2023/05/15
ID: 2363

Sustainability bringing an added sparkle to the Stars in Automation Technology

Over 2200 components from the Festo Core Range are now available for immediate delivery worldwide

The "Stars in Automation Technology" are more than 2200 pneumatic and electric automation products from Festo, which are quickly available worldwide, durable and attractively priced. Now the core products from the Festo portfolio are being developed to be more and more sustainable, with savings in terms of weight, volume and energy as well as space and materials required.

The ‘Stars of Automation’ include over 2200 components from every phase of the pneumatic and electrical control chain, from compressed air preparation, valves and cylinders to accessories, such as matching tubing and fittings. With the Festo Core Range, machine and equipment manufacturers can realise around 80% of all applications effortlessly and quickly at attractive prices, even when large quantities are needed.

 

Fast availability worldwide

Many of the components marked with the star are ready to be shipped just 24 hours after the order is received, while configurable products are ready for delivery within a few days. All products in the Core Range are available worldwide and with the same level of quality thanks to automated production at various decentralised locations in the core markets of Germany, China and the USA. There are further plants in India, Brazil, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Switzerland. Distribution is also decentralised thanks to highly automated logistics centres in Germany, China and the USA, so 70% of all customers can be reached within one day.

 

Far-reaching sustainability

The hallmark of the latest components of the Core Range is that they are being developed to be more and more sustainable, with the goal of saving weight, volume and energy as well as raw materials and installation space. Each goal increases sustainability – in the production line through savings in installation space, in the machine design through savings in raw materials, in end-of-arm applications through savings in energy, in the warehouse through savings in volume and in handling systems through savings in weight. For example, the new round cylinder DSNU-S offers the same performance as the tried-and-tested round cylinder DSNU, but is 35 mm shorter and its mounting interface is up to 40% narrower. Or reduce installation by 32% with the one-way flow control valve VFOE compared with the best-selling GRLA-D.

 

The design engineers and production planners at Festo worked closely together during the development of these products to ensure that the Festo plants can manufacture the components with a high degree of automation. For example, Festo engineers manufactured the yoke and slide for the mini slide DGST as a single part in order to enable large quantities to be produced efficiently. The developers successfully reduced the number of components by 10% compared with the previous model.

 

Shorter cycle times

This collaborative engineering approach allowed Festo to reduce cycle times by almost 50% for the DGST or the guided drive DFM. Festo plants can now produce a DFM every minute, for example. Another example is the fully automated production line for the standard valve VUVG, which produces a fully assembled valve every 12 seconds.

 

New organisational methods such as basing production and assembly on value flows as well as consistently applying the methods of operational excellence (OPEX) such as lean management or Six Sigma shorten the distances between the individual production steps and reduce the throughput times. And this will enable Festo to boost the efficiency and productivity at its production, assembly and logistics sites in the coming years.

 

New stars in the world of automation

The accelerated product development process has paved the way for the latest Stars in Automation. The mini slide DGST, for example, is the smallest of its kind and the shortest slide drive on the market. However, it is strong when it comes to precision, forces, motion control, durability and reliability.

 

Other best sellers among the Stars in Automation include the lightweight compact cylinder ADN-S, which is produced almost entirely as one part and can perform small and micro-movements in the smallest of spaces. The regulators and filter regulators of the MS2 series service units are designed for use close to the process directly in the machine and for end-of-arm applications. They are lightweight and compact, but with high flow rates of up to 350 l/min. The tubing/fitting combination PUN-H/QS also ensures reliable compressed air supply in standard applications and in wet areas.

 

Copper-, zinc- and nickel-free

Depending on the application, products in battery cell production must not emit any interfering particles such as copper, zinc or nickel. Otherwise there is a risk that the quality of the batteries is reduced or that they are unusable. That is why Festo has defined criteria restricting the use of copper, zinc and nickel in its product development: metallic materials with copper, zinc or nickel as a main component are excluded from use for such variants. This means that many products from the Festo Core Range are also suitable for secondary battery production.

费斯托 (Festo)是一家全球性的独立的家族企业,总部位于德国埃斯林根。自成立以来,Festo在工业自动化技术和技术教育方面制定标准,从而为环境、经济和社会的可持续发展做出贡献。公司为超过35个行业的30万家工厂和过程自动化客户提供气动和电驱动自动化技术解决方案,其中生命科学和实验室自动化业务受到越来越多的关注。Festo产品和服务遍布176个国家。2023年,费斯托在全球61个国家的250多个分支机构拥有约20600名员工,实现销售额36.5亿欧元。每年约7%的销售额用于研发。在这家学习型企业,1.5%的销售额用于基础和进一步培训。Festo 教学培训 (Didactic SE) 是全球领先的技术教育和培训供应商,为全球客户提供工业环境中全面的数字化和常规学习解决方案。

© Festo SE & Co. KG
DSNU-S round cylinder
The round cylinder DSNU-S-…: the slimmer and shorter version of the standards-based cylinder DSNU.
© Festo SE & Co. KG
VFOE one-way flow control valve
Barely thicker than a tube – the one-way flow control valve VFOE.
© Festo SE & Co. KG
DGST
Particularly attractive for the industry: compact mini slide like the DGST from Festo.
© Festo SE & Co. KG
DFM
Sturdy and compact with a range of mounting options: guided drive DFM.
© Festo SE & Co. KG
Technology plant VUVG assembly line 2
A compact valve every 12 seconds: automated assembly plants with fast retooling times ensure high output volumes for the automation products of the Festo core product range.
© Festo SE & Co. KG
VUVG
High flow rate with a narrow width: compact valve VUVG.
© Festo SE & Co. KG
ADN-S compact cylinder
Versatile compact cylinder ADN-S-…: best suited to small continuous movements.
© Festo SE & Co. KG
PUN-H/Q
Variety of colours, transparent, highly flexible: tubing/fitting combination PUN-H/Q.