Motion in automation: Festo makes motion its core business

Motion is at the core of every industrial production process, from pushing, turning, lifting, positioning, or relocating workpieces, materials, and products during the production process. In the process industry, effective motion is crucial for dosing, filling, throttling, and pumping both liquids and bulk materials. Festo offers cutting-edge automation solutions that ensure that every organisation’s processes run smoothly and reliably. Whether it’s through their valve terminals, which provide precise flow control, powerful actuators that drive pumping systems, or air preparation units that ensure top-notch compressed air quality. As a global specialist in automation, Festo has made motion its core business.

A machine that tells Festo’s story and its vision for the future

To mark its 100th anniversary, Festo has built an extraordinary application: the Incredible Machine, designed to show the fascinating world of motion. This machine doesn’t produce a specific product, but instead functions somewhat like a Rube Goldberg machine, in which one impulse triggers the next. From the smallest impulse, such as the flap of a butterfly's wings, great innovations can emerge, including new ideas for applications and breakthrough technologies. Nature has always been our greatest teacher.

Festo also aims to demonstrate the importance of freedom for creativity and inventiveness in maintaining a leading position in global competition. Festo aims to be the best partner for its customers, consistently at the highest technological level, and as a comprehensive provider of electrical, pneumatic, and digital solutions. Additionally, Festo offers a unique USP: matching training courses from Festo Didactic.

Innovations can solve specific problems and have the potential to transform entire sectors, creating new industries. The driving forces behind these innovations are the ecosystems of customers and partners who are looking for solutions to their challenges. The journey through the machine leads to specific industries, including battery production for electric cars, laboratory automation in the life sciences, intralogistics, and the semiconductor industry. It delves into the company's history and concludes with insights into the actuator technology of the future. But the momentum continues. The Incredible Machine showcases the evolution of automation technology from the past to the present, reflecting Festo's broad range of competencies and extensive expertise.

Festo pursues a clear vision.

Through automation and technical education, Festo aims to contribute to further progress for both people and the environment. Motion is the driving force that is firmly anchored in Festo's identity. Today, the family-owned company is at home in the world, while also remaining committed to its roots in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, a region renowned for its engineering and industrial expertise. Pioneering new topics and transforming ideas into reality are central to Festo’s recipe for success. What makes the company truly fascinating is its spirit of curiosity, from playfully exploring bionic robots to daringly testing what once seemed impossible.

Motion is changing the world and will continue to do so in the future. How this change will unfold over the next 100 years remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: it will be characterised by motion and bold ideas, through small impulses that can trigger chain reactions and ultimately lead to something big.

Transformation

Since the rise of Industry 4.0, digitalisation has been the driving force of transformation. Machine data, information, and algorithms now move at lightning speed, connecting people with increasingly intelligent products. Network performance is becoming the heartbeat of the machine cycle, enabling greater transparency, higher quality, and improved efficiency.

By integrating these technologies, Festo is making pneumatics smarter, more energy-efficient, and ready for the future of automation. By expanding its portfolio with electrical automation technology, Festo delivers true end-to-end connectivity, from the factory floor to the cloud.

Motion through education

At Festo, it’s all about people, those who harness technical education to master new technologies, advance them, and drive innovation. Innovations that simplify work through seamless machine collaboration and boost productivity. Education lies at the heart of this process, nurturing ideas that pave the way for a sustainable, environmentally conscious future.

Festo sets the world in motion for its customers by simplifying complex processes through innovation. In doing so, quality and efficiency are their top priorities. With this in mind, Festo's automation technology provides the right solutions for everything needed to achieve lasting success, from pneumatics and controlled pneumatics to electric automation, digitalisation, and AI. Together, we move the world.

Welcome to the World of Motion.

Welcome to Festo