auto­matica: part­ners exchange ideas about the future

Tech­nology leader SCHUNK presented itself publicly for the first time on four inten­sive trade show days at auto­matica with the new claim “Hand in hand for tomorrow”. It presented cutting-edge tech­nology from tool­holding and work­holding, grip­ping tech­nology and automa­tion tech­nology as well as its compe­tence as an appli­ca­tion profes­sional. In addi­tion to the presen­ta­tion of inno­v­a­tive product tech­nolo­gies, one thing was more impor­tant than ever before: exchanging ideas.

”Stan­dard­iza­tion makes processes simpler and compo­nents more inter­change­able. This usually also reduces the price-related entry threshold.“

Thomas Retzlaff
Vice Pres­i­dent Partner Devel­op­ment and Ecosys­tems at Wandel­bots

Round table

A discus­sion among experts, which brought together repre­sen­ta­tives from a wide range of automa­tion fields, provided the frame­work for this exchange. In the round­table led by Armin Barnitzke, editor-in-chief of the trade journal Automa­tion­spraxis, star­tups, robot manu­fac­turers, system inte­gra­tors and plat­form providers discussed the effects of the current change in automa­tion with SCHUNK under the motto “Enable Automa­tion”. Demand is growing and tech­nology is becoming increas­ingly simple and acces­sible through digi­tal­iza­tion and modu­lar­iza­tion.

The partic­i­pants agreed: in future, the focus has to be more on customers and their needs. This new idea is already being lived out in SCHUNK‘s CoLabs, as SCHUNK COO Johannes Ketterer explained: “The sole purpose of our CoLabs is to make automa­tion possible.“

”Chil­dren are already learning how to use robots at school. This is creating a new user group for us.“

Katja Butter­weck
Incu­bator Manager & Global Product Specialist at ABB

Different approaches

The concept of making the exchange of ideas as easily acces­sible as possible can also be seen in the busi­ness model of automa­tion plat­forms such as Unchained Robotics, whose CEO Mladen Milicevic was also part of the round­table.

Other partic­i­pants included Katja Butter­weck, Incu­bator Manager & Global Product Specialist at ABB, Dirk Engel­brecht, CEO of the andugo knowl­edge plat­form, Dr. Rüdiger Brock­mann, CTO and CSO of Zelt­wanger, and Thomas Retzlaff, Vice Pres­i­dent Partner Devel­op­ment and Ecosys­tems at Wandel­bots.

”Automa­tion must not be a priv­i­lege for experts, but must become simpler, more acces­sible and more trans­parent.“

Dirk Engel­brecht
CEO of the knowl­edge plat­form andugo

The round table initi­ated by SCHUNK not only impres­sively demon­strated which approaches the different players are pursuing, but also above all that in the future, coop­er­a­tion will be the number one prereq­ui­site for successful automa­tion.

 

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Auto­mate in Detroit

At the automa­tion show­case in North America in June revolved around forward-looking solu­tions for robotics and AI. SCHUNK presented new grip­ping system solu­tions that are pioneers in terms of sustain­ability and safety.

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AMB Stuttgart

The who‘s who of the metal­working industry met at AMB in Stuttgart from September 13 to 17, 2022. SCHUNK show­cased automa­tion and digi­tal­iza­tion options for machining as well as new devel­op­ments in the field of sustain­able, resource-effi­cient clamping devices. The low-main­te­nance ROTA‑M flex 2+2 manual chuck could be seen live for the first time.

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IMTS in Chicago

The origins of IMTS, which took place in Chicago from September 9 to 14, 2022, date back to 1927. Nearly 1,300 visi­tors filled the halls of McCormick Place this year, a record number of whom also visited the SCHUNK booth.