Hannover Messe 2022 Preview: Energy & Supply Security and Climate Change
Published on : Saturday 09-04-2022
Rising energy prices, disrupted supply chains and impact of climate change are among the areas that need speedy solutions.
The Covid pandemic continues the disruption of major international trade shows. In mid January, alarmed by the spread of the Omicron variant, Duetsche Messe, organisers of the iconic Hannover Fair decided to reschedule the fair from its originally planned April schedule to open on May 30, 2022, for a 4-day show. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February further complicated matters, and amid the raging conflict, the Hannover Messe 2022 Preview was held as a digital event on March 16, 2022.
“In view of the current global political situation, the topics at Hannover Messe are more relevant than ever,” said Dr Jochen Köckler, CEO of Deutsche Messe, at the Hannover Messe preview event, referring to the crisis. “At the heart of the matter is how we can ensure security of supply and growth in a dynamically changing world – politically, environmentally and economically – while counteracting climate change. Innovative technologies will play a key role in this,” he added.
Exhibiting companies include corporations like Siemens, Bosch, Schneider Electric, Schaeffler, Microsoft, SAP and Service Now, joined by numerous medium-sized industrial enterprises such as Beckhoff, Festo, Harting, Pepperl+Fuchs, Phoenix Contact, Wago and Ziehl-Abegg. Accompanying them are major research institutes like Fraunhofer and Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) as well as roughly 100 startups that find Hannover Messe an ideal platform for networking with industry.
When it comes to CO2-neutral production and energy security in Europe, renewable energies and green hydrogen play a key role. Many companies already lead the way with concrete solutions. For example, Hannover Messe exhibitor Bosch created a hydrogen cycle at its Industrie 4.0 facility that produces green hydrogen for industrial processes.
Because of the current energy supply debate, the topic of hydrogen is gaining further importance at Hannover Messe. “We have offered the largest European platform for the hydrogen and fuel cell industry for years. In Hannover, more than 200 companies – including Iberdrola, Saint Gobain, Emerson, ElringKlinger, Plug Power, Siemens, Phoenix Contact, Enapter, Bosch, Hexagon Purus, Nel Hydrogen, Hydrogenious and GPJoule – present solutions for a sustainable energy supply based on hydrogen derived from renewable energy sources,” said Köckler.
Partner Country Portugal
More than 120 companies from Partner Country Portugal have registered for Hannover Messe 2022. Under the motto ‘Portugal Makes Sense’, they present their products and solutions for digital transformation, the energy transition and reliable supply chains.
The Portuguese participation at Hannover Messe features a central pavilion as well as three thematic pavilions in Engineered Parts & Solutions, Energy Solutions and Digital Ecosystems clusters. Each area features dozens of companies from Portugal with the most advanced technologies and processes. The aim is to highlight clusters of excellence, particularly in the sectors of equipment and metalworking, mobility, automotive and aeronautics, textiles and technical plastics, moulds, production technologies, digital technologies, and renewable energies.
Portuguese companies, many of which are small or medium-sized, are well-versed in Industrie 4.0 concepts that drive industrial transformation. They provide solutions to industries ranging from automotive and transport, food, and medical devices to moulds and plastics, packaging and pharmaceuticals.
“Portugal makes sense for the stability it brings to Europe,” said Francisco Ribeiro de Menezes, Portugal’s Ambassador to Germany, referring to its economic performance. “Portugal makes sense in the reinvention of the European Union’s energy model, in our collective transition to reality built on the use of renewable energies. Although lacking in fossil fuels, Portugal is wealthy in the natural resources that matter now,’ he added.
For example, Portuguese providers offer smart manufacturing execution solutions that monitor processes in real-time. These form part of next-generation software developed for the industry, helping managers make better decisions based on instant information gathered from the shop floor.
Thanks to digitalisation, small companies make more and more breakthroughs in fields that were once the exclusive preserve of big industrial players. With disruptive ideas and distinctive technologies, Portuguese startups punch above their weight and have built an ecosystem that is home to established unicorns such as Farfetch, Outsystems, Talkdesk, Feedzai, Remote, Unbabel, and Sword Health as well as newcomers like Defined.ai and Veniam.
Connectivity+
Digitisation and sustainability are the major buzzwords and two of the guiding principles for the HARTING Technology Group at Hannover Messe 2022. Summarised under the term of ‘Connectivity+’, this is all about factoring in societal megatrends: Sustainability, (de)globalisation and demographic change, as well as deriving the relevant technology: Modularisation, autonomy and digital twins. Under the umbrella term Connectivity+, products, solutions, services and applications are presented that are aligned with technological and social megatrends and thereby provide answers to the challenges of the future. The fact that this is not a theoretical construct makes the added value focus for customers all the more clearer.
