THE STAR

Who says pneumatics doesn’t have anything new to offer? Festo proves the critics wrong yet again, and shows why pneumatics is the backbone of automa-tion technology.

What use is an online shop if it takes forever to place an order? This was the question troubling Armin K. and his team. The result: the new Festo Online Shop. “With us, you can order faster than your own shadow,” he grins.

A new dimension in process reliability thanks to VUVG and DSBC

Experience the new, rapid ordering system in the Festo Online Shop

Regensburg – They go by the names DSBC and VUVG. Behind these unsus-pecting names lies great potential. As anyone who is involved in automation technology can see, these products signal the start of a new era for stand-ard cylinders and valves. “Switching to the new cylinders DSBC has improved our process reliability,” says Hermann Nelke of NSM Magnettechnik, who now uses the new Festo cylinder in his plant. The secret to this is the self-adjusting end-position cushioning PPS. They use over 500 of these cylin-ders, reducing previous commissioning

and maintenance times by 70%. Together with the individual valve VUVG, which simplifies design and installation and also increases system output by 40% thanks to shorter actu-ating times, the cylinders have made the whole plant far more productive. These figures prove that the field of pneumatics still has plenty to offer. (For more on this topic, check out “Big is beautiful” – page 3)

www.festo.com/dsbc www.festo.com/vuvg

Happiness is just four clicks away

Esslingen – Not all online shops are the same. No-one knows this better than Armin K., Festo Project Manager for E-Business. Armin is familiar with the challenges: “Anyone who has tried to order a wide variety of products for the pneumatic control chain will know what a struggle it can be to get to your products. With the new Festo Online Shop, that’s a thing of the past!” You can now order the core automation products with just a few clicks. In

addition to the simplified ordering process, the Festo Online Shop also offers a range of other benefits: express delivery, full order tracking, no minimum fee for online orders, custom warehouse labels and much, much more. “The Festo Online Shop can truly make your life easier,” Armin K. continues. “Give it a go!”

www.festo.com/basket

Who could say no to an offer like this? A low-cost valve with an impressively long service life and sturdy build. Here it is: the new VUVS from Festo.

Esslingen – Festo hits the bullseye again with the new valve VUVS. A modern, slim design combined with a long-service life and sturdy design. Other new features include the patented seal system, the wide range of acces-sories and the variety of mounting options. These make the VS series the most versatile in its class.

www.festo.com/vuvs

“A new star is born”: the VUVSNew range of valves from Festo wows experts

Contact/Editorial information

Investment climate

PPS – ingenious idea causes a stir

A cylinder that adjusts itself changes the world of automation systems. With the new PPS self-adjusting cushioning, you can say goodbye to the “trial and error” method. This is possible thanks to an ingeniously simple idea in the piston design. >> More on page 2.

The new standard valves – VUVS and VUVG

Sturdier, more affordable, more versa-tile: the new VUVS. Simple and com-pact: the VUVG. The perfect standard valves for industrial automation appli-cations. >> More on page 2.

No more “mouse arm”

Ordering online often entails a lot of clicking around on labyrinthine web-sites. But not with the “Stars in pneu-matics” in the Festo Online Shop. Four clicks are all you need. That's not just faster – it’s also better for your health. >> More on page 2.

The weather is bright-ening up, and sunny days are ahead.

Festo AG & Co. KG

+49 (0)711/347-1111

www.festo.com/stars

Photo sources: www.apple.de (page 4)

Compressed air, compressed costsMaximum flow rates + minimum space requirements = serious savings! Streamline the planning, installa-tion and operation of your com-pressed air supply with the MS series. >> More on page 4.

Swivelling done properlyMaximum load capacity even with smaller sizes – the strong point of the semi-rotary drive DRRD. It also offers greater precision and sturdi-ness, even with a long lever arm. >> More on page 3.

A Bavarian car manufacturer is delighted:

over 40% higher output thanks to the individual valve VUVG.

Armin K. says: “Become the fastest

purchaser in your company.”

Configuration instead of testingWhy just “try things out” when you could use the Festo Design Tool 3D? The quick, error-free, automated way to generate and order product modules in your CAD format. >> More on page 3.

