From April 17th to 21st, Festo made its debut at the 2023 Hanover Industrial Expo, showcasing innovative automation and technology training solutions around five themes: industrial transformation, human-machine collaboration, ecological innovation, ensuring health, and lifelong learning. Festo proposed multiple positive measures to help the industry achieve "carbon neutrality" reform, while also showcasing the bio inspired new work BionicCellFactory, which integrates biotechnology and automation technology organically, and its firm determination to practice the goal of "sustainable development".
Pneumatic Cylinder Barrel.
Festo is committed to climate protection and reducing carbon footprint - from product development and optimizing supply chains to efficient use by customers. Innovative automation is a catalyst for the sustainable transformation of industry towards energy conservation, carbon dioxide neutrality, and a circular economy open to various technologies.
The automotive industry is currently undergoing a transition from fuel driven to renewable energy driven, with significant impacts on the production environment, processes, and supply chain. The complexity of current technology is increasing, and enterprises urgently need higher production capacity and greater flexibility. Industry 4.0 and virtualization are a good medicine to cope with this. The amount of data provided by machines is becoming increasingly large, and after being processed through AI technology, it will show people the exact potential for device optimization. The core process of battery production presented at the Festo booth at this year's Hanover exhibition includes automatic assembly, disassembly, and preparation for battery unit recycling. The AX (Automation Experience) application, which uses artificial intelligence technology, provides a complete solution for the semiconductor industry, and proposes innovative ideas for industry transformation through the use of innovative piezoelectric technology in controlled pneumatic systems.
Festo Pneumatic Cylinder Tubing.
With the continuous growth and aging of the world population, the demand for medical diagnosis and treatment is constantly increasing. The increase in the amount of samples to be tested requires an increase in the production capacity and processing speed of laboratory services such as in vitro diagnostics. Automation technology can not only accelerate laboratory workflows, but also ensure that they meet high quality and safety standards. When providing medical gas to patients, Festo valves and valve islands can provide highly accurate metering and control operations. Ensure safety, quality, and efficiency in the field of life sciences.
"We support structural changes in many industries around the world, such as the shift of the energy sector towards renewable energy or electric vehicles. We can apply processes such as green hydrogen or electric vehicle battery production and downstream recycling to a wide range of industrial sectors, and make them more economical through automation. In addition, we develop automation solutions for bioconversion as the foundation for a new circular economy." Dr. Oliver Jung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Festo Group, said, "We have seen tremendous potential for efficient resource conservation in the entire field of factory and process automation, complemented by corresponding qualification certification solutions - from the booming electronics, semiconductors, and life technology industries to the food and agriculture sectors, from automobiles, electric vehicles, and batteries to mining, chemicals, oil, natural gas, renewable energy, and future technologies. Another driving factor is the lifelong learning philosophy of our Festo Teaching and Training Department (Didacic), which promotes the development of industrial labor."
Transforming towards a circular economy through ecological innovation
Festo believes that the next development focus of industrial production is to transition to a circular economy. Climate and resource conservation are two major challenges facing humanity. How can we extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and make a positive contribution to climate protection? How can we reduce material consumption, recycle more materials, and obtain alternative raw materials?
In nature, there is no waste or waste. We just need to learn to apply these principles to our economic activities. Festo's biomimetic learning network is learning from nature and is currently researching automated cultivation of biomass. For example, algae have enormous potential to replace oil: their carbon dioxide absorption is much higher than that of terrestrial plants, and the metabolites produced through photosynthesis can be used to produce drugs, cosmetics, and bioplastics. In 2022, we demonstrated the PhotoBionicCell bioreactor, which efficiently cultivates algae through automation technology. At this year's Hanover Industrial Expo, Festo showcased the scale and early stages of industrialization of the BionicCellFactory system. Based on his insight into reality, Festo has learned the mystery of "energy cycle" from natural evolution and innovatively integrated automation technology and biological production to create an energy-saving and large-scale biomass cultivation solution, BionicCellFactory.
BionicCellFactory is a highly potential "biological factory" that showcases a complete biological process: optimized cultivation of algae, continuous monitoring and analysis, harvesting, further processing, and extraction of various components. The extracted biomass can be used in the chemical, food, or pharmaceutical industries. The use of Festo automation technology for large-scale cultivation of biomass is both efficient and resource efficient. All the products we currently extract from crude oil release a large amount of carbon dioxide, but these products can also be continuously extracted from algae. Algae are tiny protectors of the Earth because they absorb ten times more carbon dioxide than terrestrial plants. By automatically cultivating in a bioreactor, this value can be increased tenfold.
Pneumatic Cylinder Tube.
As a model factory, BionicCellFactory is the universal blueprint for future overall production systems. With Festo's automation technology, it can scale to any scale. To meet the future demand for renewable raw materials, a bioreactor with a capacity of several thousand liters is needed. In addition, to ensure that the factory can reliably produce the required amount of biomass, professional knowledge in process automation is also required.
Innovation is the key to promoting sustainable development. Festo has made significant progress in innovation, for example, in the application process, digital and intelligent pneumatic technologies have significant energy-saving advantages compared to traditional pneumatic technologies. Christian, Head of Corporate Communications and Sustainable Development at Festo? Sterle said, "With energy-saving products, we have become the ideal partner for customers to achieve energy-saving and sustainable production operations. In addition, we also promote the development of sustainable industries and technologies through product and service solutions."
Lifelong learning is a fundamental element of sustainable development
As a solution provider for technical education and training, Festo Didacic is committed to teaching vocational skills, addressing current technological challenges, and inspiring the interest of future generations in shaping the future. Festo also attaches great importance to its own company's training and advanced education. In addition, based on the growing demand in the fields of IT, AI, data science, or sustainable development, Festo Didacic has developed learning content and environment for new vocational skills training.
About Festo
Festo, founded in 1925, is a global company and an independent family business headquartered in Esslingen on the Neckar River in Germany. Since its establishment, Festo has been setting standards in industrial automation technology and technology education, contributing to the sustainable development of the environment, economy, and society. The company provides pneumatic and electrical automation technology to over 300000 factories and process automation customers in 35 industries. The life technology industry, which possesses medical technology and laboratory automation, is becoming increasingly important. Our services cover 176 countries and regions worldwide. Festo has approximately 20800 employees in over 250 branches in approximately 60 countries worldwide and achieved a revenue of approximately 3.81 billion euros in 2022. Approximately 7% of annual revenue is allocated to research and development. In this learning company, 1.5% of the revenue is used for basic training and further training. Festo Didacic SE is a leading provider of technical education and training, providing comprehensive digital and physical learning solutions in industrial environments to global customers.
Festo Pneumatic Cylinder.
