As an industry, industrial electronics has been around for decades. What began with vacuum tubes, graduated to rectifiers and the journey progressed to the development of microprocessors, etc. Today, what we see is a much-evolved form of industrial electronics that plays a significant role in automation and helping revolutionize it. Let’s delve into a few aspects associated with industrial electronics and its role in automation.

What is Industrial Electronics?

The industrial electronics industry manufactures electronic devices for industrial applications. It includes simple components like sensors, drives, and switches to complex and advanced power-converting technologies, PLCs, and robotics. 

Industrial electronics encompasses various methods and procedures of mechanism and diagnosis, control systems, signal processing, instrumentation, and automation of various industrial applications. The field involves using electronics for power and control systems. The sector is part of the extensive electronics industry and its applications include energy, transportation, agriculture, chemicals, mining, and manufacturing.

The Industrial Electronics Market Size

Industrial electronics represent a significant market in India. The industry was valued at nearly 820 billion Indian rupees in FY 2022. Some key sub-segments of the industrial electronics industry include test and measuring equipment, control equipment, power electronics equipment, analytical instruments, and automation.

The Objectives of Industrial Electronics

Industrial electronics endeavor to enhance the efficiency and productivity of agriculture, transportation, chemical, semiconductor, mining, energy, petroleum, etc. As mentioned earlier, it is a subset of electronics. Industrial electronics deals in sensors, automation equipment, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), actuators, nanotechnology, meters, power electronic switches, semiconductors, etc. Automation, in particular, benefits significantly from industrial electronics. Let’s overview it. 

The Role of Industrial Electronics in Automation

Industrial electronics is an ever-evolving subset of electronics, especially when it comes to rapidly-progressing technologies like automation. Today, integrating automation has become imperative for every industry, no matter whether manufacturing, IT, etc. 

But automation holds special significance in the manufacturing industry, considering its historical use (from the days of primitive assembly lines) to the latest Industry 4.0 that heavily relies on intelligent systems and automation to increase efficiency.

As mentioned earlier, industrial automation focuses on developing sensors, intelligent electronic devices, etc., for various automation equipment and robotic applications. It works as a supportive industry that helps companies strengthen their automation prowess by integrating the parts and components industrial electronics produce.

For instance, sensors can play a significant role in production, quality checks, raising alerts, etc., and contribute positively to the manufacturing process. On the other hand, smart connected devices can help improve manufacturing capabilities while lowering production costs in the long run. Although not direct, these factors can help foster improvement in a company’s production capabilities, enhanced quality checks, and proactive actions driven by alerts and notifications.

Conclusion

Industrial electronics will continue to play a vital role in automation through its various evolutions and in turn, help the automation sector evolve. At Cutek Circuits, we support the industrial electronics industry through premium-quality keyboards proving helpful for various applications involving automation. Please write to us at info@cutekcircuits.com to learn more about our keyboard products and solutions.