70% less time-consuming! The mainte-nance and commissioning sensation

www.festo.com/stars

The latest from the “Stars in pneumatics”

The breakthrough in the battle against mouse arm4 clicks to prevent RSI among product purchasers

Korntal – Wolfgang K. was off sick for weeks, unable to work due to acute pain in his forearm. The diagnosis: “mouse arm”, an inflammation of the tendons connecting the elbow and the radial bone in the forearm. “I was at my wits’ end,” Wolfgang K. told us, because purchasing is his life.

According to unconfirmed figures from the trade association, cases of “mouse arm” are becoming increasingly com-mon in people who have to use a mouse to place orders on online plat-forms. “Making lots of clicks puts more strain on the tendons than we previously thought,” explains Prof. Dr.

“It’s easy to be difficult.”

It’s something we’re all familiar with: the frustrating experience of dealing with customer “service”. Germany is often referred to as a “service desert” –the bigger the lettering on the “Ser-vice” sign, the more you have to do for yourself. This seems to apply especial-ly to services hawked about on the Internet. Many companies and pro-viders still seem to believe that the products in their online shops will sell themselves. Sometimes it seems as if they’re going out of their way to annoy you. Anyone who has ever tried to navigate through the “Service” sites of industrial suppliers will be familiar with the feeling that they are being led through a labyrinth from which there is no escape.

“Service desert” online

You find yourself clicking endlessly in an effort to find the information you need. Ordering processes are often complicated, and getting the right product can be simply a question of luck. Are they deliberately making life difficult when it should be so easy? It's an impression that can be hard to shake. The Festo Online Shop shows how much better it can be. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the site has its most frequently requested products marked with a star so they are easy to find. They can then be ordered with just a few clicks.

Putting the “customer” back in “customer service”

The order process is simple, trans-parent and designed to prevent mis-takes; the website also offers custom-ers a variety of user-oriented after-sales information. Put simply, the Festo Online Shop is created with the customer in mind. The term “service” is really all about “customer service” – and at Festo, serving our customers is something we take very seriously. But we also realise that making life easy for our customers requires a lot of hard work from us.

Dispatches

Martin Hegel from the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Korntal, comparing this new occu-pational injury to the famous “tennis arm”. This results in severe pain in the forearm, which can quickly become chronic. The problem is having a no-ticeable effect on sufferers and their employers. Placing orders online is then avoided, and the benefits of online shops are lost.

A series of in-depth tests at the Insti-tute for Occupational Safety and Health has revealed the ideal number of clicks per order. “It has to be done in four clicks,” advises Prof. Hegel.

“This provides the ideal balance between the ordering process and the rest phase for the tendons in the fore-arm.” The positive psychological effects of faster, less complicated order pro-cesses should not be underestimated either.

Wolfgang K. has been back at work for a week, and now orders from Festo. “This way, ordering is fun!” he told us, visibly impressed by the few clicks needed in the online shop of the Esslingen-based automation expert.

Neuss – A wide range of standard functions, a sturdy, modern design, a long service life and a low price – if that’s what you want from a standard valve, then the VUVS and VUVG are the right solutions for you. The VUVS uses proven technology such as the patented seal principle for minimal leakages, a wide range of accessories and a variety of mounting options. This makes the VUVS series one of the most versatile out there. This valve series VUVS has a simple design, is easy to understand and is clearly structured. One particularly inter-esting feature is that metal pipes can also be connected to the VUVS for situations where a tubing connector is

not sufficient. This provides protection against mechanical damage, as well as against very high ambient tempera-tures. This suitability for industrial use is also a defining characteristic of the solenoid valve VUVG. Compact, high flow and low cost, it is the best valve in its class. Suitable for small parts assembly and for the electronics industry, as well as for the food and packaging industry. Available as an electrically or pneumatically actuated valve, and can be expanded to form a valve terminal (VTUG) with an indi-vidual connection.

www.festo.com/vuvs www.festo.com/vuvg

Karlsruhe – Powerful, economic, du-rable, sophisticated and now 20% lighter: the large cylinder DSBG! Unas-suming yet extremely significant, the new P-element absorbs noise and impact to provide effective support for the PPV. Thanks to its made-to-measure strokes and large modular system, as well as features such as ATEX and heat resistance up to 150°C, the DSBG is ideal for applications that require power and durability.

www.festo.com/dsbg

Bremen – Setting cylinders is a thank-less task. The “trial and error” method used during commissioning can be incredibly time-consuming. With our PPS technology, this is a thing of the

past. The solution is as simple as it is ingenious: small slots in the cushion-ing boss allow the compressed air to be channelled out so that the piston can travel into the end position dy-

namically and gently. As a result, you will always have the perfect cushion-ing settings, commissioning will be quicker and the system will be tam-per-proof. At Festo, we call this “the

The new standard valves – VUVS + VUVG Powerful and versatile in sizes 160 – 320

PPS – an ingenious idea causes a stirClever cushioning with the self-adjusting pneumatic cushioning PPS makes the DSBC the new star in the world of standard cylinders

Comment

A new occupational

injury takes hold –

the mouse arm.

