Herford-based IT firm Resolto offers, among other things, solutions for industrial AI applications. The machine-oriented interpretation of data results in energy savings, shorter cycle times, fewer machine breakdowns, and less waste, say Festo . Resolto is to remain independent under the new umbrella, and to continue to serve its customer base as usual.

What is likely to have been a deciding factor for the acquisition is Resolto’s advanced analytics platform PROGNOS , which enables, for example, the correlative evaluation of sensor data with environmental parameters such as the climate or shift schedules. PROGNOS also leverages real-time analyses to detect anomalies in a machine’s operation. Since the algorithms are continuously learning, production should become ever-more efficient. There are also plans to integrate the algorithms into proprietary components in the future.

With the acquisition of Resolto, Festo is thereby expanding its range of products and services in one of the key growth segments in industry: “Anyone not using AI is stupid not to,” quotes German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Siemens’ Kurt Bettenhausen as saying, following the Hanover Fair 2018. The fact that AI is “the next big thing” in networked production is regarded as a foregone conclusion.