This week, the All About Auto­ma­ti­on trade fair took place in Fried­richs­ha­fen – an event that has estab­lished its­elf as a signi­fi­cant plat­form for auto­ma­ti­on tech­no­lo­gies. This year’s fair impres­si­ve­ly demons­tra­ted how com­pact and effi­ci­ent for­mats con­tri­bu­te to tar­ge­ted pro­fes­sio­nal dis­cus­sions and high-qua­­li­­ty net­wor­king. With a recom­men­da­ti­on rate of 8.8÷10 and a pro­jec­ted exhi­bi­tor increase of up to 30% for the coming year, the fair high­lights its gro­wing rele­van­ce within the industry.

Com­pact Booths for Maxi­mum Efficiency

A remar­kab­le fea­ture of All About Auto­ma­ti­on is the deli­bera­te­ly com­pact design of the exhi­bi­ti­on booths. Com­pared to lar­­ge-sca­­le trade fairs, this con­cept enhan­ces cla­ri­ty and enables visi­tors to enga­ge effi­ci­ent­ly with com­pa­nies. A wide ran­ge of indus­try play­ers par­ti­ci­pa­ted, from inter­na­tio­nal cor­po­ra­ti­ons to mid-sized enterprises.

Know­ledge at a Glan­ce: Talk Loun­ges as a Know­ledge Platform

The fair’s lec­tu­re stages pro­vi­ded deep insights into cur­rent tech­no­lo­gy trends. Par­ti­cu­lar­ly note­wor­t­hy topics included:

• Sca­lable Edge-Gate­­way Solu­ti­ons for Cap­tu­ring, Pro­ces­sing, and Eva­lua­ting Pro­cess Data
• Smart Robot Visi­on Sys­tems as a Key to Fle­xi­ble Automation
• AI in Pro­duc­tion – Chal­lenges and Solu­ti­ons for Grea­ter Efficiency

The­se focal points unders­core the gro­wing influence of arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence and digi­ta­liza­ti­on on modern pro­duc­tion environments.

Sus­taina­bi­li­ty Through Digi­ta­liza­ti­on and Innovation

Sus­taina­bi­li­ty was also a cen­tral the­me at the fair. On one hand, indi­vi­du­al solu­ti­ons were pre­sen­ted, such as ener­­gy-effi­ci­ent joi­ning sys­tems with various dri­ve tech­no­lo­gies that demons­tra­ted their effi­ci­en­cy in com­pa­ra­ti­ve stu­dies. On the other hand, many com­pa­nies focu­sed on holi­stic sus­taina­bi­li­ty con­cepts for com­ple­te machi­ne sys­tems – sup­port­ed by digi­tal solu­ti­ons to opti­mi­ze enti­re pro­duc­tion lines. Par­ti­cu­lar­ly noti­ceable was the increased use of in-house soft­ware solu­ti­ons, often acqui­red through stra­te­gic take­overs of soft­ware com­pa­nies. This high­lights that sus­taina­bi­li­ty is no lon­ger just a pro­duct fea­ture but an inte­gral part of modern cor­po­ra­te strategies.

Robo­tics Tech­no­lo­gy as a Dri­ver of Indus­tri­al Efficiency

Lea­ding manu­fac­tu­r­ers of robo­tics solu­ti­ons show­ca­sed the broad ran­ge of appli­ca­ti­ons for this tech­no­lo­gy – from pro­duc­tion auto­ma­ti­on to inno­va­ti­ve solu­ti­ons in the food and bevera­ge indus­try. Robots are incre­asing­ly beco­ming an essen­ti­al part of the value chain, con­tri­bu­ting to more fle­xi­ble pro­duc­tion pro­ces­ses. Par­ti­cu­lar­ly note­wor­t­hy is the gro­wing mar­ket for cobots. The­se col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve robots work safe­ly along­side humans and take on a wide varie­ty of tasks across dif­fe­rent indus­tries. Ger­ma­ny ranks fourth glo­bal­ly in robo­tics den­si­ty, with 429 robots per 10,000 employees, fol­lo­wing South Korea, Sin­ga­po­re, and Chi­na. Sin­ce 2018, the robo­tics den­si­ty of Europe’s lar­gest eco­no­my has grown by an avera­ge of 5% annually.

Inter­na­tio­na­liza­ti­on as a Respon­se to Eco­no­mic Challenges

Against the back­drop of the cur­rent weak­ne­ss in the Ger­man indus­try, many com­pa­nies are focu­sing on inter­na­tio­na­liza­ti­on in Sou­the­ast Euro­pean mar­kets. The fair unders­cored that for many firms, expan­ding into new mar­kets is a stra­te­gic approach to bet­ter address exis­ting challenges.

The Ans­wer to Stra­te­gic Chal­lenges: Auto­ma­ti­on, Digi­ta­liza­ti­on, and Sel­ec­ti­ve Internationalization

Com­pa­nies face gro­wing eco­no­mic and tech­no­lo­gi­cal chal­lenges. All About Auto­ma­ti­on demons­tra­ted that auto­ma­ti­on, digi­ta­liza­ti­on, and sel­ec­ti­ve inter­na­tio­na­liza­ti­on are cri­ti­cal for long-term suc­cess. Busi­nesses that stra­te­gi­cal­ly invest in the­se are­as secu­re com­pe­ti­ti­ve advan­ta­ges. In addi­ti­on to logi­sti­cal and qua­li­ty chal­lenges, the ques­ti­on of the right sales stra­tegy when expan­ding into new mar­kets ari­ses – and it must be addres­sed accordingly.

Digi­ta­liza­ti­on of the Trade Fair: Hybrid Con­cepts as the Future Model

All About Auto­ma­ti­on is incre­asing­ly focu­sing on digi­tal solu­ti­ons. Digi­tal check­points were alre­a­dy offe­red to enable visi­tors to check in more effi­ci­ent­ly with indi­vi­du­al exhi­bi­tors. Howe­ver, the hybrid trade fair model – inclu­ding live digi­tal infor­ma­ti­on sha­ring – will beco­me even more signi­fi­cant in the future.

Con­clu­si­on: A Trade Fair with Clear Added Value

All About Auto­ma­ti­on Fried­richs­ha­fen impres­si­ve­ly demons­tra­ted that com­pact trade fair con­cepts, tar­ge­ted spe­cia­list pre­sen­ta­ti­ons, and tech­no­lo­gi­cal inno­va­tions are sha­ping the future of the auto­ma­ti­on indus­try. The com­bi­na­ti­on of effi­ci­ent booth designs, rele­vant indus­try topics, and the gro­wing inte­gra­ti­on of digi­tal solu­ti­ons makes the fair an essen­ti­al mee­ting point for decis­­i­on-makers and pro­fes­sio­nals in the field. The incre­asing num­ber of exhi­bi­tors con­firms that this plat­form will con­ti­nue to grow in importance in the coming years.

Fur­ther information:

Talk Lounge Fried­richs­ha­fen | Vor­trags­pro­gramm | all about automation

Food and Bevera­ge | Food and Bevera­ge | ABB

Digi­ta­li­sie­rung im Mes­se­bau: Die Stil­le Revo­lu­ti­on für Aussteller

Soft­ware

Digi­tal Fac­to­ry | Phoe­nix Contact