Motion Control 2.0 released for comments

PLCopen OPC specification released

Advantages of joining the association PLCopen

PLCopen Mission

We want to be the leading association resolving topics related to control programming
to support the use of international standards in this field.

What does this mean?

	PLCopen is focused on providing independent information on programming methods.
	Improving user awareness of the benefits of standardized programming.
	Extending and improving the IEC 61131-3 standard.
	Creating concepts to reduce the costs of industrial automation.
	Cost savings are realized in areas such as engineering, training, operation and maintenance.

Benefits of Membership

	Direct influence on technical issues involving the standard and its updates, and automatically receiving the standard and its updates.
	Early exhange of information during meetings (and via the minutes) of all committees. Access to this information is provided to all members, even if not represented in a committee.
	Definition of and early access to benchmarks, such as for compliance testing.
	Early recognition of trends.
	Contact with other vendors, users and institutes. These informal contacts have proven to be a major benefit to the members.
	Identification as a supporter of standardization. Users increasingly demand products which comply with the IEC 61131-3 standard as well as PLCopen extensions to this standard. A vendor who openly supports the standards is more readily accepted by these users.
	PLCopen publishes the names of the  voting members on its website and on trade shows, in newsletters, and at other promotional activities. This is important free publicity.
	Direct marketing access to interested prospects via the PLCopen newsletter, trade shows, meetings and conferences.

Membership in PLCopen demonstrates a commitment of vendors and users to open software standards. PLCopen is a truly international and independent organization, with around 100 members from around the world.

Membership categories

The different organizational types are:

	Companies: commercial organizations active in the field of Industrial Control.
	Users: focused on the application and usage of Industrial Control.
	Re-sellers: added value is not in the Industrial Control or its programming environment. In many cases they use an independent software development environment from a third party, and have integrated with their (hardware) products.
	Non-profit organizations: institutes registered as non-profit organizations.
	Educational Institutes: such as Universities, (Technical) Schools, etc.

In the non-voting membership category, all non-voting members are equal. They receive all the benefits listed above without the right to vote. And non-voting members are not visible as PLCopen members; their names are not listed on the PLCopen website or in other publications.

User members can actively participate in Technical Committees, but Resellers cannot. This category is like a sponsorship without visibility.

As is true with every organization, an active memership support yields better results than a passive one. Thus, an active membership, contributing to the different committees, is encouraged.

Annual Contributions: