15th anniversary of VIX Automation

15 years on the automation and industrial IT market behind us! This is a great opportunity to summarize and… set new development paths! In fact, in December 2021 we will be celebrating our 16th anniversary, but the previous year did not quite allow us to celebrate, so we are extending the birthday party and… we will celebrate the entire 2021 until December! In today’s post, we will try to briefly explain the secret of our success!

First of all: The People

First a handful of memories. Established in December 2005, VIX Automation from the beginning of its operation was focused on providing solutions in the field of automation and industrial IT as well as cooperation with the American giant in this market – GE Fanuc. From the latter, as a result of transformations, new business divisions were created, with which we cooperate: GE Intelligent Platforms and  GE Digital.

People are the strength of our company. In the first days a very talented automation engineer, Paweł, appeared. Until today, he works in our company as the manager of the technical department – recalls Mariusz Benna, CEO. For many years, the company’s support was Patrycja, who also appeared in the first weeks of VIX’s work – he continues – and was followed by fresh graduates of the Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering of Silesian University of Technology , Paweł and Grzegorz, who are also the backbone of the sales department today.

For years, we have also been supported by the same people on the producer’s side – we treat them as members of the crew (Dana, Olga, Thomas – yes, it’s about you!).

Representation of VIX Automation at the Automaticon fair in 2006

Secondly: The Product

Supplier development, mergers, creation of new companies and sales divisions, software updates, new products, creation of Polish translations – we have experienced all this together with our American supplier. Heraclitus of Ephesus coined the concept of constancy through change – perhaps it perfectly describes our fifteen-year journey. The products in our portfolio have changed, but we have constantly provided our clients with one of the best solutions for the industry. Our flagship SCADA has changed many times, from FIX32 to the ‘modern’ iFIX – currently in version 6.5, which we continue to distribute, being aware that it has over 35 years of tradition in automation markets around the world. The Proficy product portfolio has been enriched by other products, including the Historian industrial database, mobile clients, the second SCADA in our offer – Cimplicity, MES class system – Plant Applications and many other products, including  the PREDIX industrial cloud. The software we sell has repeatedly gained recognition in various plebiscites and industry competitions (we counted as many as 15 awards!).

A collection of iFIX mugs waiting to be shipped to customers. In the background, cleanup in our first office

GE Digital products do not end the VIX Automation offer. We are constantly developing it, creating a wide range of services around GE Digital products and the accumulated product knowledge. Proficy training courses were the first to appear in our service offer, followed by a wide range of services for business: audits, implementation and system integration, outsourcing of technical engineers, as well as dedicated software written for the client’s needs. Along with our interest in the ideas of Industry 4.0, our offer also includes industrial 3D printing based on the HP Multi Jet Fusion technology – in 2018 we signed the relevant documents, becoming a co-owner of the 3D Center company in Poland.

Thirdly: The Customers

This group includes integrators of automation and IT systems, end users, universities, high schools with a technical profile… but also recipients of our CSR campaigns, conference guests or our fans, followers and subscribers in various types of media, as well as you, the reader!

This is how our training manuals have changed over the past 10 years.

For many years we have been cooperating with a specific group of integrators, constantly expanding it. We make every effort to constantly enrich their knowledge in the field of software novelties. In 2006 we started cooperation with several companies, some of them are our well-known clients to this day.

The situation is similar in the group of end users whom we support in implementations. We establish permanent relationships with them for years. Our clients know that they work with professionals, which is confirmed by many references and case studies. They know they can come back to us with every inquiry and request. We adhere to the principle that the customer does not buy a product, but spends money, because he believes that the benefits of implementing specific solutions exceed the implementation costs alone. This short prescription works all the time.

With long-term cooperation in mind we have created the concept of the annual End Users Conference – where we provide our clients with knowledge about the latest trends in the world of industrial production, while ensuring a unique atmosphere during the events. We hosted not only cabarets and standupers, but also Olympians, unwavering sportsmen and NGO activists. This year we will organize the 8th Conference. We are still keeping this year’s event a secret, but don’t worry! We will attack with information about him soon.

Our customers are also educational institutions – we cooperate (or have cooperated) with the majority of technical universities in the country, as well as with many technical secondary schools. We organize lectures, webinars for students, train staff free of charge, equip lecture halls, and provide students with software for project management free of charge. Students of nearby technical universities often choose our company to undergo internships, which for the best of them become paid internships. From the very beginning we were focusing on cooperation with educational centers, so we were happy when in this very important, jubilee year for us, the deans and professors of the Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, invited us to patronize the field automatic control and robotics.  For us, it is the crowning achievement of our educational activities and recognition of our merits in this field.

The first version of the website www.vix.com.pl

The last fifteen years have been a period of increased Internet activity, showing the power of social media and search engines. We had to go with the flow! We actively maintain accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn, we have implemented a new video strategy, strengthening our YouTube channel, creating information content, publishing tutorials and case-studies from our projects. Naturally, we still reach a large number of people with our newsletter and we are active in the field of SEO and SEM, promoting knowledge about VIX Automation products. In 15 years, we changed the website 5 times, knowing how important it is to present our activities properly and professional. Respecting the time of our recipients, as well as their health in the pandemic, we have invested in professional webinar tools so that knowledge transfer takes place all the time.

These three points have been building the success of VIX Automation for fifteen years: a well-chosen team, world-class product and services at the highest level, and most of all you. We wouldn’t be successful without you!