TECH & AI
T im Foreman is European R & D Manager at OMRON, based at the company’ s R & D headquarters in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. He joined OMRON in 1993 as a software engineer, after a PhD in particle physics built on research at CERN.
Tim has led OMRON’ s European R & D organisation since 2007, work that has contributed to several European patents. While his base is Europe, his R & D scope is global, and he leads OMRON’ s worldwide partnership with Dassault Systèmes on virtual twin technology.
What intelligent manufacturing needs Speed and precision alone do not make a machine intelligent, Tim says. OMRON has machines that place components with great accuracy but hold no memory once a job ends. He compares real intelligence to an office printer:“ Modern ones show exactly what’ s jammed and how to fix it, instead of just flashing an error light.” Very few industrial machines do that yet, he adds.
OMRON follows a clear internal progression, Tim explains:“ Data, to information, to recommendation and, where it genuinely makes sense, to automation.”
The company applied this thinking to its SMT line at OMRON Manufacturing of the Netherlands, its Den Bosch plant, adding a display and memory to a machine that previously captured nothing.
92 September 2026