It seems rare – impossible, even – for
such a massive enterprise to also come
across as intimate, but Hannover manages
to deliver a sense of synergy between
the copious companies lining
the labyrinth-like halls that few other
shows can rival, according to R+W
America Sales Manager Andy Lechner.
“It’s bigger than any industrial trade
show in the Americas, that’s for sure,”
he said. “I want to say the number of
halls is in the range of 25 to 30. To put
it in perspective, I want to say that Mc-
Cormick Place (Chicago, IL) has like
six or seven. It’s very, very diverse and I
think pretty well organized.
“If you go to a lot of industry trade
shows, even big ones here in the states,
you’ll see that except maybe for the
major players by the front door the
companies are just sort of randomly
scattered around and not really wellorganized
by technology or product.
The difference with Hannover is that
there will be multiple halls – let’s say
two or three – that are dedicated to the
areas of manufacturing technology
that we’re involved in.
“Motion, Drive & Automation is an
important category and that’s where it
can be assumed you will find R+W and
its competitors.”
Typically, the largest of all the individual
trade fairs is MDA, a broadbased
event spanning offerings such as
antifriction bearings, pumps, motors,
gearboxes, drive elements, clutches
and brakes. One of the main benefits
of the show is that it’s strategically
positioned alongside the MobiliTec
and Wind fairs – whose exhibitors and
visitors are among the biggest users of
power transmission and control technology
– which enables drive technology
solutions to flow through into
enhancement areas in keys areas, according
to the Hannover Messe official
website (www.hannovermesse.de).
“You only have [the MDA fair] in odd
years,” said Zandieh. “In even years
you don’t have that so the show is generally
smaller than in the odd years.
We’ve been putting the show on for
over 50 years and it’s been consistently
growing.”
The numbers for the MDA fair in
2013 were rather robust: 1,200 exhibitors
from over 100 different countries,
79,900 visitors and 2,142,000 business
contacts made over the five-day period.
Zandieh expects more of the same in
2015.
“We have all the halls sold out,” he
said. “It’s hard to predict, but yes, we
do expect one of the record shows this
year. We’re very, very excited.”
What to expect
Ah, the excitement – can you feel it?
Everyone who talks about Hannover
Messe seems to speak with a little more
melody in their voices, like it’s Christmas
morning and old Saint Nick just
dropped a bounty of packaged prizes
down the chimney. In fact, that comparison
isn’t all that far off – Hannover
Messe is basically industrial manufacturing’s
biggest holiday.
And, like Christmas itself, you can
expect tons of shiny new toys – from
R+W America (Bensenville, IL), Altra
(Braintree, MA) and hundreds of other
companies.
“Hannover has always been a really
important show for R+W internationally,”
said Lechner. “It’s obviously key
to show some things that are new. Basically
the biggest development that
we’ve made that we want to showcase
there is a high-torque, high-speed
safety coupling.
“R+W has made safety couplings
since the ’90s, and about six years ago
we introduced a heavy-duty line that
basically increased our torque capacity
from 2,800 Nm up to 160,000 Nm.
Since we’re so involved in high-speed
machinery, namely in automotive
testing machinery, we came up with a
system that handles both high-torques
and high-speeds that really kind of
hits the power requirements for a lot
of people doing E-motor testing in the
automotive industry.”
According to Lechner, R+W will be
debuting its fully integrated torque
coupling at Hannover Messe. It’s a
high-torque, high-speed safety coupling
that can be fitted with a bellows
coupling. That particular configuration
is well-suited to automotive testing
applications, with the ability to disengage
at speeds of over 10,000 rpm, with
higher running speeds on request.
Disengagement torques are available
in the range of thousands of Nm. When configured with a flexible bellows
coupling they offer protection from
misalignment and torque overload,
while maintaining very smooth and
high precision rotary motion with zero
backlash. They are also available with
flexible disc pack couplings and multiple
other custom configurations.
“We’re excited to introduce this new
product,” Lechner said, “along with
providing our customers and international
partners with a better look at our
full line of heavy-duty industrial drive
couplings through an augmented reality
system, which R+W will be bringing
to the fair.”
Excited – there’s that word again.
It flows through the veins of Hannover,
pumping and beating electric
lifeblood from the Americas over to
Europe, where Brooksbank originally
hails from. Now stationed at one of Altra’s
U.S. locations in South Beloit, IL,
Brooksbank spoke about showcasing
Altra’s expansive list of varying brands,
including two new ones not seen at the
MDA fair during Hannover 2013.
“This will be the third time [we’ve
been to Hannover Messe] as Altra,”
Brooksbank said. “Every time we’ve
been there we’ve represented all our
(22) brands on a global basis. Now,
two years ago did we have Svendborg
Brakes and Guardian Industries? No,
but every time we’ve gone we promote
every one of our brands because every
one of them has a global presence of
some range.
“We do, in fact, try to promote the
main European brands. Obviously
they have a big presence – Stieber being
one; Wichita Clutch, Warner Electric,
Bauer Gear Motor and Matrix International.
“One of the main things we’re really
trying to do this year is promote our Altra
couplings brand, which are the Bibby
Turboflex, Huco Dynatork, Ameridrives
and TB Wood’s brands, as we try
to go to market in Europe as one brand.
“Couplings are very big for us, as
well as our heavy-duty group with the
acquisition of Svendborg.”
Altra will debut its brand new line
of custom designed extra small brakes
from Warner Electric, which are designed
to be light weight and fit into
the smallest areas.
Also being showcased by Altra is
Stieber’s new torque limiting/load
sharing low-speed backstop RDBRE
releasable under load – the highest
torque capacity for releasable external
backstops available in the market today
with a torque capacity of 700,000 Nm.
