With a good order situation, German industry is facing a variety of challenges, from labor shortages to energy supply and the supply chain. What can handling technology contribute to solutions?

Handling technology helps to maintain and even increase Germany's competitiveness as a production location in several ways. On the one hand, it offers a wide range of solutions for automation, adapted to cobots, lightweight or industrial robots. In combination with the appropriate camera technology, they can recognize and grasp even chaotically arranged objects. Another solution is end-of-arm platforms such as the MATCH ecosystem. This provides industrial and lightweight robots with various gripping principles in a flexible manner.

If the one-armed helpers reach their limits, handling technology can help in a different way: Vacuum lifters make workstations more ergonomic - in combination with their own battery and a mobile setup, even in places where a fixed installation is not possible. On the other hand, it makes sensible use of digitalization to safeguard processes, for example with the help of digital monitoring solutions for needs-based maintenance. In addition, configurators and digital twins speed up ordering processes and simplify commissioning. Economical vacuum generators help to reduce energy costs in every application - regardless of whether a person or a machine is accessing them.

These will presumably also be the focal points at Motek 2022 at the beginning of October - or do you see any other exciting topics that will shape the trade fair?

Automation is advancing. The aim is to make local production competitive. However, this now includes not only the topics of batch size 1 or the reliable grip in the box, but also an answer to the question: How does sustainable automation work? After all, the increasing use of robots increases energy requirements and therefore the product carbon footprint. The current explosion in energy prices requires a practicable solution more than ever. Schmalz is therefore focusing on resource-efficient product life cycles and designing new systems for sustainable automation - with a purely electric vacuum generator. Compared to compressed air-based systems, these are significantly more economical. To raise them to a similar performance level, however, a rethink of the system layout is required - this will also be an exciting topic at our trade fair stand.

What innovations can we expect in vacuum technology in the coming months and years?

In short: it is becoming more electric and more digital. We are rethinking system layouts and developing concepts that are completely independent of compressed air but can still keep up with powerful pneumatic vacuum generators. We are taking the first steps with our new GCPi compact pump, the new LQE ventilation valve and their intelligent combination. Further innovations are taking place on a digital level and throughout the entire process - from engineering and procurement through to actual use. One example: our communicative smart devices supply information to the higher-level control system, enabling functions such as predictive maintenance. Our Schmalz Connect Suite goes much further. It translates data from sensors, actuators and machines, creating the basis for further processing in higher-level IT systems at plant management and company level.