An average of 50 units a month, ranging from general electro-pneumatic control cabinets to servo-electric systems, are being produced by Festo South Africa’s Systems Division in Johannesburg. Considering that the pneumatic fittings involved alone exceed 100 000 units valued at more than R1-million a year, this growth has considerably strengthened Festo’s position in the local motion control market.
Adrian Buddingh, department head, says: "From conceptualising solutions that suit individual customer applications through to drawing designing, assembling, testing, installing and commissioning the end-product, we have become true specialists in positioning and handling systems."
The bulk of the department's impressive list of orders involves PLC-controlled electro-pneumatic systems for small-machine interfacing on assembly lines. Diverse markets with unique applications means that the department's engineering division is backed by highly skilled software engineers and repair facilities capable of accommodating a host of different components. Turnaround times of one to two weeks from request to implementation, depending on the complexity of the system, are being regularly achieved.
"As a supplier, our strength in the market is built on unique products, like the SPC 200 modular controller, which can be programmed to carry out functions combining servo control and logic," says Festo MD, Richard Teagle. "The Systems department could not match this leadership in the local market without Festo's internal global network, which puts us in touch with every technician, manager and engineer in the group in realtime.
"The resulting technology transfer implications alone are phenomenal," he continues. "While phrases like 'shrinking global marketplace' and 'worldwide seamless integration' are richly sown throughout today's business and industrial publications, few companies can actually deliver such integration of services, knowledge and support. I am proud of the role Festo has played in keeping the South African industrial market in touch with global trends and technologies over the past two decades. Obviously, this global reserve of equal knowledge and skills also means that if a South African machine builder's products containing Festo components end up in, say Bangkok, it would enjoy the same support that we would have provided locally."
"Apart from the product training courses we attend overseas, the passing on of this knowledge on a bi-annual basis to South African employees by Festo Systems and the training of our clients and their employees on a regular basis by Festo Didactic, we also distribute hands-on experience gained on installations around the world while it is still relevant," adds Buddingh. "Most importantly, every facet of Festo's products and services is continually measured to comply with ISO standards."
In terms of new developments in the field of motion control, Buddingh points out that the European move towards decentral (distributed) control solutions is becoming increasingly apparent in the product philosophies of leading suppliers.
"While we cover both valve terminals controlled by a PLC on Fieldbus networks and DCS systems networked via Ethernet, the drive is towards spreading intelligence throughout the factory, through the use of, for instance, valve terminals with remote intelligence," states Buddingh. "It is also the reason for our valve terminals being compatible with most communication protocols."
The Festo Systems department has installed several large motion control systems in South Africa recently, predominantly valve terminals, pneumatic systems and PLC-controlled systems in the automotive, diamond mining and pharmaceutical industries.
For more information contact Richard Teagle, MD, Festo, 011 971 5500, [email protected], www.festo.com
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