On the obviousness of making things obvious. By Hajo Bertsch.

Looking for the right fittings?

Head this way!

future of standard cylinders” and engineers have been heard to remark “Finally, less hassle!”.

www.festo.com/pps

2

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The ideal online ordering process:(according to Prof. Hegel,

IAK-Korntal)

Go to www.festo.de

Click "Basket"

Select a product

Place your order

DONE!

Ingenious:

small slots in the

cushioning boss.

Making day-to-day work easier:

VUVG (top) and VUVS.

DSBG

These valves have got it all: inexpensive, durable, sturdy Plenty of power for hours and hours

The

orde

r pro

cess

Bulletin

Pssst! The com-ment column

Stars in all shapes and sizes

At Festo, we have the “stars in pneu-matics” – almost 2,500 products rang-ing from valves, cylinders and service units to sensors and accessories. Basically, the entire pneumatic control chain. Marked with a star so they are always easy to find in the catalogue, they offer fast delivery times and great value for money. That's quite a lot of “stars”. Back in the thirties, the film studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer once boasted that it had “More stars than there are in heaven”. But these Festo products are no Hollywood stars, and they are also light years away from the billions of heavenly bodies above us. So why do we call them “stars”?

“Stars in pneumatics” – old economy 2.0

Even if we limit ourselves to the world of industrial automation, should a star not at least represent an Internet link, with a simultaneous post appearing on Facebook when a yogurt tub is filled? “I've been filled!” “Like!” The great Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, one of the legendary studio bosses, once said, “There are only two classes – first class and no class.” That is the difference between true “stars” and the hyped-up “wannabes” who are now sold to us as some kind of ultimate experience.

“Stars” – the backbone of the automation industry

True “stars” have represented the gold standard in their field for years. True stars are reliable and always do their job. True stars don’t make a fuss about their achievements. They are the very definition of professionalism. True stars are always first class; they don’t strut around and crow about how great they are.

This makes it all the more com-mendable that Festo is now giving these “silent stars” their chance to shine. After all, these “stars in pneu-matics” are the backbone of industrial automation. They do the same first-class job they always have, and will continue to do so for years to come, even as modern “stars” flare up and claim to have re-invented the world of automation before fading away again just as quickly.

Festo Design Tool 3D reduces residual risk to almost zero when designing and ordering

Chemnitz – “In the old days, we used to wish every order good luck when we sent it on its way,” recalls Carl S., design engineer at a leading machine builder. This had to do with the incred-ibly long lists of items to be ordered and the individual parts that the design engineers had to manually place in CAD. Had we remembered everything? Had we noted down the right number? Had everything been shipped on time? “There was always a risk that we would forget something,” the experienced design engineer remembers. There is now an answer to this problem – the new Festo Design Tool 3D provides more security. Fast, reliable and efficient, this configur-ation software provides a convenient way of configuring standard cylinder assemblies with accessories in all the

Festo Design Tool 3D

Configuration instead of testing

Semi-rotary drive DRRD breaks record for continuous use

usual CAD formats. The Festo Design Tool 3D for pneumatic systems genu-inely reduces the amount of work and therefore saves a considerable amount of time. The risk of errors when com-piling parts lists and ordering indi-vidual components is significantly reduced. “You just install the tool on your computer, and off you go!” reports the engineer enthusiastically. The Festo Design Tool 3D not only makes selecting the required pneu-matic drive easy, it also automatically places the chosen accessories on the cylinder in accordance with the user’s needs. “Finally, I can get back to design-ing instead of checking lists. And if I want, I can also order preassembled units,” says the satisfied engineer.

www.festo.com/fdt

Hamburg – The ingress of cutting and grinding oil regularly used to result in premature failure of the drives. With the DRRD, this is a problem we can now keep at arm’s length – for good.