“In the overrunning clutch we have
Stieber, Formsprag and Marland,
which are formidable brands,” he said.
“We have Warner Electric with electromagnetic
clutches and brakes, and
Warner Linear with the actuators. And
then, of course, there’s Bauer as well.
“It just goes on and on – it can become
very boring talking about each
brand individually.”
The list, indeed, does seem to go on
and on when looking at the complete
rundown of Hannover’s exhibitors:
According to a recent press release,
Parker Hannifin (Cleveland, OH) will
be presenting the latest addition to its
range of CMS system solutions. This
involves a series of new sensors that
can measure a variety of parameters,
such as the viscosity, density and dielectric
properties of hydraulic media,
and which eliminate time-consuming
calibration processes. The company
will also showcase a new measuring
technology that simultaneously counts
particles and measures relative humidity.
In terms of general industry trends,
Parker Hannifin points to a move towards
integrated CMS solutions.
“Customers now want total system
health management solutions that
capture and rapidly analyze all the
relevant data,” Parker Hannifin’s Sales
Manager of Hydraulic & Engine Filtration,
Stefan Nilgen, said in the press
release.
Condition monitoring will also be a
key theme at the stand of Festo Corporation
(Esslingen am Neckar, Germany),
according to a press release.
The company will be showcasing its
CPX valve terminal – an automation
module that connects pneumatic and
electrical systems. The terminal has a
modular design with integrated condition
monitoring functionality, diagnostics
and electrical and pneumatic
safety functions. The Festo stand will
once again feature a new bionics study
that provides a fresh perspective on a
range of topics, including condition
monitoring and diagnostics, the press
release said.
Fluid-power specialist Argo-Hytos
(Zug, Switzerland) will be using MDA
to showcase a range of hardwarebased
CMS solutions for hydraulic
systems, according to a press release.
It will also be presenting its “CMS Systems
& Services” package – a suite of
turnkey measurement solutions that
includes installation, calibration and
monitoring services.
“The data captured by condition
monitoring systems provide the basis
for plant integration and optimization
in the sense of Industry 4.0,” Christian
Kienzle, CEO of the Argo-Hytos Group,
said in the press release. “New digital integration and information processing
solutions are opening the way for
the optimization of ever more complex
processes and systems. To harness the
full potential of CM solutions, we are
increasingly using intelligent CM components,
which we tailor to our customer’s
individual applications.”
Bachmann Monitoring (Bonn, Germany)
is going present a CMS solution
for end-to-end wind turbine drivetrain
monitoring. According to Bachmann,
one of the key technology trends in the
wind energy sector is the development
of integrated solutions that can monitor
entire turbines, from rotor blade to
tower foundation.
Prüftechnik AG’s (Ismaning, Germany)
showcase will also center on
wind turbine technology, according to
a press release. The company will be
presenting Vibguard XP, a new version
of its Vibguard online condition monitoring
system that was specifically developed
for the wind energy industry.
Vibguard XP captures and analyzes
signals on up to 20 channels simultaneously.
It can pick up irregular vibrations
in the drivetrain and tower and
can even detect the formation of ice on
the rotor blades, the press release said.
And remember: These are just a
few of over 1,000 companies from the
world of motion, drives and automation
appearing at Hannover.
Are you beginning to get the picture
yet? Hint: it’s big.
What to learn
By this point you’ve probably gathered
there’s plenty to see at Hannover
Messe. Even with a set of the world’s
strongest binoculars and an operational
time machine you couldn’t possibly
see everything in the five-day window.
But more important than seeing
what Hannover Messe has to offer is
learning its secrets.
“The lead topic of this year’s show is
Integrated Industry,” Zandieh said. “So
anything that has to deal with Industry
4.0.”
This may be news to you, but the
world is currently square in the middle
of the fourth industrial revolution –
which is not an insurgency of metal and
fire, but one of hypertext, file sharing
and social networking – and Hannover
Messe is aiming to educate the masses.
Defined as Industry 4.0, this “massive
upheaval of the industrial sector”
will be the main topic of discussion
during Hannover’s forum, according
to Zandieh.
“Microsoft is going to be giving a
presentation of Industry 4.0,” he said.
“They have a huge presence at the
show this year and will be making
some new announcements. Also at the
MDA forum we will cover energy efficiency
and sustainability, industrial
automation, smart factory and condition
monitoring systems.”
Heralding itself as the “trailblazer of
Industry 4.0,” Hannover Messe will feature
the reports from three public task
forces for the Industry 4.0 platform:
“Norms & Standards,” “Security” and
“Research & Innovation.” The report
will come during the Industrial IT forum,
which is jointly organized by the
Industry 4.0 platform and VDMA and
the German Electrical and Electronic
Manufacturers’ Association.
And if the future is in fact going to be
determined at Hannover Messe, the
forum on Industry 4.0 might just be the
catalyst.
“Power transmission and fluid
power technology are fast becoming
key components of Industry 4.0,” said
Rauen in a press release. “Intelligent
actuator units and actuator CPS modules
for instance are currently being
used to capture, understand and interpret
actuator motion and function data
and wear parameters. To that extent,
condition monitoring systems are already
being put to work to create viable
business models.”
According to IT reports on Hannover
Messe’s website, the importance of Industry
4.0 at present time is “moderate,”
but within five years it will rise to
“great” or “very great.”
Five years? You don’t have to be Doc
Brown to know that’s most definitely
the future.
It begins off the shores of the River
Leine on April 13.
For more information:
Hannover Fairs USA, Inc.
Phone: (773) 796-4250
www.messe.de
R+W America
Phone: (630) 521-9911
www.rw-america.com
Altra Industrial Motion
Phone: +44 (0)1562 751436
www.altramotion.com
