Festo opens new application centre in South Africa

Festo unveiled its brand new applications centre at its Johannesburg headquarters in July, 2015. According to the company, the applications centre is the first of its kind in South Africa and boasts a state-of-the-art Electric Drive Handling and Vision System.

The company revealed at the launch that its customers will be able to physically test any 4D electric drive applications in a controlled environment to confirm details like maximum speed, accuracy and cycle time.

With remote capabilities such as live video streaming, the applications centre is positioned to meet the needs of customers all across Southern, East and West Africa.

According to Brett Wallace, MD of Festo South Africa: “Our clients cannot afford to make mistakes. Whatever they design and implement needs to work the first time. Our applications centre is there to support them by allowing them to simulate the handling of the actual products with real products and software. Although Festo has powerful simulation software, there is nothing as reassuring as taking a concept from theory to practice. In this way, we are able to add value that brings them security, confidence and competitiveness.”

The applications centre will work hand-in-hand with another recently unveiled Festo innovation, its Handling Guide Online (HGO). This intuitive online tool, another first in the South African market, allows users to quickly and easily design and order a handling system from scratch. The customer is prompted to enter parameters and information critical to the task on hand. The powerful software then makes use of Festo’s extensive data base of proven designs to provide possible solutions.

“Integrated solutions like HGO and the applications centre represent the future of business,” says Thomas Hohls, Technical Support Engineer. “For customers in need of high speed machines to handle high volume production, they need sophisticated handling solutions, and these tools allow machines to be designed and built with confidence.”

The opening of the centre is the latest example of Festo’s drive to evolve its ecosystem of automations solutions, which range from training and consulting to implementation. The Application Centre serves another purpose, in addition to providing real life simulations, it also serves as a training facility. Gift Thobejane, Systems Engineer, highlights the multifaceted way the centre marries people and systems to create unique value.

“It is not possible for people to build the skills and competence to work with advanced systems unless they’ve practically worked them,” he says. “Having a centre like this enables our employees and customers to better engage with, learn from, and improve the solutions that go into the factories.”

Wallace says the centre will be invaluable to OEMs, machine designers and design engineers: “They are tasked with coming up with ways of increasing production, while reducing operating costs. They are held accountable for their designs. We can support them in that accountability, freeing them to maximise their creativity and innovation.”

Darryl Linington