IDEC Engineering Insights #2: a relays and sensors product manager who balances firm foundations with new innovations

Some parts of a safety control system are always visible, because they need to be: emergency stop switches, operator interfaces (HMIs), etc.

Some parts are not as visible, but just as essential to keep systems running smoothly and safely: relays, terminal blocks, sensors, etc.

The US product manager for these categories, Bruce Fink, has a long history of working with each product. We recently interviewed Bruce as a way to tap into that wealth of experience.

I’m in my 9th year at IDEC, and I’ve been the product manager for industrial components and sensors that entire time.

I’d worked with relays and sensors for many years before joining IDEC, including at a few competitors.

A lot – new products are sent to me directly at our Chicago office for testing. Advances in product shipping and video communication have made it so much easier to work with other teams on product releases.

I get the opportunity to evaluate products in person, and to pass that first-hand knowledge on to local end customers.

The process has become far more global. When I started, product development was handled by the Japan teams. Over time, the regional product teams have had more say in product design and development.

I now have more input at the early design stages, to ensure that each product meets customer requirements here in the US. Teams in Europe and other regions do the same, so the end result is that new products meet worldwide requirements. It’s been great to see that process evolve over the past few years.

In terms of specific products, I’ve always thought that the IDEC relay product lineup is very strong. We continue to update products and incorporate new features to meet current requirements, but the core product offering has stayed strong for the last 40 or 50 years.

We try to add features that weren’t required when the product was first developed but are needed based on how customers use that product now.

A great example of that is the latching test button on relays, so that they can be held in an ‘on’ state. Some relays weren’t originally made with that feature.

We aim to stay up to date in terms of what customers require from each product.

The ability to snap lock the terminal blocks together, and to add or remove terminal blocks without tools, are features that the competition doesn’t have.

Customers are learning how easy this system is to work with, and so far they’re very impressed by it.

Right now, the best customer base (in the US) for the BTBH-H series is panel builders.

Many customers who design different circuits and enclosures for end users can use the terminal block system to quickly build block configurations for each user. It may be 15 terminal points, or 20, or 60, but you can still use the same type of product and quickly snap them together.

That flexibility and versatility, just using the exact same components each time, is a design feature that customers really like.

Over the last 4 to 5 years, we’ve adapted the design and the internal components of our photoelectric sensors so that they can be used in more applications than before.

Continuing to offer high levels of sensing accuracy in a smaller package greatly helps our customers. They had potential applications and use cases that we hadn’t yet realized they were asking for – and with these miniature sensors, we already offered them a solution.

The trend for sensors is to make them smaller and more durable. The competition has achieved this for their standard products, but in hazardous areas those sensors have to be stored in heavy-duty metal enclosures. We’re already a step ahead by offering a barrier system that allows sensor design to remain small and compact while still being fully compliant.

A trend that I’ve seen for terminal blocks is specific color-coded terminals. It isn’t a wiring requirement yet, but it may become one in future and we need to be ready for it.

For sensors, we’ve seen more applications being classed as ‘hazardous’ or as areas where explosion-proof devices are required, where maybe they weren’t before. So we’ve had to make sure that each sensor series is certified for use in those types of areas.

As for relays, customers want more relay contacts in a smaller space. At the same time, they want higher current carrying capability, which means the contacts need to be bigger. We’re looking at how to handle these opposing requests in terms of design.

IDEC’s relays and sensors stand out in the market with their reliability, features and innovative designs, making them the choice for panel builders and manufacturers striving for excellence in automation.