Williams Racing is delighted to announce a new technology and innovation partnership with B&R Industrial Automation, a unit of ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation business. B&R is a global leader and pioneer of factory automation solutions.

The agreement will see B&R Industrial Automation embed their class-leading PLC hardware and I/O modules in the wind tunnel facilities at the team’s base in Grove. Controlled by B&R Industrial Automation’s APROL Edge Controller, the enhancements will provide measurement and recording of energy consumption of the wind tunnel infrastructure, and more granular control and management of the facility that will drive improvements in energy consumption, preventative maintenance optimisation and business efficiencies.

Behind the scenes of every Grand Prix, the Williams Racing team work to continually develop and improve its performance and reliability, not only for their racing cars on track, but also for their business and operations at their UK headquarters. With ever increasing demands on business efficiency, coupled with a drive to Net Zero carbon emissions, capturing more data that generates greater insights of the team’s plant and infrastructure is a key contributor to enabling a higher performing and more sustainable business.

Al Peasland, Head of Technical and Innovation Partnerships at Williams Racing said: “Following a long-standing, working and supportive relationship, we are delighted to welcome B&R Industrial Automation as a Williams Racing Official Supplier. With a shared vision on plant and process optimisation and B&R’s expertise in process control and automation, we’re excited for the business benefits and operational efficiencies our partnership will bring to the team. We very much look forward to working with our friends at B&R throughout 2021 and beyond.”

Jason Johnson, Business Development Manager at B&R Industrial Automation, added: "Although they operate at the pinnacle of engineering, Williams Racing still face the same manufacturing challenges that we all encounter - a requirement to reduce energy usage and carbon footprint whilst maintaining and improving asset effectiveness and availability. We are delighted that Williams Racing has chosen the B&R APROL platform as the basis for their digital strategy. The APROL Edge Controller allows decisions to be made faster using real time data and analytics by making use of disparate data sets from equipment across the facility, and augmenting that with increased data visibility to achieve energy efficiency and productivity goals."