Beckhoff marks Oktoberfest in Singapore

October was perhaps an appropriate time for the Singapore subsidiary of Germany's Beckhoff Automation to officially open its office, which is located in the International Business Park in the western suburb of Jurong. It decided to mark the occasion with a half-day seminar, co-organized with newly appointed Gold Channel Partner TDS Technology, under the title of Automation UpDate, Oktoberfest 2011.

In his keynote address, David Chia, managing director, Beckhoff Singapore, provided his thoughts on some of the latest automation trends and, in particular, emphasized the relevance and benefits of Beckhoff 's PC-based control philosophy in comparison with those of traditional PLCs and a pure PC control approach. He also noted that the company is already planning to increase headcount to take account of growing opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

As well as presentations from Beckhoff and TDS, event attendees had a chance to boost their understanding of the technology and its applications through specially arranged demonstrations, which covered areas such as building automation, fieldbus connectivity, and integration to vision systems and mobile devices.

To show that Beckhoff itself “walks the talk”, customers were taken on a tour of the new office, which features an array of Beckhoff 's own technology, including industrial and embedded PCs, EtherCAT I/O, and TwinCAT software, to provide a significant level of facility automation.