Automation 4.0

Bionic kangaroos and superconductors, gothic cathedrals and glass and metal cities, futuristic research centres and extensive, far-reaching industrial policies… At the Festo press conference presentation of the management and market strategies of the group with an R&D vocation. With the objective of providing custom, complete and coherent low energy consumption solutions, capable of guaranteeing an increase in productivity.

We are living in an era of radical changes that also and directly affect the world of manufacturing. The relative reflections and models, in Germany designated with the collective name of Industry 4.0, are born out of the need for personalised products as well as evermore intelligent and interconnected components. In Festo all this is understood in the “holistic” and markedly interdisciplinary sense: «Industry 4.0 is a complex project, that we are developing along with partners in the industrial and scientific world - explains Eberhard Veit, president of   the board of administration - and entails the evolution of technology, so as to conceive the “product” and the customer satisfaction, but also the conception of the role of man in the factory and, consequently, the objectives and the modes of professional training».
On the products side, Veit considers, the automation pyramid is being modified, due to the downward migration of upper level functions. Hence the components “ennobled” in this way enable the creation of evermore intelligent systems, capable that is of actively supporting the various processes, from energy independence up to condition monitoring.
More interaction between
men and machines
Computer science will evidently play a key role in creating a super flexible and totally interconnected production, that uses components capable of creating their own networks and that sees the ever closer cooperation between man and machine.
«The robots of the future - the president states - will be able to interact with their human attendants, avoiding collisions and lightening the daily workload (typically in assembly). In the company we have already devised some solutions that a forerunners of this evolution, like the award-winning Bionic Handling Assistant and l’ExoHand, both made by the Festo Bionic Learning Network. As far as the new work organization goes, our Festo Didactics develops and offers platforms for teaching and research, like for example the MPS® Transfer Factory».
The structures are adjusting. In the Ostfildern-Scharnhausen facilities for the production of valves and electronic components, currently under construction, Festo is implementing the first elements of Industry 4.0 and applying the knowhow acquired in the research projects.

Superconductors and batteries
Festo’s journey towards “factory 4.0” is marked by a series of Future Concepts that give rise to sophisticated projects of applied research.
That on superconductive materials, for example, that at very low temperatures, are capable of “freezing” the field of a permanent magnet and keeping it suspended, thus enabling the movement and transportation of objects without friction, contact free and without having to implement control and adjustment systems. The applications not only regard high speed trains, which immediately spring to mind, but for example, to go back to the factory, the handling of delicate goods along the processing-packaging chain. Very different but equally “futuristic” the activity of the Baden-Württemberg Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW): one of the more important applied research institutes in Germany, leader in the photovoltaic, renewable fuel, battery and combustible cell sectors, and the analyses of the energy systems. We visited it during the last international Festo press conference and we found it interesting for two reasons.

The policy that works well on the economy
The first reason is that the ZSW stands as a farsighted example of industrial policy, promoted by public administration with the contribution of the best resources, private and other. Hence, this is what is meant by “designing economic development” and “country system”… In two words, one can describe it thus: having located a dangerous skill gap in a sector strategic for the solidity and the prospects for growth of a country - in this case energy storage (batteries and similar), up to now totally in the hands of orientals - the German government has created a structure fitted with the resources to fill the gap. The best of industry has contributed competencies and components, and takes part in the development of technology, benefitting from the cooperation of the flower of researchers and “bringing home” the results of research carried out in the field. The second reason of interest, of a technological order, concerns Festo. In cooperation with Thyssen-Krupp System Engineering, the German company has developed a series of electrical and pneumatic components to install on machines that create and charge the batteries of the ZSW, devising new high quality, particularly economical, standardized automation solutions. In particular, the Festo components (the EMMS-ST stepper motors, CMMO-ST controllers, DNCE electrical cylinders and NEBM and NEBU cables) have shown high performance and great resistance to wear and to aging this too in conditions of low humidity, thus offering themselves as a valid alternatives to the classic and more costly clean-room components.

Learning from nature
But the star of the Esslingen conference was without a doubt the BionicKangaroo, or that is the robot shaped kangaroo that jumps and spins responding to the arm signals of its “trainer” - just like the intelligent machine of the factory of the future, capable of interaction with man and precise and sophisticated movements just like living organisms. Heinrich Frontzek, Corporate Communication and Future Concepts head at Festo, told how the Festo Bionic Learning Network worked for two years with the ambitious objective of simulating the jump of real kangaroos that, during the movement, recover and accumulate the energy necessary for the subsequent jump. Trying to imitate Nature, the bionic kangaroos have been assigned functions of Condition Monitoring and an accurate technical control, capable of ensuring the necessary stability to carry out the jump and the landing. «The power of the jump can be reached with the aid of pneumatics - Frontzek explained - while in the point where the max. accuracy in positioning is demanded we used electric motors, for example to regulate the tail and the flanks».
Festo thus demonstrates, in an unusual and effective application, the possibility of combining pneumatic and electric technologies to obtain a highly dynamic system. Other factors have contributed to the brilliant result: the devising of two possible alternative power systems (one with an integrated compressor and the other with a mobile high pressure storage system), and the kinematism obtained with carbon reinforced, laser sinterized elements. Hence consequently the weight of the artificial animal is limited (only 7 kg for a height of 1 m), that can carry out jumps 80 cm long and 40 cm high. The gestural commands are via a bracelet with position sensor that picks up the arm movement and transmits the signals via Bluetooth to the machine command system.

