On October 21, Dr. Wei Sun, representative of the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), made an announcement about a milestole for technoloy and the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) at a ceremony in Beijing. He informed the crowd that EtherCAT, which has seen strong global use for more than 10 years, is now a national technology standard in China.
The ceremony in Beijing was hosted by ITEI president, Prof. Jinsong Ouyang in the official guest house of the Chinese government, and brought together numerous experts from a wide range of industries. There, SAC Director, Dr. Wei Sun announced EtherCAT as National Standard GB/T 31230 for China.In close cooperation with ITEI, several ETG member companies from China, as well as the local EtherCAT Competence Center at Beihang University in Beijing, contributed significantly to the completion of the standard.As a special highlight to the ceremony, Chinese company representatives shared experiences about their numerous EtherCAT systems and applications with the audience and explained the benefits realized through implementation. The worldwide adoption of EtherCAT, especially in China today, was clearly demonstrated in other presentations.Yunying Huang, Vice President of Shenyang Machine Tool R&D Institute Shanghai, introduced the company's new, intelligent i5 CNC machine tool based entirely on EtherCAT. He emphasized that performance, openness, and the large product selection available from many of the world's largest vendors were the main decisive factors for selecting EtherCAT. Dr. Frank de Schepper, CEO of Wenzhou-headquartered SIBONAC Laser Technologies, reported the benefits of EtherCAT for his company: "The EtherCAT protocol is open, easier to use, and faster than alterntive protocols."
"China is growing into the world's largest automation market, and we are pleased to see the outstanding adoption rate of EtherCAT within this market in all kinds of applications, from machine controls, power generation and distribution, to mobile applications, scientific systems, and beyond. Becoming a recommended national standard in China will further boost the success of EtherCAT, providing even more local language access to the technology and ensuring acceptance in all publicly-funded projects," said Martin Rostan, executive director of the EtherCAT Technology Group.
The ceremony closed with live demonstrations of various EtherCAT systems featuring Chinese and international EtherCAT products.