"In the development of Connectivity+ the collaboration and co-creation with customers and partners represents a tremendously important consideration," said Christopher Ukatz, Managing Director of HARTING Deutschland GmbH. A Communication and Innovation Centre will feature at the HARTING trade fair stand. The focus will be on joint brainstorming, dialoguing, and exchanging ideas on the connectivity of the future. Stand visitors can make an appointment in advance at www.harting.com/hannover-messe.
ReBeL with a cause
At the Preview, igus announced it is now delivering the ReBeL service robot – also as a smart version. At a price of 4,970 euros for the plug-and-play variant and weighing only around 8 kilograms, customers receive one of the lightest cobots on the market. Digital services such as the RBTXpert and new online offerings enable customers to find complete automation solutions in just a few days and for little money.
With the ReBeL, igus relies entirely on its motion plastics expertise: The use of plastic makes the robot with a dead weight of 8.2 kilograms the lightest service robot with cobot function in its class. All mechanical components that make up the ReBeL are developed and manufactured by igus without exception. Its payload is 2 kilograms and has a reach of 664 mm. The repeatability is +/- 1 mm at 7 picks per minute. At its heart is the world's first industrial-grade plastic cobot gearbox. "Behind these figures are 1,041 tests in the in-house laboratory since 2019, in which we have carried out tribological and thermodynamic tests on 15 material pairings and tolerance chains. A particularly major challenge was the heat generation in the fully integrated shaft gearboxes; they are thermally influenced by the motor. In development, we have therefore also focused on larger motors and better efficiency in order to significantly reduce heat generation," says Alexander Mühlens, head of the Low-Cost Automation business unit at igus. "As a result, we were able to achieve continuous improvements and, in the end, even quintuple the number of cycles to two million. This corresponds to a usual service life of two years."
Sustainable Solutions & Robotic Innovations
At the Hannover Messe 2022, Schaeffler will exhibit sustainable solutions for the food industry and innovations for robotics. The company has a new product portfolio for the food and packaging industry, and an expansion of the product range for lightweight robots and cobots, with strain wave gears with an integrated sensor system
As Ralf Moseberg, head of the Industrial Automation business unit at Schaeffler, emphasized, the food and packaging industry is currently caught up in a maelstrom of sustainability, lower production costs, and strict hygiene guidelines. Schaeffler will be presenting its new food-based product range in Hanover, as well as demonstrating ways of solving the aforementioned challenges faced by the industry using automation solutions which have been derived in practice. Examples of how digitalisation and sustainability can be combined to ideal effect in everyday operations will also be demonstrated in Hanover.
For the second year in a row, robotics will be one of the Schaeffler topics taking centre stage at the Hannover Messe. A substantially expanded range of precision strain wave gears and a sensor-based strain wave gear will be presented for the first time this year, both for use in articulated arm robots with a payload of up to around 20 kg. “We are adopting a new, innovative approach with the integrated torque sensors for each cobot joint, both in design and technological terms, which has aroused considerable interest among our pilot customers,” explained Moseberg. Schaeffler will also present its portfolio of PSC-series high-precision planetary gearboxes for industrial robots in Hanover.
Predictive Maintenance in Smart Factory
Digitalisation, customisation, miniaturisation and automation are the major trends in the industry. LAPP, the leading German supplier of integrated solutions and branded products in the field of cable and connection technology, is also facing these future challenges. "Innovative is one of LAPP's values. But we have recognised that we need to work and think differently today if we are to drive innovations creatively and efficiently. This includes having to think outside the box and striving to offer solutions and services that go beyond the further developing cables and connectors in the future", asserts Georg Stawowy, Member of the Board for Innovation and Technology at Lapp Holding AG.
LAPP has now presented a new solution for predictive maintenance in the Smart Factory. ETHERLINE® GUARD is a stationary monitoring device that uses patented predictive maintenance algorithms to assess the momentary performance of data cables subject to particular stress. ETHERLINE® GUARD thus contributes to realising a ‘digital twin’ within production facilities. "For LAPP, this is a paradigm shift, as it involves embedded software and programming an algorithm. This is something completely different to developing a cable", Georg Stawowy stresses and adds: "Creating a digital picture of the physical world is a mega trend that we have also embraced in the field of connection solutions".
