SCHUNK Stands Hand in hand on Important Topics such as Digitalization and Sustainability
March 2, 2023
When international companies get together at the world’s leading trade show in Hanover from April 17 to 21, 2023, they will all be setting their own priorities – and yet they will have one thing in common: they are currently facing major tasks that require a profound rethinking. In addition to urgent questions about energy security and functioning supply chains, there are big question marks, especially behind the mega topics of sustainability and digitalization.
The automation specialist SCHUNK shows that both topics go hand in hand and deliberately focuses on an open dialog in Hanover. Through exchange of information and cooperation in a spirit of partnership, future-proof concepts and technologies are created that can be used to tackle the challenges of these times.
Schunk: A Committed Partner for Self-Determined Digitalization
The family-owned company is pushing digitalization forward: both with its solutions for customers and on a higher level. For example, SCHUNK has long been involved in the management of the Industry 4.0 platform, the network of German business associations that drives the German government’s high-tech strategy.
In this way, the company is helping to shape the digital transformation of industry and is launching concepts for digital key topics. SCHUNK is already implementing the central theme of this year’s Hannover Messe, “industrial transformation – making the difference.“ CEO Henrik A. Schunk is also involved in the Manufacturing-X digitalization initiative, with the aim to create a sovereign, federal data room for digitally networked industry that makes value chains more sustainable, transparent and resilient. Because trust and control over their own data is crucial for companies on their way to a successful digital future.
Innovations for a More Sustainable Industry
SCHUNK will be showcasing on site, how digital solutions lead to higher efficiency and lower resource consumption with three innovative examples. The bio-inspired technology ADHESO, for example, grips sensitive, or difficult-to-handle parts gently, without leaving any residue and, above all, completely energy-independant, using adhesive force. The environmentally friendly technology was awarded the German Innovation Prize for Climate and Environment (IKU) in 2022.
The smart iTENDO² toolholder transmits data in real time, thus safeguarding machining processes, where maximum precision is required. The solution, which won the German Innovation Award 2022, ensures transparency and traceability, and can also reduce the reject rate in this way. Thanks to an AI developed by SCHUNK, the 2D Grasping Kit makes gripping of individual objects randomly arranged on a plane child’s play. The complete kit comprising hardware, software and service requires no prior knowledge of programming or image recognition. Let us talk about the novelties.