The starting signal for KUKA's digital offensive: Following the establishment of the new digital division, KUKA presented its comprehensive portfolio at its first software and digital event under the motto ‘KUKA digital powering your businesses at its headquarters in Augsburg. The long-established company, known for its industrial robots, is increasingly focusing on the consistent and seamless digitalization of global industrial landscapes. The highlight of the event: mosaixx, the open, collaborative cloud platform for industrial software-as-a-service.

Siemens has signed an agreement to acquire Altair Engineering Inc., a leading provider of software in the industrial simulation and analysis market. Altair shareholders will receive USD 113 per share, representing an enterprise value of approximately USD 10 billion. The offer price represents a 19 percent premium to Altair's unaffected closing price on October 21, 2024, the last trading day prior to media reports regarding a possible transaction. With this acquisition Siemens strengthens its position as a leading technology company and its leadership in industrial software.

Hottinger Brüel & Kjær (HBK) officially launched Advantage Insights empowered by nCode (Advantage Insights), their latest data analysis tool. Advantage Insights offers a powerful, intuitive solution designed to unlock the full potential of engineering data, by speeding up and simplifying the process of handling this data. Some of the key benefits include:

SICK, international provider of sensor-based automation solutions, has received a Platinum medal in the EcoVadis sustainability ranking. This places SICK among the top 1 percent of more than 130,000 companies worldwide that have been evaluated in the past 12 months. EcoVadis is a leading rating provider in the field of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and focusses on transparent and independent review and evaluation of the sustainability management of participating companies.

Updating existing rail vehicles with a modernized drivetrain helps to improve fleet efficiency while keeping costs and service interruptions down. This approach is known as “repowering”. At this year’s InnoTrans, the international trade show for transport technology, ZF and Irish Rail signed a Memorandum of Understanding about a potential new repowering project starting in 2025. The partnership revolves around ZF’s new EcoWorld 2 six-speed powershift transmission, which decreases fuel consumption, improves ride comfort and reduces maintenance efforts.

At MINExpo 2024, Continental recently highlighted solutions tailored for the mining industry, including conveying systems, digital monitoring platforms, fluid hose solutions, and more. These products are designed to withstand the toughest environments while boosting efficiency and productivity. 

With the launch of its Inspector83x 2D vision sensor, SICK has enabled out-of-the-box Artificial Intelligence machine vision inspections for common inline inspection tasks in demanding high-speed production.  

ABB Robotics recently announced its sponsorship of MassRobotics, the leading innovation hub and startup accelerator for robotics in the United States. 

The Olympic Games in Paris are over – now another French metropolis is taking center stage: Lyon will host the 47th WorldSkills from September 10 to 15, 2024. The WorldSkills Championships will bring together more than 1,500 young people from over 65 countries and regions to compete in 62 competitions.

Every two years since 1950, young skilled workers from all over the world have competed in the WorldSkills Championships. They measure their skills in the individual trades in accordance with the demanding WorldSkills standards. The participants qualify beforehand through a national selection process.

Schneider Electric announces major enhancements to EcoStruxure Resource Advisor, a versatile enterprise software suite of solutions designed to empower global companies across efficiency, ESG, energy and risk, and renewables and carbon. This strategic evolution from a platform of stand-alone solutions to an integrated and multifaceted suite addresses the rapidly maturing market and the increasing complexity of corporate sustainability needs.