Format change at the push of a button
Fast and straightforward format changes on just one machine are at the top of the wish list of many packaging machine manufacturers and their customers. Innovations from Festo make these wishes come true. Enter the brand new Festo Motion Terminal and the Multi-Carrier-System® MCS.
The ability to automate the production or packaging of custom products right down to batches of 1 is a USP that will really set manufacturers of packaging machines apart from the competition. This is exactly what can be achieved with the Multi-Carrier-System® MCS and the Festo Motion Terminal.
Multi-Carrier-System®
The flexible modular transport system can be adapted to different formats via software at the push of a button. Different box sizes and the matching number of products are set directly in the Multi-Carrier-System® MCS using the freely positionable carriers. The products can be individually transported, grouped and synchronously packaged on the carriers.
The Multi-Carrier-System® is flexible to install and operate. It is easy to integrate into existing logistics thanks to the infeed and outfeed of carriers without additional transfer points. Acceleration, speed, grouping and synchronous motion can be freely defined, even in the closed recirculating system of the carriers. The modular MCS® is used only where it is needed by the process – within a station or in parallel with the flow process. Return transport of the recirculating carriers is ensured by an inexpensive servo-controlled belt drive.
Digital pneumatics
With the Festo Motion Terminal, pneumatic functions can be controlled via apps for the first time, without having to change or modify the hardware. From simple directional control valve functions to complex motion tasks, applications can be easily standardised.
The brand new Festo Motion Terminal VTEM catapults pneumatics into the age of Industry 4.0 ‒ with apps that can replace more than 50 individual components. All this is made possible by the latest developments in piezo technology and software. Thanks to the fast activation of new functions via motion app licences, machine developers can create a basic machine type and then select the relevant apps to equip it with different functions and features as requested by the customer. It doesn’t get much more flexible than that!
Festo is a global player and an independent family-owned company with headquarters in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany. Festo has set standards in industrial automation technology and technical education ever since its establishment, thereby making a contribution to sustainable development of the environment, the economy and society. The company supplies pneumatic and electrical automation technology to 300,000 customers of factory and process automation in over 35 industries. Digitalization, AI and the LifeTech sector with medical technology and laboratory automation are becoming increasingly important. The products and services are available in 176 countries. With about 20,600 employees in over 250 branch offices in around 60 countries worldwide, Festo achieved a turnover of around €3.65 billion in 2023. Each year around 7% of this turnover is invested in research and development. In this learning company, 1.5 % of turnover is invested in basic and further training. Festo Didactic SE is a leading provider of technical education and training and offers its customers worldwide comprehensive digital and physical learning solutions in the industrial environment.
