With their BMP series Balluff has added a new intelligent displacement sensor which provides not only the absolute position signal for the stroke travel of a piston via IO-Link but also information about the sensor status and the current ambient conditions.

With SNAP IN, Weidmüller is revolutionising connection systems and bringing them to a new level. Flexible, stranded wires without crimped-on wire-end ferrules can be easily inserted into the open connection point.

New automation solutions including servo drives, operating terminals and communication modules for a wide range of industries. Panasonic Industry Europe presented its technology portfolio for the automation sector at the SPS 2019 in Nuremberg. From 26 to 28 November, the Panasonic Industry Stand in Hall 4A showcased 341 products and solutions for a wide range of industries. From high-precision sensors to control technology, drives and operating terminals, Panasonic is the partner of choice when...

LaVa-X from Aachen has developed a machine that uses the LaVa process to increase the quality and welding depth of laser welding of metals.

Yamaichi Electronics has expanded its Y‑Circ M12‑product portfolio with a new field assembly connector for 10‑Gigabit Ethernet applications.

Interchangeable parts are frequently used to quickly convert packaging machines or bottling plants to a new format. They make it possible to adapt machines for new recipes, package sizes and materials without time-consuming manual configuration and adjustment work. Industrial identification solutions using RFID from Balluff provide automatic and reliable interchangeable part detection.

In the future, applications in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be established in almost every industry and will decisively determine progress in entrepreneurial value creation. For this reason, Kontron offers powerful systems for AI applications, such as the KISS 4U V3 SKX industrial server and the KBox B-202-CFL.

The mbNET industrial routers by MB connect line can be upgraded with mbEDGE to an IoT gateway. This provides users with a multifunctional solution for implementing safe IoT applications.

Generating, transporting and processing information are central tasks in the Industry 4.0 environment. The basis for all the information is intelligent sensors which provide the required input. With their BOS 21M ADCAP Balluff offers a newly developed optical multifunction sensor, the BOS 21M series.

Above all, standardisation, automation and process-wide solutions offer considerable optimisation potential for time-consuming, manual activities such as panel building. Weidmüller has been working very intensively on these areas and has developed solutions for every work step, speeding up processes by up to 80 per cent.

Two KUKA omniMoves automate the transportation of goods at Austria Metall AG (AMAG). The autonomous transport platforms are responsible for the independent transportation of heavy aluminum plates and contribute greatly to making the intralogistics more flexible. The omnidirectional platforms move autonomously and perform the final production step independently.

Plant manufacturer’s product development relies on digitalization and solutions from Siemens. Turate near Milan, Italy. Zani S.p.A. forming machines (Zani) manufactures mechanical presses for cold forming sheet steel and has relied for years on Siemens as a technology partner when developing its presses. This was also the case for the Servo Master, the most recent press, and the largest in the company’s history to date, with a press force of 3,200 tonnes and a table length...

Two KUKA KR 500 FORTEC robots manufacture innovative lightweight timber construction components for a pavilion for the Bundesgartenschau. The ICD of the University of Stuttgart has developed the robotic manufacturing solution in collaboration with system integrator BEC. Robotic solutions such as these have the potential to be a game-changer for the timber construction industry, which has only made limited use of automated production processes until now.

Wilhelm Niemann Maschinenfabrik guarantees the reliable operation of their machines with safe and efficient Ex protection solutions from Turck, consisting of accurate sensors and fast compact interface devices. The manufacturer installs space saving isolating switching amplifiers and temperature measuring amplifiers from Turck's IMX12 interface series in the control cabinet. These send the signals of the operator buttons to the field and transfer intrinsically safe digital and analog input...

For more than 40 years CONEC has been developing and producing high-quality connectors and connecting cables as well as housing technology. In this article we present some connectors for automation.

Weidmüller has added a universal digital I/O module, the PushPull modules UR67 and a multifunctional stepper motor module for motor currents up to 2 amps to its u-remote family, already established on the market.

Inductive coupling systems are the ideal choice wherever fixed wiring of sensors and actuators gets in the way or is subject to premature wear due to fatigue. With their new BIC Q40 inductive couplers, Balluff now offers a solution for applications where the maximum transmittable power plays a central role.

Origami – the art of paper folding originated in Japan and is known worldwide. The art of robot-based corrugated board folding can be admired at Tricor Packaging & Logistics AG, which has its headquarters in the southern German city of Bad Wörishofen. The company specializes in the construction of heavy-duty corrugated board and packaging. And the highly productive and precise operation of the assembly machines can be credited to KUKA Customer Service.

Automated, computer vision-assisted systems objectivize quality control in automobile production. Fraunhofer IGD has developed a method for capturing the actual build of a component and comparing it to the design according to the CAD data – in real time.

With Sinumerik ONE, the first digital native CNC, Siemens is driving forward digital transformation in the machine tool industry. The new controller works with software to create the machine controller and associated digital twin from one engineering system and thus contributes to the seamless integration of hardware and software.

Since 1979 it has been blazing a trail through woods and fields, mud, gravel and snow: the Mercedes G-Class. To make this feasible, the manufacturer uses particularly stable ladder frames. These frames are built at MAGNA Presstec in the Austrian town of Lebring near Graz. Since 2017, production of the facelift model has been running fully automatically on a line from KUKA. Specialists from the two companies collaborated closely to resolve various challenges,...

In many traditionally grown production networks, the focus is on free data exchange across all components and systems. However, if all paths are open, viruses and malware can spread unhindered in the entire network. To prevent this, it is recommended to segment the production network into manageable logical units – for example with the industrial firewall mbNETFIX from MB connect line.

In Bäretswil in the Swiss canton of Zurich Combitool AG – a division of PackSys Global – develops and produces innovative solutions for manufacturing plastic and laminate tubes. To realize the new machine generation of the BLM Laminat Body Maker, the development engineers at Combitool set ambitious goals for themselves. The system should not only be resource friendly, but also significantly increase machine availability and productivity by drastically reducing setup and startup time. The use of...

Powerful electronic devices require high-quality fans with optimized air flow, pressure and low noise levels. In this article Dynetics summarises important criteria for the selection of fans and presents various series from Nidec Servo.