In the automotive parts coating industry, equipment stability, wiring efficiency, and maintenance costs directly impact production efficiency and delivery performance. During the upgrade of an an automotive parts coating production line, a customer encountered several issues with the existing IO system, including large control cabinet space requirements, complex wiring, and high maintenance costs.

To solve these problems, the customer adopted the DECOWELL RB Series Remote IO solution, successfully optimizing the automation control system and significantly improving equipment operation efficiency and maintenance convenience.

The customer’s production line is mainly used for automotive parts automatic coating applications. The entire system integrates injection molding, robotic spraying, and automated conveying processes, requiring high-speed communication, stable IO performance, and easy maintenance.

The original control system was based on Mitsubishi PLC architecture with CC-Link IEFB communication protocol. The existing IO configuration included:

• FX5-16EX/ES
• FX5-16EYR/ES
• FX5-8AD
• FX5-4DA

As production demand increased, several issues gradually became apparent in the original solution.

The original Mitsubishi IO modules occupied significant cabinet space, forcing engineers to reserve larger installation areas during electrical cabinet design. This reduced cabinet utilization efficiency and negatively affected heat dissipation performance.

The traditional terminal block wiring method required M3 screw fixing, making field wiring complicated and time-consuming. As a result:

• Installation efficiency was low
• Labor costs increased
• Equipment assembly required more manpower

When replacing IO modules in the original system, operators had to:

• Shut down the equipment
• Disconnect sensor signal wires
• Rewire the system after replacement

This process increased maintenance time and created risks of incorrect wiring, affecting normal production operation.

The project adopted the following configuration:

• RB-1140
• 210H ×4
• 310H ×4
• 4054 ×4
• 5054 ×4
• 4754 ×4

The RB Series fully supports the CC-Link IEFB protocol, allowing seamless integration with the existing Mitsubishi PLC system without major changes to the original control architecture.

This greatly reduced upgrade difficulty and implementation costs.

The DECOWELL RB Series features an ultra-slim design with a module thickness of only 12mm.

Compared with the original solution, the new system:

• Significantly reduced cabinet space occupation
• Improved heat dissipation performance
• Simplified future expansion

This is especially beneficial for automotive coating equipment applications with large numbers of IO points.

The RB Series adopts large-diameter terminal connections, making wiring much easier compared to traditional M3 screw terminals.

Benefits include:

• Faster wiring process
• Improved installation efficiency
• Reduced labor intensity for technicians

The customer significantly shortened equipment assembly time and reduced overall labor costs.

One of the customer’s primary concerns was maintenance efficiency.

The DECOWELL RB Series supports hot-swapping functionality, allowing operators to replace IO modules without shutting down the system when replacing the same module type.

Additional advantages include:

• Three-section modular design without rewiring
• Built-in diagnostic functions
• Real-time module status monitoring via PLC

These features effectively reduced maintenance difficulty, minimized wiring errors, and shortened equipment downtime.

For continuously operating automotive coating production lines, this means higher production efficiency and lower maintenance costs.

As automotive manufacturing automation continues to advance, traditional centralized IO systems are becoming less suitable for modern smart factories.

Remote IO solutions offer several advantages:

• Reduced wiring complexity
• Faster installation
• Easier maintenance
• Space-saving cabinet design
• Better system scalability

In automotive coating, welding, assembly, and other automation-intensive applications, remote IO systems are increasingly becoming the preferred solution.

In this automotive parts coating project, DECOWELL successfully helped the customer solve key operational challenges through the RB Series Remote IO solution, including:

• Excessive cabinet space usage
• Complicated wiring
• High maintenance costs
• Long equipment downtime

For automotive coating equipment manufacturers and automotive parts factories, choosing a stable, efficient, and maintenance-friendly remote IO system has become an important strategy for improving production competitiveness.