Spending time evaluating and selecting the correct drive coupling for a specific application may seem like a source of frustration for designers and engineers, however the resulting benefits from this exercise greatly outweigh the initial effort. David Proud, UK Director of Reich Drive Systems UK, highlights the positive aspects of correct drive coupling selection, which are often overlooked when things go as planned.

As global data centre build-out accelerates, co-packaged optics (CPO) is being manufactured at a scale the industry hasn’t previously faced, and a key step of photonic packaging has moved to the centre of the conversation: active alignment. Here we talk with Justin Bressi, Business Development Manager at Aerotech about how active alignment has become a yield-and-throughput problem in its own right, and how a purpose-built, multi-company architecture has been engineered to keep pace with CPO’s production demands.

Personalised medicine is accelerating the pace of change inside the lab. The question for machine builders and end users is whether the automation beneath those workflows can change quickly enough to keep up. Here, Bradley McEwan, business development manager at Beckhoff UK, explains why PC-based control is the perfect foundation for lab automation in a world with growing demand for personalised medicine.

Automation continues to expand across demanding manufacturing, logistics and food production applications. Therefore, ReeR is trusted to provide safety systems that work in demanding operating environments.

When machine builders are specifying motion systems, it is easy to get caught up on the numbers. Torque, speed, power density, and price are all clear, measurable factors, and they provide a straightforward way to compare components. But in modern machine design, these figures rarely tell the full story, as the experts at Kollmorgen explain.

Machine hardware upgrades can make a difference in improving productivity, but often the greatest gains don't come from replacing physical components, they come from improving how machines are controlled, explains Beth Ragdale, product manager at industrial control and automation specialist Beckhoff UK & Ireland.

In motion system design, a great deal of attention goes into choosing the right motor and the right drive. Far less tends to go into what connects them, or into where those drives are placed. Yet these decisions shape much of what ultimately matters about a machine - what it costs to build, how much space it takes up, how quickly it can be commissioned, and how easily it can be adapted years later, as the experts at Kollmorgen explain.

Drive technology and automation are no longer purely technical matters. In a market where energy, labour and expertise are becoming increasingly scarce, the operational foundation increasingly determines whether industrial companies can protect their margins, delivery reliability and capacity for growth, as the experts at Lenze explain.

Although the case for investment in industrial automation and robotics is strong, in the current climate of corporate belt-tightening, many automation projects don't make it off the drawing board because of the perceived high upfront investment. Oliver Selby, Head of Sales, FANUC UK, reframes the cost of robotics.

From the resistance of a control knob to the feel of a handle, Rencol Components explores how seemingly minor design decisions can have a major influence on perceptions of quality.