In a newly designed plant at Swiss company Linear Abrasive SA, the DRRDs have been put to use. The result: after more than six months of continuous use in three-shift oper-ation, the semi-rotary drive with piston shows no signs of fatigue. However, durability and a sturdy design are just two of the benefits this drive has to offer. Its speed and high repetition accuracy mean that no reconfiguration is required even after installation, making the DRRD one of the top semi-rotary drives on the market.

www.festo.com/drrd

DRRD proves itself in the harshest of environments

Accurate design, simple configuration, easy ordering and fast delivery:

the Festo Design Tool 3D.

Full power even when the going gets

tough – the semi-rotary drive DRRD

from Festo.

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Big is beautiful500 DSBC cylinders with self-adjust-ing cushioning PPS and individual valves VUVG synchronously press body panels for car doors, boots and wings. With a switching time of 100 to 150 milliseconds, the valves VUVG can

achieve an incredibly high cycle rate of up to 90 pressing processes per minute. The output is thus 40% higher than that of a conventional plant. This makes running the plant a breeze for the staff at NSM Magnettechnik.

Picture of the day

Design Configure Place order Delivery Done!

The productivity boost for the automotive industry

The musings of A. K. Stahl

You would like to reduce your costs?You prefer a more reliable solution?We have the right approach for you.

Our standard cylinders with PPSAlways perfectly adjusted, even with changing loads and speeds. The self-adjusting pneumatic end-position cushioning PPS makes installation a lot quicker and considerably reduces downtimes. Above all, it increases your productivity. www.festo.com

Self-adjusting cushioning

PPS

3

Clean air discovered

Ex and top

The service unit series MS from Festo produces top-quality air

World premiere: Festo’s latest NAMUR valve

Bremen – Pneumatic automation solu-tions require a clear head. As such, they need to be able to take a deep breath regularly – especially when they’re under pressure. The better and more specifically the quality of the pressure and air meets the require-ments, the better the system per-forms. The perfect job for the MS series service units, a comprehensive range of products for air preparation. For simple standard applications as well as application-specific solutions

News

Düsseldorf – It’s only just hit the market, but it’s already a star: the new standard NAMUR valve VSNC. Thanks to the converting seal that allows it to be used as either a 3/2-way or a 5/2 way valve, its extended temperature range of –20°C to 60°C, and its ATEX, IEC Ex and NEC certifica-tions, it is THE pilot valve for process automation.

www.festo.com/vsnc

with the highest quality requirements. Thanks to its integrated pressure and flow sensors, the MS series offers excep-tionally reliable compressed air prepa-ration and supply. Experts say “Maxi-mum flow rates”. This is achieved in a minimum of space, thus saving money by allowing engineers to plan “one size smaller” in their designs. This “quality air” provides maximum machine avail-ability thanks to controlled processes.

www.festo.com/ms

Simply better connected: the push-in fittings QS Quick Star

• A secure solution for every connection

• Over 1000 types of standard

and function fittings

• High flow rate

A variant of the service unit MS.

4

The first VSNC.

Presented at VALVEWORLD.

What your machines wantHigh performance, low price – the “stars in pneumatics”

Robust and with high

flow rates!

You are looking for a low-cost, all-round valve.You want high flow rates and reliability.We are your valve specialists.

VUVS: your new all-round valve.Perfect for most of your everyday applications. Robust quality. Excellent performance data. Easy to operate. A host of accessories in a very clearly structured product range. And still attractively priced. That is what today’s valves should be! www.festo.com

FastEasy

Superb

You rely on pneumatics.You expect high levels of availability.We are your go-to partner for your automation needs.

The Festo core product range for basic automation functions with excellent availability:• Fast:readyfordeliveryin24hoursfromstock• Easy:orderonlineinjustafewclicks• Superb:Festoqualityatanattractiveprice www.festo.com

Who could say no to an offer like this? Want to hang out with the stars? Anyone who chooses Festo in future will get the chance to do just that – with the “stars in pneumatics”.

Freudenberg – The “stars in pneu-matics” are almost 2,500 globally uniform products for the pneumatic control chain: valves, cylinders, ser-vice units, sensors and accessories. All these products stand out because of their excellent value for money. And unlike the kind of stars that play hard to get, Festo‘s stars are easy to find. Each one of them is marked with a star in the catalogue. Usually shipped

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within 24 hours and available to order in just four clicks in the Online Shop, they are the quickest way to get Festo quality for a low price – exactly what your machines want.

www.festo.com/stars