When a Formula One car takes a corner at 150 miles per hour or a jet engine powers up mid-flight, there is no room for error. Every component, every system has already been pushed to its limits in controlled conditions long before it sees real-world action. Here, Beth Ragdale, software business manager at automation specialist Beckhoff UK, explains why building the tools to run those tests and scaling them for production is a challenge that machine builders are quietly wresting with.

According to experts from Regal Rexnord, the best way to improve hygiene in bakeries is not just through cleaner materials or easier access, but by reducing the number of potential failure points across the system as a whole.

For all but the very highest force requirements, electric servo presses provide numerous advantages over their historic, hydraulic counterparts. The actuator is integral to press capability, as well as production quality, and levels of productivity, making its specification central to electric servo press design. Gerard Bush, engineer at INMOCO, discusses the motion requirements for linear servo press design.

In a recent conversation with a system integrator, PLUS Automation managing director Mark Weymouth got to discussing the special or best sensors in his 'tool kit'. That conversation inspired him to pick a sensor and explain why this robust, unusually shaped, IP69K-rated inductive sensor from Contrinex is especially useful across a wide variety of industries and applications.

The updated ISO 14119:2024 standard - covering interlocking devices associated with guards - was published just a few months ago, replacing the 2013 version. This revision is essential for machine builders, end users, and safety professionals. The experts at Fortress Safety discuss the changes.

The new Deep 3D Matching technology from MVTec recognises the exact position of objects even under difficult conditions, making picking from a box safe, fast, and efficient.

It would be fair to say that present day IO-Link sensors achieve speeds which are, at the very least, on par with conventional signals. However, the latest IO-Link technology offers decisive advantages in process automation systems, although the potential of the digital interface is far from being fully exploited, as the experts at Baumer explain.

Today's fully electrified and highly connected world would be unthinkable without the automation of industrial production processes. And even if plugs and sockets, switches and circuit protection devices do not receive the greatest attention, they are still of fundamental importance for the economically viable use of highly automated production processes, as the experts at SCHURTER explain.

With so many options available, selecting the right bearing for your application can be a daunting task. Here, Chris Johnson, managing director at SMB Bearings, unravels the complexities of bearings and offers expert guidance on what to choose and when.

There are many ways of driving hydraulic pumps, simple bellhousings and couplings for instance or perhaps a belt and pulley. Here the experts from jbj Techniques consider multiple pump drive gearboxes where a single prime mover simultaneously drives a number of hydraulic pumps, these are often referred to as splitter gearboxes.