DearReaders
Motion isourbusinessand the themeof thiseditionof tia
magazine.We feel athomewherever somethingmoves inan
industrial automationprocess, be it fastor slow, simpleor
complex, pneumaticorelectric. Festohas the right solution for
anymovement task in factoryandprocessautomation.
Theworldofbusiness isalsoconstantlyon themove.Modern
communicationsolutionscover thousandsof kilometres ina
fractionof asecond.Withmarketsconstantlychanging there isno
time for industry toprocrastinate. Processesneed tobemore
flexible. Even thesmallestbatchsizeshave tobeachievedwith
thehighestpossibledegreeof automationat the lowest cost, so
whatwasonceconsideredacontradiction isnowmandatory.
Speedbecomes thedecisivecompetitive factorandnotonly
lookingat thespeedofmachinesandprocesses.Thespeedof
internal businessprocessesbecomesvital formaintaininga
competitiveedge.Whocanpresent theirquotation faster?Who
canoffer theshortestdelivery time?Whocanpromise the fastest
startup time foranewmachine?These factorsdecidewhether
ordersarewonor lost.
At Festoweare focusingall ourefforts tosupport you inspeeding
upyourprocesses indesign, purchasingandproductionwith
toolsandservices thathelpyouwin the“speedcompetition”.
Fastdelivery iskey inourCustomerServiceCentre, supplying
Europeancustomers fromRohrbach.Onpage24youcanseehow
weareusingautomation tospeedupyourdelivery.This issueof
trends inautomation isdedicated tomovement. Festo is
expanding itsdevelopmenthorizonwith itsbionicprojects in
which futureoriented technologiescangaina foothold.Themost
recent example isoureMotionSpheres.Thisbionic installation
with itsflyingspheresdemonstrateshowmultipleobjectscan
move through theairenergy-efficientlywithout colliding, thanks
tomultiplenetworkconnections, an indoorGPSsystemand
innovativedriveconcepts.All of thesedevelopmentswill find
applications in futureFestoproducts for theautomationworld.
Motion isourbusinessandyouwill findaworldof application
exampleswherewearesupportingour customers fromdifferent
industrial areaswith theirmotion tasks.What canwedo for you?
Enjoy reading!
DuncanMiddleton
Alwayson themove
DuncanMiddleton,
Customer SolutionsManager, FestoGB
