Trade show appearance with live demonstration of digital twins - Significant sales increases in 2021 - Rising energy prices and unstable supply chains cloud prospects
The digital transformation of power transmision engineering and fluid power is also running at full speed. Technological developments in recent years have brought both industries strong demand on the customer side and are putting power transmission engineering and fluid power at the center of Industrie 4.0. Added to this are the topics of climate protection and resource efficiency, which require cutting-edge technologies as solutions. Here, too, drive technology and fluid power are pioneers.
"The competitiveness of companies is high. Power transmission engineering and fluid power offer the performance building blocks of the future: power, torque, data source are combined in the products and solutions - this makes the industry the decisive partner for high-performance solutions," comments Hartmut Rauen, Managing Director of the two trade associations in the VDMA.
At 2022, the power transmission engineering and fluid power industries will present a broad range of products and services. Numerous VDMA member companies will present practical examples in the context of digitalization and sustainability.
Fluid Power 4.0 Demonstrator - Try out digital twins live
A highlight of the trade fair is the 4.0 demonstrator, which the VDMA has developed together with member companies. At fluidpower40.com, explanatory videos, background knowledge and concrete examples for the implementation of digitization concepts are offered.
Four use cases along the product life cycle will demonstrate live at the trade show how the digital twin leads to success with suitable data. For this purpose, interested parties can touch physical fluid power products in Hall 6, Booth B51, scan the QR codes and explore the associated Digital Twins.
Guide to Drive Technology 4.0: Digitalization trends for product, production and supply chain
This year, the German Power Transmission Association is also using the Hannover Messe as a stage for its guide for power transmission companies. This guide was developed irrespective of size, structure or product portfolio and is intended to support companies in the concrete implementation of Industrie 4.0.
The guide is aimed at both newcomers and experts and contains methods and tools for uncovering a company's own competencies and potential in order to develop new approaches and concrete projects in the context of Industrie 4.0.
The fluid power and power transmssion engineering activities are flanked by several VDMA initiatives, e.g. on the OPC UA interface standard, the "Industrial Digital Twin Association e. V." (IDTA) alliance co-initiated by the VDMA, the "Wireless Communications for Machines" working group and the "Industrial Security" Competence Center, which are also exhibiting at the trade show. In this way, the VDMA is defining and standardizing the interoperable system landscape of intelligently networked Industrie 4.0 production.
Strong industry sales in 2021, many challenges currently
For 2021, the Power Transmission Engineering Association reports a 12 percent increase in sales compared to the previous year. Incoming orders increased by a significant 37 percent during this period. The start of 2022 also went well.
In the first three months of the current year, sales increased by 13 percent and incoming orders by 9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
The companies in the Fluid Power Association were able to increase their sales by 23 percent in 2021 compared to 2020 in both hydraulics and pneumatics. Incoming orders were significantly higher still, up 49 percent (hydraulics) and 27 percent (pneumatics), providing a tailwind at the start of 2022. As a result, both sectors can look forward to sales growth of 16 percent in the first quarter of 2022. Incoming orders in this period are plus 4 percent for hydraulics and plus 18 percent for pneumatics.
As a forecast for sales in the current year - in each case compared to the previous year - the VDMA (as of 03/2022) predicts a sales increase of 5 percent for drive technology, 6 percent for hydraulics and 7 percent for pneumatics.
"Fortunately, we entered this difficult unpredictable year with high order backlogs. Companies are successfully moving through the transformation process toward intelligently networked and sustainable production. Nevertheless, the forecast horizon is ambitious and the direction uncertain. Flexibility and resilience remain the order of the day," says Hartmut Rauen. Companies are currently severely challenged by rising energy prices as well as supply bottlenecks for metals, plastics and especially microchips. The situation in China may lead to further aggravation of the bottlenecks and also cloud the economy on the demand side. The Ukraine conflict remains a human tragedy and burden, posing major challenges for companies.
Power Transmission Engineering and Fluid Power at Hannover Messe:
Hall 6, B47 and B51
Joint Company Stand Power Transmission Engineering and Fluid Power: Hall 6, B57