Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG, established in 1980, is an internationally company with global headquarters in Verl, Westphalia, Germany - with a focus on new automation technology. As the pioneer of global automation technology, Beckhoff defines many standards in the field of automation, and is the promoter of international standards. The product range covers Industrial PCs, I/O and fieldbus components, drive technology and automation software. Products that can be used as separate components or integrated into a complete and seamless control system are available for all industries. After 40 years of development and efforts Beckhoff is now represented worldwide in over 75 countries by 39 subsidiary companies and distributors. Beckhoff offers plastics machine manufacturers genuine competitive advantages with PC- and EtherCAT-based control technology and the integration of common communication standards, which are standardized according to Euromap and OPC UA. The range of applications include injection molding, blow molding, extrusion and integration of production cells. For secure communication between machine controllers and cloud-based services, Beckhoff has developed the TwinCAT IoT software library which supports common standardised protocols for cloud communication. With TwinCAT Analytics, the process data is stored synchronously with each machine cycle, to realize online and offline condition analysis, predictive maintenance, pattern recognition, machine optimization. In addition, Beckhoff has set a new benchmark for the application of drive technology in the plastics industry with its newly introduced XPlanar eXtended planar motor system. The system is an all-in-one solution, which highly integrates functions including vision, logic control, online detection, and provides end users with customized programmable path planning for mover travel route.