AS-i-Safe machine safety network

Although not yet available in the U.S., AS-i-Safe was chosen because Pearson anticipates the technology will soon be compliant with U.S. standards.

According to Siemens, AS-i-Safe eliminates the need to design a machine with two independent control systems—one for machine control and another to protect operators from injury. By building a machine with distributed I/O and distributed safety I/O, significant cost savings are possible, company says.

"A more complex, discretely wired machine can take six electricians more than 368 hours to wire and start up," according to Don Parker, Pearson electrical project engineer." That same machine can be operational in just 96 hours with two electricians" using AS-i-Safe distributed I/O and safety I/O, he said.