GIDDINGS & LEWIS INTRODUCES NEW IEC1131 PROGRAMMING TOOL

(Fond du Lac, WI, January 22, 1996) -- Giddings & Lewis is introducing
release 8.0 of their IEC1131 programming tools, PiCPro and PiCServoPro.
These tools support IEC1131-3 graphical ladder logic and function block
programming for the Giddings & Lewis PiC9, PiC90, and PiC900 family of
industrial automation controllers.

"This release of our program development tools represents our eighth major
feature release since the April 1990 introduction of IEC1131-compatible
programming for our control family," according to Doug Vonderhaar, vice
president and general manager of Giddings & Lewis Automation Control. "Our
emphasis remains on continuous product improvement, both in ease of use
and performance," states Doug. "We feel that control system performance
can never be the limiting factor in machine performance and the new 'open
architecture servo loop' supplied in PiCServoPro 8.0 represents another
step toward that goal." Utilizing this feature, customer application
programs implemented using the IEC1131 instruction set can execute
synchronously with the servo position loop in the Giddings & Lewis control
as often as once every millisecond, while traditional machine control is
implemented using standard scanned programs. 

Additional new features in release 8.0 include on-line edit of
user-developed function blocks, as well as the addition of mark, move, and
copy functions to the built-in I/O and data declaration table editor. "The
ability of our customers to develop libraries of their own IEC1131 format
function blocks has been the key to success in a host of applications,"
points out Doug. "Now with the ability to on-line edit these functions, we
have taken hours out of the program development cycle," he says. 

Typical production processes automated using PiC controls include
packaging, paper converting, textile machinery, food processing, plastic
film production, and metal cutting. Demanding applications include
flexographic printing machinery with up to 64 axes of motion control and
packaging machinery operating at rates of up to 1,500 pouches per minute.
Precise real-time servo control utilizing the "open architecture servo
loop" have provided machine builders unprecedented process control
capability allowing delivery of machine performance that had previously
been unattainable. 

Headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Giddings & Lewis is the largest
supplier of automated machining and assembly systems in North America and
one of the largest in the world. In addition to programmable industrial
computers, major product lines include smart manufacturing systems,
flexible transfer lines, flexible inspection systems, automated assembly
systems, high-precision automated machine tools, coordinate measuring
systems, and other related products and services. Its stock is traded on
the NASDAQ under the symbol GIDL. 

GIDDINGS & LEWIS
AUTOMATION CONTROL
666 SOUTH MILITARY ROAD, P.O. BOX 1658
FOND DU LAC, WI 54936-1658 U.S.A.
TEL. (414) 921-7100, FAX (414) 929-4669
 
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