Targeting automation growth

AS WAGO celebrates its 75th anniversary, in the UK the company is positioning automation as a major driver of its next phase of growth. While its electrical connection technology remains at the heart of the business, WAGO UK is investing in automation hardware, software, engineering support and services as it seeks to establish a stronger position in the industrial market.

Speaking at an event to mark the anniversary, WAGO UK managing director Darren Hodson and John Mackey, who leads the company's automation activities, outlined a strategy aimed at moving WAGO beyond its traditional reputation as a supplier of electrical connection technology and into a broader role as an automation solutions provider.

For Hodson, the opportunity is significant. WAGO has built a strong position in the UK electrical market, with its connection technology widely recognised by electricians and installers. That established customer base provides the company with a platform from which to introduce its wider automation capabilities.

“The organisation is extremely proud of what it's done,” said Hodson, highlighting the strength of the WAGO brand among electrical engineers. However, he acknowledged that many customers are still unaware of the breadth of the company's automation offering. The challenge – and opportunity – is therefore to turn that familiarity with WAGO's hardware into greater awareness of its capabilities in automation, software and services.

Building an automation business

Mackey explained that WAGO is deliberately aligning its UK sales organisation around automation, with a dedicated team focused on selling solutions rather than individual products.

The strategy encompasses four complementary areas: automation hardware, software, consulting and services. WAGO's established hardware portfolio provides the foundation, but the company is increasingly adding software and engineering capabilities around it.

The aim is to help customers develop and deliver automation projects more quickly while giving them greater flexibility over how systems are designed and integrated. WAGO's Scala platform is one of the key developments supporting this strategy, alongside its existing automation controllers, I/O and interface technologies.

Interoperability is central to the proposition. Rather than requiring customers to adopt a single proprietary automation ecosystem, WAGO is targeting applications where equipment from different suppliers needs to work together. Its technology supports standards and protocols including OPC UA, EtherCAT and PROFIsafe, while CODESYS provides the underlying programming environment.

According to Mackey, this creates an opportunity in the sizeable middle ground of the UK automation market. Customers increasingly want the flexibility associated with IT-style systems and open ecosystems, without necessarily taking on the cost and complexity of a major, single-vendor automation platform.

This is particularly relevant for manufacturers modernising existing plants. Rather than replacing an entire legacy control system, WAGO sees opportunities to introduce modular automation technology alongside existing equipment and progressively develop the installation.

Targeting smart factories

Smart manufacturing is consequently a major focus for WAGO's UK automation strategy. Food and beverage is one particularly important target market, with the company identifying a need for more flexible and incremental approaches to automation investment.

The argument is that many manufacturers do not have the capital available for wholesale digital transformation. A modular approach that can work with legacy equipment and deliver measurable benefits from relatively small investments may therefore be more attractive.

WAGO cites a project with UK food producer Gressingham as an example. The initial requirement was to reduce water and energy consumption. Rather than proposing a wholesale technology replacement, WAGO worked with the company to understand its existing manufacturing architecture and identify opportunities for targeted improvements. The resulting system has reportedly delivered annual savings of more than £100,000, primarily through reduced water consumption.

The company is also looking at applications where automation increasingly crosses traditional industry boundaries. Data centres are a particular growth opportunity because they combine building management, industrial control and energy-management requirements. WAGO sees potential in areas ranging from power distribution and resilience to HVAC and thermal management.

Microgrids are another strategic focus. With increasing pressure on the UK electricity grid and growing deployment of distributed generation, solar installations and local energy systems, WAGO sees a requirement for control and automation technology capable of managing increasingly complex energy flows.

From products to solutions

This shift towards automation also changes the way WAGO intends to work with customers. Rather than attempting to deliver every element of an automation project itself, the company is developing a solution partner programme designed to equip system integrators, engineers and other partners with the skills and technology needed to deliver WAGO-based solutions.

Training and knowledge sharing will form an important part of this approach. WAGO plans to expand its technical content through webinars, podcasts and a Knowledge Hub, providing application guidance alongside product information.

Cybersecurity is another area where the company intends to expand its role. Mackey highlighted IEC 62443 and the forthcoming Cyber Resilience Act as significant issues for industrial organisations, particularly those trying to understand how to address cybersecurity across existing, potentially legacy, installations. WAGO sees an opportunity to provide audits, consultancy and recommendations as well as technology.

The company's own UK headquarters provides a physical demonstration of how these capabilities can be combined. The 62,000ft² facility uses WAGO technology for building management, HVAC, lighting and load management, including coordination between photovoltaic generation and EV charging. More than 24,000m of modular cabling was installed during construction, while grey-water harvesting supplies around 65% of the building's water requirements.

For WAGO UK, therefore, the 75th anniversary represents more than a celebration of its established electrical technology. It marks a point at which the company is seeking to use that strong foundation to accelerate its growth in automation.

The strategy is deliberately focused rather than an attempt to compete across every segment of the automation market. WAGO intends to differentiate through modularity, openness and interoperability, while supporting customers with the software, engineering expertise and services needed to turn those technologies into working solutions.

As Mackey put it, the ambition is to reach the point where customers recognise that WAGO offers considerably more than the connection technology for which it is already well known.

www.wago.com/gb/