – without any intervention in the hardware.

Would you like to achieve similar results?

"“We had reached the limits of hard-wiring. IO-Link has significantly reduced our workload and given us greater flexibility. SCHLEGEL didn’t simply supply us with a product, but worked together with us to develop the right solution.”"

Reinhold Danner

Head of Automation, Springer Maschinenfabrik GmbH