Package solutions
With the support of such an evolved technology, Festo can offer itself fully as a problem solver. «When we get a demand from a customer, we activate an efficient consultancy and design process that terminates with the implementation of a ready-to-install control system. That is we provide personalised solutions that exploit the interdisciplinary skills in motion control, robotics, control technology and software, and they are optimised under the economic profile and energy efficiency, even with lots or only one piece», declares Ansgar Kriwet, member of the Festo AG board of administration.
«The teams of specialists draw from the vast offer of Festo products, from the motor actuators, from the axial controls to the firmware, going be way of top grade diagnostic and operative units, drives and programmable logic controllers. Thanks to all this we can offer ourselves as sole suppliers, and not of single pieces but of coordinated wholes where “solutions packages” like the CPX or the Optimised Motion Drive Series ensure the integration of the functions and a lesser complexity». With, on top of that, repair services and spare parts guaranteed by qualified personnel all around the world.

A family multinational Festo  is an independent family company with HQ at Esslingen am Neckar (D), that operates on a global scale. It is specialised in pneumatic and electric automation techniques for factory and process information, counts over 300,000 customers in more than 200 industrial sectors, and trades products and services in 176 countries. In 2013 it achieved a turnover of around 2.28 billion euros, with 16,700 co-workers in 61 associated companies. 7% of turnover is invested in R&D and 1.5% in training and update activities for co-workers, customers, students and apprentices. In Italy it operates directly through its branch at Assago, MI.

Trip to Esslingen In the collective imagination Festo is still often associated with the world of pneumatics and the thirteenth international conference organized by the parent company (September 25 to 26 last) was a unique opportunity to communicate that the German company is firmly attested global scale supplier of pneumatic but also electrical systems and components for industrial automation, with equal commitment in both fields. This specialization enables them to serve machine and systems builders of many industries, among which the packaging industry takes pride of place. This was discussed during the event, remarkable in all its stages. Arrival at the headquarters in Esslingen. Almost a city, all glass, steel and green lawns, designed in the name of practicality and eco-efficiency. It bears witness to the “humanist” and ecologist vision of the owners (Festo is an independent family business), directly involved in the management of the company, as well as attention to the customers to whom the various R & D, testing and custom design structures are dedicated. Caring for others. Festo fielded the readiness of a sensitive and careful management, and a sense of hospitality which suggests alternating moments of work with occasions for leisure. They facilitated relations between people and let those present “catch a glimpse” of the area in which and from which the companies live (wonderful the visit to Ulm cathedral, and enjoyable the dinner in the vintage car “garage”). Thoughts on the future. Interesting, aboveall, the many contents and stimuli conveyed in two days of proceedings in which the intent was not really to present a new “product” but a vision and interpretation of the future of industrial automation. To this Festo has dedicated intensive research that, for the occasion, led to the creation of partnerships and results of undoubted importance, bionic kangaroo first and foremost. Useful in this regard, the guided tour in the new area dedicated to the  Energy Efficiency Experience (opened for the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony), where the most sophisticated solutions and services that customers can benefit from were put on show. Effective too  the presentations from the podium, made by top managers and three customer-testimonials (including Cama Group), which helped to give substance to the key concepts of Industry 4.0: holistic approach to the problems, complete and customized solutions, added value in productivity... Behind it all, the 7% of annual investments in R&D.

The Break Through Generation by CAMA Renato Dell’Oro (marketing operative of Cama SpA, hitech machines and systems for secondary packaging) bore witness from the speakers’ rostrum how Festo components contributed to perfect the solutions of the Lombardy based company. Aboveall with the drastic reduction in bulk (-30%) and the greater energy efficiency of the new generation machines, thanks to the Festo CPX/MPA IP65 valve system. «We managed to incorporate the command cabinets in the base, reduced cables and tubes, and facilitate the access for maintenance», dell’Oro explained, who also declares an easy and rapid installation. «On the new version of the CL 175 for packaging in pre-glued cardboard boxes, assembly times are down by 30%; as well as that we have ample diagnostic functions and evolved safety systems». Packaging is Festo’s main component outlet in the industrial sector.