45TH ANNIVERSARY
“It’s this deep integration into our customers’ operational success – moving from product supplier to process partner – that has been the most significant change, and it will drive our innovation for the next 40 years.” Electrification and digitalisation of the automation sector are the biggest changes for Festo, says Steve Sands, Technical Consultant, Festo GB.
“Today, electric actuators sit alongside pneumatic cylinders in the range and designers select the best drives for their application. Lower cost, high force pneumatics or stepper/servo driven belt or spindle drives for increased flexibility. Life-time energy costs are a key selection consideration. “Back in the 1980s, solenoid valves were the state-of-the-art. We were moving from pilot operated air valves, to mounting valves on centralised manifolds and integrating solenoids - reducing assembly, wiring and tubing times. The use of research tools such as finite element analysis, tribology and fluid engineering software tools enabled us to reduce materials, lowering cost and weights, enable faster response times, and higher flow rates. The life expectancy of solenoid valves grew from 1 to 100 million cycles, meaning they became fit and forget parts. “Alongside the improvements in the mechanics, electronics were integrated. As valve terminals became the norm, electronic communications, replaced multi-pin plugs connecting the controller to the field devices. Many PLC manufacturers developed proprietary fieldbus software and Festo offered more than 25 protocols. However, this proliferation and complexity was challenging for machine builders and the market consolidated on the ‘open’ field bus systems of the time such as ProfiBus and DeviceNet. “Today Ethernet bus systems provide communications and data, for predictive maintenance, quality and energy optimisation. The pinnacle in valve terminal development is the Festo app driven Motion Terminal. Hardware is configured, ‘on the fly’ to perform specific functions such as standard end to end movements then pressure/force control, soft-stop positioning profiles etc. This technological leap will highly likely influence the next generation of ‘standard’ valve terminals.”
In the year that Process & Control magazine
already long lifespan of our pumps and mixers by continuously developing materials. Our customers demand more and more efficiency, especially with energy costs having increased so dramatically.”
Susan Roche, General Manager, SolutionsPT, says the company’s hardware and software solutions have seen dramatic changes
was launched, Howard Burton, from pump & mixer manufacturer Landia, had just left school. He says that big, much-needed improvements in health and safety have taken place since then.
“During my apprenticeship, long before joining Landia, I remember having to clamber over roof rafters, with absolutely no safety equipment (!) bolting them together. Today I wouldn’t be allowed to do that.
“Enquiries now, for example, for our pumps systems to be fitted on effluent tanks are, as we’d almost always recommend, for equipment to be externally-mounted, at ground level, so no working at height. This isn’t perhaps good news for ladder sales (!), but it is very important of course to keep people safe and reduce unnecessary risks. It also makes pumps far easier to service, and far more economic than having to halt a process to drain down a tank.”
We have embraced the digital revolution on every possible level
“
since 1985, but the ultimate goal remains surprisingly similar. She commented: “Throughout our 40 year history we have championed digital transformation to improve efficiency and profitability, but the key aim has always been futureproofing. In 1985 the goal of futureproofing was longevity, creating systems that would run uninterrupted for years with minimal maintenance and no need for frequent updates. The 1990s saw the emergence of connected software driven automation. Alongside this, SolutionsPT took on the distribution of the global leading industrial and engineering software brand AVEVA (formerly Wonderware) in the UK and Ireland. “Moving into the 2000s, enterprises wanted platforms to unify controls and use data across departments. Futureproofing here meant implementing technology that could scale securely as the idea of the digital factory was born.
He added: “Nowadays, energy costs are always very relevant, and compared to when I started with Landia 13 years ago in 2012, many projects now see more and more customers asking about environmental aspects on a project. This includes the stripping of methane for a biogas specification or needing to meet CO2 requirements.”
”
Paul Broadhurst, who has been with Landia for 25 years, since the turn of the Millennium, continued: “We’re still trying to pump effluent/sludge from A to B, but everything now is so much more detailed and documented. No more do we see ‘designs’ given to us in the form of a fag-packet drawing! Customers today retain information far more than they ever used to, which is positive, but the downside with ever changing quality and legislative/environmental demands is that costs increase. Over the years I’d also say that we’ve been able to further increase the
22 JULY/AUGUST 2025 | PROCESS & CONTROL
“More recently the advancement of Industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed long held beliefs about how industrial systems should be built, accessed, and secured. Futureproofing now encompasses everything from the edge to the cloud, with a clear mission to connect everything and extract meaningful data. “Forty years ago, connectivity between industrial assets was limited and data often trapped in silos. Today, digital technologies such as AI can deliver meaningful insights and automation. However, this only becomes possible when underpinned by a robust and unified OT data infrastructure. Monitoring and control has transformed from standalone HMIs into platforms capable of real-time insight across multiple sites. Industrial data management has moved from simple logging to context-rich dashboards that turn huge amounts of data into intelligence for OT, and cyber security has emerged as a shared responsibility for every employee. “We have operated during a time of immense technological advances, but one thing has remained constant throughout, a people focussed approach. Digital transformation is as much about people as it
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
