Festo is using the Scharnhausen Technology Plant to test Industry 4.0 technologies using their own manufacturing process, with flexible assembly lines in accordance with the SmartFactoryKL model, M2M applications (Machine to Machine), control intelligence at shop-floor level and mobile networked maintenance. What’s more, the entire plant is trimmed for energy efficiency, with solar panels, heat recovery and concrete solutions such as the MSE6-E2M Energy Efficiency Module .

This was initially conceived to ensure optimum compressed air supply to the system itself and to warn against leakages. The first versions, which Festo developed by using them at Unilever , still featured I/O slots, which were then replaced by a Profibus interface – and now data is uploaded to the cloud directly via an IoT gateway . There is a reason why Festo is counted among the automation companies who were present on 24 January 2018 for the founding of Mindsphere World . Andreas Oroszi, Senior Vice President of Digital Business at Festo, is a member of the board. He makes it clear that the Swabian company not only wants to be at the forefront of the transformation to Industry 4.0, but also wants to be involved in the progression from simple product sales to solution provider: "In the future, we want to appear as a service provider and offer our clients smart services for maintenance," he said to Computerwoche .