Why Interroll’s MultiControl with EtherCAT Is the Upgrade You’ve Been Putting Off (and Why That Costs You)

Interroll MultiControl with EtherCAT: It’s Not Just Faster, It’s Cheaper in the Long Run

If you’re still running your Interroll-driven conveyor system on fieldbuses like Profibus or DeviceNet, you’re leaving money on the table—literally. I’ve reviewed about 200+ system integration specs annually over the past four years, and the difference between a system with MultiControl + EtherCAT and one without is not subtle. The upgrade cuts commissioning time by roughly 30-40% and reduces wiring-related troubleshooting by at least half.

That said, it’s not for every plant. Let me explain why.

What the MultiControl Actually Does (Beyond the Hype)

The Interroll MultiControl is a drive controller for their motorized rollers (the EC310 and similar). What sets it apart is its modularity—you can daisy-chain power and data, which drastically simplifies wiring. Add EtherCAT, a real-time Ethernet protocol, and you get deterministic control with cycle times under 100 µs.

I didn’t fully appreciate the value of deterministic control until a 2023 project where we had 48 zone-controlled conveyors on a single line. With Profibus, the update cycle was just slow enough that we’d get intermittent jams on high-speed sortation. The vendor blamed the mechanicals. I dug into the data. The issue was bus latency. Switching to EtherCAT eliminated it. (Not that the vendor admitted it.)

From a quality perspective, what I care about is consistency. A system with MultiControl and EtherCAT delivers repeatable performance because the communication is synchronized, not polled. That means every roller gets the same signal at the same time, every time.

A Concrete Example: The Argentina Integration

I recently reviewed a spec for a new distribution center in Argentina—600+ motorized rollers, mixed zones for case picking and pallet handling. The integrator originally spec’d a conventional two-wire bus. I pushed back. We ran a side-by-side comparison on paper: same layout, same throughput target, one with MultiControl/EtherCAT, one without.

The EtherCAT version required 30% less cabinet space, 40% fewer termination points, and roughly $12,000 less in total installed cost (based on Q1 2025 pricing quoted by the integrator). The savings came from simpler wiring, fewer I/O modules, and faster commissioning.

The integrator was skeptical until I showed them the wire counts. Now they spec it as standard for any new zone-controlled line. (Surprise, surprise.)

Where It Shines—and Where It Doesn’t

I recommend MultiControl with EtherCAT for any system with more than 20 zone-controlled rollers, especially if you’re dealing with high-throughput sortation or reject handling. It’s also a no-brainer for greenfield installations where you can design the network from scratch.

But if your plant is a patchwork of legacy hardware running on DeviceNet, or if your production lines are simple single-zone conveyors with one motor each, the upgrade cost in terms of engineering time and hardware compatibility might not justify itself. In those cases, a standard MultiControl with a simpler fieldbus could be perfectly adequate.

To be fair, EtherCAT also requires a compatible master controller. If your existing PLC doesn’t support it, you’re looking at an additional investment. I’ve seen at least two projects where that caught the team off guard. So check your controller compatibility first.

How This Connects to Your Plant Floor Reality

I often hear from engineers: “We’ll upgrade when we have to.” That’s fair—budgets are real. But the “when we have to” often arrives as an emergency, and then you’re paying rush premiums (typically 50-100% over standard, based on major integrator quotes, 2025). The smart move is to plan the transition when you’re already doing a line rebuild or expansion.

One more thing: the “white” version of the MultiControl—the one that’s essentially a clean-slate configuration without pre-loaded profiles—gives you full flexibility to tune parameters for custom applications. If you’re integrating with a non-standard HMI or a third-party vision system, that’s the variant you want. I learned this the hard way when a $67,000 project got delayed three weeks because our pre-configured controllers couldn’t talk to the customer’s custom PLC protocol.

The Bottom Line (With a Caveat)

If you’re building a new conveyor system or revamping a complex zone-controlled line, Interroll’s MultiControl with EtherCAT is, in my opinion, the best option on the market right now. The combination of simplified wiring, deterministic control, and modular architecture makes it hard to beat.

But if you’re running a simple straight conveyor with one motor and a single drive, or if your team has deep expertise in an older bus protocol and zero knowledge of EtherCAT, you might want to stay put. The tool is only as good as the setup.

And if you’re shopping for Interroll in Argentina or anywhere else in South America, verify local support capabilities. I’ve seen cases where the global supply chain was solid, but local technical support lagged by 48-72 hours on critical issues. That’s not a product problem—it’s a logistics one. Plan accordingly.