Control Station Services Outpace Projections for Industrial Control and Factory Automation Solutions Sector
Manchester, CT – January 31, 2017 – Control Station today announced significant year-over-year growth in the company’s services business. The increase reflects rising demand for expertise in manufacturing automation and process optimization. With its expanded services offerings the company is well positioned to capitalize on global growth that is forecasted for automation-related services.
In its June 2016 report on the global industrial automation control market, Technavio Research projected significant growth in demand for industrial control and factory automation solutions. Specifically, the research and advisory services company estimated the market’s advancement at a cumulative average growth rate of 8.0% for the period of 2016 to 2020. This projected increase in the rate of growth bodes well for both original equipment manufacturers and third party system integrators that service the automation industry. As a supplier of process optimization technologies and services, Control Station has experienced strong growth in demand for its software-based solutions and services that are outpacing the overall market trend.
“We’ve evolved from a regional vendor of tuning technologies and training services to a global supplier of process diagnostic and optimization solutions,” shared Dennis Nash, the company’s President. “Our expanded portfolio of products and services facilitated that transition. During 2016 alone our technology and value-added services were delivered in support of production facilities on five out of seven continents.”
Sales of the company’s services doubled with the most notable contributions coming from Control Station’s technology-based services and training offerings. The Company has experienced significant growth in the licensing of its PlantESP plant-wide performance monitoring platform. The growth in licensing is largely credited to growing demand among manufacturers for performance analytics along with PlantESP’s unique diagnostic capabilities. As a complement to field work associated with PlantESP licensees Control Station offers an array of services based on the technology’s analysis, including remote monitoring and auditing services.
Control Station also recorded meaningful growth in bookings of its training and skills development offerings. The Practical Process Control curriculum has been expanded beyond its original theory-based courses to include application-based options. Application-based courses cover the spectrum of basic through advanced use of the award-winning LOOP-PRO and PlantESP solutions. A selection of Control Station’s courses has been made available via a secure eLearning platform which accommodates industry practitioners who are unable to travel to a regional training location. In an effort to foster continued growth of its training offerings Control Station has scheduled over twenty open-enrollment workshops. The courses target major manufacturing centers across North America and Europe.
“Whether for onsite optimization services or for traditional training the interest that we’re experiencing is not a surprise,” commented Lindsey Fink, Senior Field Services Engineer at Control Station. “It’s clear with each site visit and training workshop that we are adding value and that customers are moving closer to their goal of improved production performance.”
The company’s services offerings continue to grow dramatically as a percentage of overall sales. In 2016 services represented over 20% of Control Station’s total sales, up from 11% of sales recorded during the previous year. Services have steadily become a larger component of the company’s overall sales and Revenue mix since the introduction of PlantESP in 2010. Control Station expects additional growth in services as a percentage of total sales as PlantESP gains in market share and new offerings are introduced.
About Control Station
Control Station empowers process manufacturers to increase production efficiency and throughput. The company’s software-based solutions actively monitor and optimize plant-wide control loop performance.
The company’s products are both highly innovative and award-winning. PlantESP™ is the leading CLPM solution for identifying and isolating issues that negatively affect control loop performance. Control Station’s portfolio of LOOP-PRO™ products is recognized as the process industry’s leading solution for PID controller tuning. It is the only controller tuning software that accurately models oscillatory and noisy process data.
Control Station’s solutions are licensed to leading process manufacturers worldwide and they are available direct from Control Station and through its network of distribution partners. The company is headquartered in the United States.
