Omron, a specialist in automation and robotics, presents the new OL-450S: a flat, omnidirectional autonomous mobile robot (AMR) designed to make material handling processes more efficient, safer and smoother.

The German economy grew much more strongly than expected in the first quarter. This is largely due to the USA's aggressive trade policy. Nevertheless, 2025 threatens to be another year without growth.

The Jumo Group officially opened the new Plant 2 ('Sensilo') in Rodges near Fulda on May 22, 2025. At around 48 million euros, the new building is the largest investment in the company's history. In addition, around 21 million euros will be invested in machinery and equipment by 2027.

Images

The automation specialist Gefran is investing in the Italian software company 40Factory and acquiring 22% of the company's shares as part of an equity investment. The investment amounts to four million euros.

The Pilz Group had to take the generally difficult economic situation into account in the past financial year. In 2024, the automation company achieved a turnover of 341 million euros. This corresponds to a decrease of 21 percent compared to the previous year.

Spectra, a provider in the industrial PC and automation sector, has acquired the Munich-based company Compmall. With the integration of the industrial PC specialist, which has been established on the market since 1993, the company is expanding its portfolio in a targeted manner.

Lenze and Rittal have entered into a technology partnership to jointly lead power distribution and drive technology into the future. RiLineX as the new standard platform for busbar systems and market-leading compact inverters from Lenze form the basis.

The Bühler Group, headquartered in Switzerland, is a technology group that is now in its fifth generation of family ownership. The company specializes in technologies and processes for the production of food and solutions for mobility.

A leading German medical technology company has comprehensively modernized its intralogistics - with an individual AGV overall concept from ek robotics. The aim was to achieve a consistently safe, efficiently synchronized material flow along the process chain - from sterilization to storage.

Production is running at full speed, the team is working to the limit, deadlines are looming - and suddenly the plant comes to a standstill. Unforeseen situations like this put everyone involved under pressure.

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is currently being built in the Chilean Atacama Desert. The observatory is intended to provide new insights into dark matter, earth-like planets and extraterrestrial life. ebm-papst is supplying 28 FanGrid with 168 RadiPac EC fans for this purpose.

Images

Around 170 exhibitors and speakers from Germany and abroad presented the latest developments and applications in additive manufacturing at the 21st rapid.tech 3D from May 13 to 15.

The industry needs more and more battery cells. However, their production in gigafactories consumes enormous amounts of energy. In addition, the large production lines are very inflexible. A possible alternative has now been successfully tested at the wbk Institute of Production Engineering at KIT. The approach: process enclosure in mini-environments with robots from Kuka.

Complicated and sensitive components, for example in electrical engineering or the medical technology industry, require care and expertise. Omron solution partner MPA Technology specializes in the development and construction of such special machines. One of the automation specialist's customers is an internationally renowned precision engineering company that is implementing a smart factory project with the help of the MPA team.

The eurozone economy has started the year with lower growth than expected. While Spain and Ireland shone with strong growth, Germany and France fell short of expectations. In contrast, the increase in industrial production in March was surprisingly strong.

Paul Horn has developed a chip form geometry especially for the Mini tool system types 108, 111 and 114. The sintered I-geometry is particularly aimed at machining materials with poor chip formation properties.

Siemens continued its successful growth trajectory in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 and recorded significant increases in almost all key performance indicators. Against the backdrop of this business development, the Group confirms its outlook for fiscal year 2025.

Images

Safelog and Mercedes-Benz have decided to expand their strategic cooperation in the field of fully automated intralogistics. Among other things, the cooperation includes the integration of control software developed in-house into the Swabian car manufacturer's production network.

Companies need to react as quickly as possible to unforeseen events. It is therefore important to make supply chains more resilient in advance. AI-based software solutions are therefore becoming increasingly important for risk management.

Images

35 interested parties applied for one of the eight presentation slots in the Science Forum on May 13, 2025 at rapid.tech 3D. Nevertheless, other submitters were also allowed to present at Germany's oldest AM trade event.