With our long history of developing products for diverse automation industries, Contemporary Controls has a rich inventory of intellectual property that can be tapped for the next generation automation project. In addition to communications hardware design that includes hubs, switches, routers and gateways, the company is skilled in firmware development and is versant in open-system protocols and operating systems. Modern embedded system design requires a thorough knowledge of regulatory requirements in order to comply with the target industry and worldwide markets. Contemporary Controls can add its skill and knowledge to a customer's project for mutual benefit.

Although project management responsibility resides at headquarters, the best technical resources are recruited around the world. Schematic capture, circuit simulation, board layout, EMC compatibility, regulatory compliance, product verification and validation are all part of a systematic process. Prototyping is accomplished using the company's manufacturing resources. With manufacturing in the same building, designs can quickly be verified, greatly reducing time-to-market.

What We Design We Support

Technical support specialists reside around the world in order to ensure that our customers are provided excellent assistance wherever their projects exist.

As part of our effort to educate the industry on the merits of Industrial Ethernet, Contemporary Controls launched the virtual Industrial Ethernet University (IEU). Students from around the world take on-line courses, complete tests on the material and gain a certificate of completion upon successful graduation. All material is developed by Contemporary Controls' staff and invited experts from all over the world with the intent of providing content that is vendor-neutral.

What We Design We Make

Contemporary Controls manufactures its designs in order to ensure the highest level of quality while being responsive to customers' changing requirements. The company offers lead-free surface mount (SMT) equipment in two locations—the United States and China. Both locations use the latest in Panasonic placement machines capable of accurately placing components as small as 0603. Both lines can be programmed using the same Panasonic configuration software allowing for the transfer of manufacturing data between locations. The reflow ovens are identical allowing the sharing of temperature profile data. A design can be developed in the United States, prototyped at the same location and transferred to a low-cost area for eventual production with ease.

For low-volume, high-mix products or for those products requiring Made in America certification, the Downers Grove, Illinois plant meets your needs. This plant is used for prototyping and proof of concept designs.

For higher volume, cost-sensitive requirements, our Suzhou, PRC plant offers the highest production rate as well as logistics support. As a wholly-foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) under US leadership, the Suzhou plant can offer other services such as component sourcing to further reduce costs while ensuring that your intellectual property is protected.

Continuous efforts to reduce costs, improve quality and improve customer are coordinated between the two plants as part of the company's lean initiative.

History

George Thomas established Contemporary Controls in 1975 as a system integration and consulting business focusing on microcomputer and PLC applications. As microprocessor bus-boards became more popular, the company changed direction to become a hardware manufacturer by developing a series of STD-BUS microcomputer modules in 1983. One of those modules was an ARCNET^® adapter that allowed distributed STD-BUS microcomputers to replace a DEC minicomputer in a newspaper pre-processing system.

As the acceptance of the new ARCNET standard increased in the industry. Contemporary Controls and several other companies founded the ARCNET Trade Association (ATA) in 1987 to better publicize this technology to the automation world. The company moved forward with its introduction of the MOD HUB series of ARCNET active hubs, and other bus-board adapters enabling Contemporary Controls to become a leader in ARCNET technology.

With the emergence of fieldbuses such as Controller Area Network (CAN), CANopen, and DeviceNet, Contemporary Controls developed bus-board adapters and network analyzers. In 1998, the EXTEND-A-BUS^® was introduced as a convenient way of extending CAN networks in the field.

The rapid acceptance of Industrial Ethernet as a fieldbus replacement created the need for the CTRLink^® family of Industrial Ethernet products intended for rugged applications but designed to be as simple to use as standard office-grade equipment.

Recently, Contemporary Controls has introduced a family of BACnet-compliant products that not only connect to Ethernet networks, but can interface with common sensor and actuator devices as the company proves that taking Ethernet down to the device level is possible.

Along the way, the company established sales and distribution offices in the United Kingdom and Germany, and a manufacturing plant in Suzhou, PRC in order to continue to support our automation customers wherever they reside.