The sensor specialist Baumer is now also driving the further development of IO-Link as an active member of the IO-Link Steering Committee. In collaboration with other sensor and automation companies, Baumer works to actively support the further optimization of this leading-edge communication system. The Steering Committee controls the technology development of IO-Link; in addition to the elected members, the committee consists of the Steering Committee Director and the directors of the Quality, Technology, Marketing, Profiles, and Integration Working Groups. The Steering Committee now includes representatives from 18 companies, including Baumer, that are decisively involved in the further development of IO-Link. The companies were elected to the committee at the IO-Link general assembly on June 23 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Lasse-Pekka Thiem, Senior Product Manager Connectivity & Control, is actively involved in the Steering Committee for Baumer. He sees the continuous further development of IO-Link technology as an important task for taking digitalized production to the next level. "On the road to smart factories, there is no alternative to IO-Link for simple field devices in my opinion. However, I also see a few problem areas. We have to make it even easier for users to use IO-Link and tap the full potential of this future-proof technology," says Thiem.  

The following companies and people are involved in the Steering Committee:

• Torsten Delfs, Balluff
• Dmitry Gringauz, Banner Engineering
• Lasse-Pekka Thiem, Baumer
• Daniel Schlotthauer, Beckhoff
• Florian Welker, Festo
• Werner Flögel, GEMÜ
• Joachim Uffelmann, ifm (Speaker)
• Ingo Baumgardt, Leuze
• Wolfgang Wiedemann, Murrelektronik
• Kazushi Tanase, Omron
• Sebastian Stöber, Pepperl+Fuchs
• Claus Kühnel, Phoenix Contact
• Frank Moritz, Sick
• Achim Gutsche, Siemens
• Otto Witte, TEConcept
• Karim Jamal, Texas Instruments
• Klaus-Peter Willems, TMG
• Sai Seidel-Sridhavan, Turck