How should we respond to the enormous challenges of climate and resource conservation? Raising the global population and protecting natural resources seem to be an unresolved contradiction. Festo firmly believes that automation technology and technology education are the boosters to promote industrial transformation, carbon-neutral production and circular economy. We look forward to your joining hands with us and actively contributing to achieving these goals. From April 17 to 21, Festo showcased at the 2023 Hannover Messe, demonstrating innovative automation and technology training solutions around five topics, including industrial transformation, human-robot collaboration, ecological innovation, health protection and lifelong learning, and putting forward a number of positive measures to help the industry achieve "carbon-neutrality" reform, At the same time, it showcases the new BionicCellFactory, which organically integrates biotechnology and automation technology, and its firm determination to practice the goal of "sustainable development".
Festo is committed to climate protection and reducing carbon footprint - from product development and optimization of the supply chain to efficient use by customers. Innovative automation is a booster for the sustainable transformation of industry to a circular economy that is energy-saving, carbon dioxide neutral production and open to various technologies.
The automotive industry is currently in a phase of transition from fuel driven to renewable energy driven, with significant impacts on the production environment, process, and supply chain. The complexity of current technology is increasing, and enterprises urgently need higher production capacity and flexibility. Industry 4.0 and virtualization are a good medicine to deal with it. The amount of data provided by machines is becoming increasingly large, and after processing with AI technology, this data will demonstrate the exact potential for device optimization to people. The core process of battery production presented at the Festo booth at this Hannover exhibition site includes automatic assembly, disassembly, and preparation for battery unit recycling. The AX (Automation Experience) application using artificial intelligence technology, a complete set of solutions for the semiconductor industry, and a controlled pneumatic system using innovative piezoelectric technology provide innovative ideas for industry transformation.
With the continuous growth and aging of the world population, the demand for medical diagnosis and treatment is constantly increasing. The increase in the number of samples to be tested requires an increase in the production capacity and processing speed of laboratory services such as in vitro diagnosis. Automation technology can not only accelerate laboratory workflows, but also ensure that they meet high quality and safety standards. When providing medical gas to patients, Festo valves and valve islands can provide highly accurate metering and control operations. Ensuring safety, quality, and efficiency in the field of life sciences.
"We support structural changes in many industries around the world, such as the transformation of the energy sector to renewable energy or electric vehicles. We can apply processes such as the production of green hydrogen or electric vehicle batteries and downstream recycling to a wide range of industrial fields, and make them more economical through automation. In addition, we develop automation solutions for biotransformation as the basis of a new circular economy." Dr. Oliver Jung, Chairman of the Festo Group Board of Management, said: We see tremendous potential for efficient resource saving production across the entire field of factory and process automation, complemented by corresponding qualification solutions - from the booming electronics, semiconductor, and life technology industries to the food and agriculture sectors, from automobiles, electric vehicles, and batteries to mining, chemicals, oil, natural gas, renewable energy, and future technologies. Another driving factor is our Festo Didactic Department. With the lifelong learning concept of Didactic, it has promoted the development of industrial labor."
Festo believes that the next development focus of industrial production is the transition to a circular economy. Climate and resource conservation are two major challenges facing humanity. How can we extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and make a positive contribution to climate protection? How can we reduce material consumption, recycle more materials, and obtain alternative raw materials?
In nature, there is no waste. We just need to learn to apply these principles to our economic activities. Festo's bionic learning network learns from nature and is studying the automatic cultivation of biomass. For example, algae have enormous potential to replace oil: their carbon dioxide absorption is much higher than that of terrestrial plants, and the metabolites produced through photosynthesis can be used to produce drugs, cosmetics, and bioplastics. In 2022, we showcased the PhotoBionicCell bioreactor, which efficiently cultivates algae through automation technology. At this year's Hanover Industrial Expo, Festo showcased the scale of the system and the early stages of industrialization, BionicCellFactory. Based on his insight into reality, Festo has learned the mysteries of "energy cycle" from natural evolution and innovatively integrated automation technology and biological production to create an energy-saving and large-scale biomass cultivation solution, BionicCellFactory.
BionicCellFactory is a highly potential "biological factory" that showcases a complete biological process: optimizing the cultivation of algae, continuous monitoring and analysis, harvesting, further processing, and extraction of various components. The extracted biomass can be used in the chemical, food, or pharmaceutical industries. Utilizing Festo automation technology to cultivate biomass on a large scale is both efficient and resource saving. All the products we currently extract from crude oil release a large amount of carbon dioxide, but these products can also be continuously extracted from algae. Algae are tiny protectors of the Earth because they absorb ten times more carbon dioxide than terrestrial plants. By automatically cultivating in a bioreactor, this value can be increased tenfold.
As a model factory, BionicCellFactory is the universal blueprint for the future overall production system. With Festo's automation technology, it can scale to any scale. In order to meet the future demand for renewable raw materials, a bioreactor with a capacity of several thousand liters is required. In addition, to ensure that the factory can reliably produce the required amount of biomass, professional knowledge in process automation is also required.
Innovation is the key to promoting sustainable development. Festo has made significant progress in innovation, for example, in the application process, digital and intelligent pneumatic technologies have significant energy-saving advantages compared to traditional pneumatic technologies. Christian Ö Sterle, Director of Corporate Communications and Sustainable Development at Festo, said, "With energy-saving products, we have become the ideal partner for customers to achieve energy-saving and sustainable production operations. In addition, we also promote the development of sustainable industries and technologies through product and service solutions.
As a solution provider for technical education and training, Festo Didactic is committed to teaching professional skills, addressing current technological challenges, and stimulating the passion of future generations for shaping the future. Festo also attaches great importance to his company's training and further education. In addition, based on the growing demand in the fields of IT, AI, data science, or sustainablility, Festo Didactic has developed learning content and environment for new vocational skills training.