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July 13, 2018 | SPOC Automation

A subtle innovation, a not-so-subtle benefit


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One idea that is core to who we are as a company is the notion that we will never stop trying to improve what we do, and by extension, improve our products and how they work for our customers. This idea shows up in a number of subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways. Like simply labeling the wires inside our drive, so you never have to wonder which is the correct wire to work on.

The term that you hear around our plant for these innovations is “Spoc-ification” of our product. Oftentimes these ideas make building a drive easier. Or they might cut down on errors in assembly. But the best ideas make our product easier to use in the field, easier for an operator to diagnose a problem, that kind of thing.

This concept, that we are always looking for ideas to make our products better, helps us constantly analyze what we do, to improve on things that work and change things that don’t. Simple enough.

Our latest development is designed to do just that: color terminal blocks in the drive. The color makes assembling the drive easier. It reduces errors in wiring. But most importantly, and the reason we are excited about it, is that it makes working on the drive in the field safer and reduces the potential for incorrect wiring of your field devices.  

The standardized color legend for the terminal blocks is as follows:

Red - 120V
White - Neutral
Green - Ground
Gray - Shield
Black - Line Voltage
Blue - +12-24VDC
Purple - Analog
Orange - Communications
Yellow - Relay Outputs

When a problem happens in the field that affects your production, every second counts. Every lost stroke is money not being banked. If the problem is in the drive or the instrumentation devices, the faster you can resolve the issue, the better. Used in conjunction with the schematic, the color terminal blocks act, in a way, like lights on a runway directing the plane where it needs to land. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is with examples. Let's say a pump is down because of interlock conditions not being met - the technician's will naturally be directed to the yellow (relay outputs) and purple (analog signals) terminals. What if the drive lost communications to a peripheral device; in this instance the technician would move to the orange terminals. All of this is an effort to minimize down time. 

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