What is a system integrator?

The system integrator is a person or company that combines several different components to the entire work system. For example, a company that wishes to build an automated work cell can hire a system integrator to design and implement this project. The system integrator may need to find a robotic shoulder supplier, machine vision system, material handling system, safety system and combine all these separate pieces together to cooperate as a whole.

The system integrator requires a special set of skills. Although the system integrator may not know how to build all the components that make up the whole system, a good understanding of how they work and how they can fit together. In many cases, different components will not be originally intended for use together. Systems integrator will have to work with manufacturers of different components to resolve any conflicts between components.

Many Industry Standards has beenDeveloped slowly to facilitate the task of integrator of the systems. There are even software packages that allow the system integrator to develop models and find out how the system will interact together, although emphasis is usually placed on a physical level. For example, if there are two or more robots in the working cell, are programs running on each robot coordinated that there are no rainfall? Fortunately, this problem is often the easiest to solve in the Systems Integrator project.

Electric interference problems and incorrect communication between devices are often much more difficult for the system integrator. Small variations in the application of different industry standards can create two systems using the same expected protocol that is not intelligent to each other. The youngest is that it can often work most of the time, with only some of the exceptions causing a problem.