News about Vacuum Technology for Automation

The new bell-shaped suction cup SAX from Schmalz is particularly well suited for quick handling of metal sheets and car body parts. It conforms perfectly to differing workpiece contours.

Answered by: Walter Dunkmann, Head of Business Area Vacuum Automation

Schmalz has released a new app to make production more transparent for its users. Users can download the app on a smartphone or tablet to easily install, parameterize and operate vacuum components, such as the vacuum and pressure switch VSi. This reduces procurement costs, shortens startup time and optimizes device servicing.

Reduction of start of operation times by up to 75% - With the help of the App Schmalz ControlRoom, our intelligent products can be commissioned without extensive parameterization by means of a comprehensive operating manual.

Digitalization is transforming industry. It is changing processes and business models, and it is requiring some companies to seek completely new strategies: in their daily work, in their contact with customers and above all in product development. For Schmalz, a specialist in vacuum automation, digitalization presents opportunities and challenges in equal measure. A quick glance in the product catalog shows how the company is already taking advantage of these many opportunities. Many of the solutions for networked factories have been in use for years. Schmalz therefore benefits from its “domain knowledge,” or knowledge relating to practical applications. The company also has plenty of ideas for new business models.

The platform-independent SICON Gateway connects IO-Link-enabled actuators and sensors from different manufacturers to MES/ERP systems and supplies valuable data from the production process to the cloud. The Gateway was developed by the company GPS Gesellschaft für Produktionssysteme GmbH (Association for Production Systems). GPS has been part of the Schmalz Group since the beginning of the year.

48,624 wooden pieces make up the 2,308 square meter roof of the new Arch-Tec-Lab at the ETH university (Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule) in Zurich. The curved roof structure for this architectural marvel was provided by the company ERNE AG Holzbau. To ensure that the roof was manufactured with high dimensional accuracy, this Swiss company used a gantry robot from Güdel together with vacuum technology from Schmalz. The specialist for timber construction thereby showed how modern production technologies can be successfully combined with renewable materials. “Without the robots we would not have been able to complete this project so quickly,” says Thomas Wehrle, a member of the management board at Erne.

Schmalz is extending its portfolio of efficient vacuum solutions for fully automatic handling in the wood-working industry with the area gripping system FMHD. This gripper is robust, particularly easy to maintain, and – by virtue of its integrated vacuum reservoir – uses very little energy.

The electrical vacuum generator ECBP from J. Schmalz GmbH represents a new generation of intelligent vacuum generators that do not require compressed air. The ECBP has an integrated interface for connection to grippers and robots, and is particularly suited for use on lightweight robots in mobile robotics as well as for stationary handling tasks.

The transport of goods with sensitive surfaces requires a gentle touch. With that in mind, J. Schmalz GmbH has developed a special cover for its vacuum area gripping system FXP/FMP. It can be used, for instance, to grip even very thin glass gently and without scratching. The gripping system can also use the protective cover made from a special mesh in cleanroom applications.