03 How does EtherCAT maintain the C position

In the current automation market, especially the servo product line, the bus protocol will gradually replace the pulse protocol. In some servo downstream application industries, the EtherCAT protocol, which takes into account the two characteristics of “bus” and “Ethernet”, is gradually occupying the mainstream position in the market.

In 2021, the performance of bus products in the electronic manufacturing equipment industry market accounted for more than half of the market share, of which bus servo products are mainly based on EtherCAT protocol, such as foreign-funded Panasonic and domestic Huichuan, Hechuan and other manufacturers are more inclined to provide EtherCAT servo products when providing bus products in the electronic manufacturing equipment industry. This is mainly due to the fact that many of the electronic manufacturing equipment industry needs to be re-developed based on customer demand for non-standard customized products, especially in the visual related, there are more choices of PC-based as its upper controller, many domestic PC-based manufacturers such as Lei Sai, mainly promote EtherCAT communication products. So EtherCAT’s servo is more compatible with them.

In the past two years, bus products in the emerging photovoltaic market have also occupied most of the market share, of which bus servo products are mainly based on EtherCAT protocol, such as Huichuan, Hechuan and other domestic manufacturers in the photovoltaic industry to provide bus products are more inclined to provide EtherCAT servo products. This is mainly because the photovoltaic industry is more used by Omron or Beckhoff PLC products, so the application of EtherCAT servo is more suitable for them.

In 2021, the bus product of the lithium battery manufacturing equipment market almost occupies the full share of the market, which is related to the characteristics of the lithium battery industry equipment and the slow rise of domestic servo products, which we have said in the above analysis of Omron and Huichuan application of EtherCAT communication protocol has been more detailed, here no more details.

In 2021, bus products in the semiconductor market will account for more than half of the market share, mainly with EtherCAT protocol. This industry status:

First, it is related to the market share of suppliers. In 2021, Panasonic’s servo products occupy a considerable share in the semiconductor equipment industry, and Panasonic’s servo products mainly support EtherCAT communication.

Second, as the EtherCAT communication protocol supported by the International Semiconductor Industry Association SEMI, it can have better openness and is conducive to the cooperation and communication of different manufacturers’ equipment.

Third, because the semiconductor industry has high requirements for the control accuracy of equipment, the application of PC-based in semiconductor equipment has gradually increased, and gradually replaced some PLC applications, so the communication protocol also prefers the more open EtherCAT protocol.

04 EtherCAT – Playing ecology

In general, in recent years, EtherCAT has gradually gained a foothold in the automation industry communication protocol C bit is the general trend and its own superior performance as a result. EtherCAT originated in Germany, a traditional industrial powerhouse, and gradually gained a foothold in the field of industrial automation by uniting the whole of Europe to cultivate an ecosystem.

Whether it is EtherCAT of Beckford or Profinet launched by Siemens, there is a common logic that they can obtain such a wide range of applications in the entire industrial automation market: Siemens occupies the head position in the overall PLC market in China, and Beckford is also in the first position in the PC-based motion controller market in China. You are the boss in the controller, it means that you grasp the top product in the automation product line, based on this you can often specify a lot of standards and rules in the field of automation, such as the fieldbus PROFIBUS standard developed by Siemens, MindSphere World global user organization, etc., the former helps it establish a “circle of friends”, The latter creates an optimal ecosystem.

The so-called standard to win the world, Beckhoff, Siemens and other ecological builders stand at the top of the “ecological chain”, downstream equipment manufacturers products with the ecology of nine out of ten are their standards, such as Beckhoff recognized and used EtherCAT, plus a wave of strong promotion, Downstream manufacturers (especially those that choose to use PC-based motion controllers) will need to use EtherCAT to get fit. As a result, automation products with EtherCAT communication protocols can easily enter the broad market downstream of the supply chain.

Similarly, the Japanese Omron in the lithium industry is the same. In the lithium battery industry, Omron’s motion control PLC is a well-deserved ace product, and most manufacturers use Omron’s PLC products, and his PLC products use EtherCAT’s ecology. Therefore, it has affected all the automation manufacturers involved in the competition in the lithium battery industry, which is the power of ecology, and the most important factor for the durability of EtherCAT communication protocol.

In the future, in the Chinese automation market, with the continuous development of bus servo, the market share of bus servo in various industries downstream of automation will be further expanded. In addition, with the domestic servo in the market share slowly increasing, in a long period of time, the domestic servo’s upper control communication protocol will mainly use EtherCAT, so the market share of EtherCAT protocol servo products will also be further developed.