In the course of the ongoing digitalization of production, the drives are also increasingly networked with the overall systems. To what extent have customers' requirements changed as a result?

A lot has happened in this respect over the course of our company's history. Initially, our customers were looking for self-sufficient, i.e. non-networked drive and positioning systems in which individual motion tasks could be triggered via PLC inputs. The operation and implementation of a practical human-machine interface was always a tedious and, above all, costly issue. This changed in the 2000s. With the spread of Profibus-DP and CANopen, our customers began to network the positioning systems and visualize them in the PLC. At that time, it was exciting for us to make the systems bus-compatible and to integrate the corresponding software modules. The question of latency was also omnipresent; there was not always any talk of real real-time behavior in this context. Since around 2005, when PC-supported industrial controllers and thus fieldbus systems with Ethernet began to be used in mechanical engineering, networking in "real time" became established. For some years now, we have been supplying both our end customers and machine manufacturers exclusively with drive and positioning systems with Ethernet technology.

What does this change for drive manufacturers on the technical side; do they have to break new ground?

Miniaturization does not stop at networked drive solutions. This means that we drive manufacturers have to fit a lot of technology into as little installation space as possible. The trend is towards drives that can be networked and in whose housing the complete drive, positioning and network electronics are already integrated.

Where do you think the technical development of drive systems will go in the coming years?

With the drives themselves, for example linear motors or brushless servomotors, the available materials, such as magnets and their physical properties, set limits to rapid innovation. The situation is different on the control side. There is a clear trend towards further miniaturization in inverters and positioning controllers. One example of this is the new MC 3001 motion controller from Faulhaber, which, despite its postage stamp size, is in the 40 to 120 watt power range and which we are already using.