Four years ago, the Industrial Application Center (IAC) was established in Egelsbach, where the event took place. Customer-specific applications were installed at more than 13 stations in the modern hall. Here, attendees were able to observe many products in action. One of the main attractions was a large, fully functional robot cell. Here the perfect interaction of modern valve technology with servo-pneumatic drives from SMC could be experienced live using the example of a welding robot in the 180-kilogram class. Such robot systems are used today in almost all areas of mechanical engineering, the automotive industry and supplier companies.

SMC Deutschland GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese SMC Corporation. It has invested heavily in the German site over the last two years. Almost 30 new production machines have been purchased, including modern four- and five-axis machines, CNC machining turning and milling centers and an automatic workpiece storage system that uses a two-axis linear module to fully automatically supply a connected five-axis machining center with workpiece blanks. The visitors were later able to see this for themselves during a tour of the production facility.

A look at production
SMC Germany's machinery currently comprises around 40 production machines, more than half of which are less than two years old. "Our aim is to meet requested deadlines and guarantee fast delivery of products," says Marius Pulter, Production Manager, explaining the company's strategy. Many standard products such as valves, grippers and cylinders are already in stock and can therefore be delivered immediately. Products that are not in stock can be scheduled for production within a short time and are also available quickly in urgent cases. Orders received before 12 noon are recorded, picked and dispatched on the same day.

Tour of the central laboratory
A second tour of the central laboratory in Egelsbach, which opened this year, focused on the topics of measuring and testing. The large climate chamber and climate cabinet proved to be particularly attractive. The equipment is actually used to determine the functionality or the limits of the resilience of products through environmental simulations, i.e. whether cylinders still function smoothly at minus 45 degrees Celsius or electronic components at 98 percent relative humidity.

However, at the sight of the tempting minus 15 degrees Celsius in the climate chamber, many visitors wanted to take a completely different look into the future: In view of the warm temperatures and plagued by the long, hot summer, many took the opportunity to cool off for a short time in the wintry temperatures of the climate chamber. as