HANNOVER MESSE 2009 explores new directions in resource efficiency

– New special display: “Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes”
– INTERKAMA+ : No.1 expo in process automation sector
– “Operational Excellence”: complex process automation issues top of the agenda at expert discussions in INTERKAMA+ Lounge
– Premiere of world-unique “Robot Ballet”: unmanned transport vehicles orchestrated perfectly by hi-tech radio control systems
– Definitely not pie in the sky: autonomous flying robots will soon be commonplace in civil aviation

Hannover. Necessity is the mother of invention: our expertise in matters hi-tech tends to increase as resources become scarce – and the balance is tipping in favor of expertise at lightning speed. If you want to know just which groundbreaking innovations in industrial automation will be shaping our lives over the coming months and years, then HANNOVER MESSE 2009 is the place to go. It’s an industrial trade fair held in Hannover, Germany, and it’s where the future is made.

From technology at its most spectacular – unmanned flying robots spring to mind – to highly efficient solutions that are as easy on the environment as they are on the bottom line: with its great breadth of innovation, HANNOVER MESSE 2009 is arguably the world’s most important technology expo.

Three major tradeshows themed around industrial automation under one roof
The industrial automation content at HANNOVER MESSE 2009 is grouped into three major tradeshows: INTERKAMA+, Factory Automation, and Industrial Building Automation. International experts from all kinds of corporate and industrial backgrounds will be there, lending their weight to this tradeshow cluster with a wealth of product displays and information on the state of the art in industrial automation. And in doing this, they will be leveraging HANNOVER MESSE’s ‘critical mass’ to access markets on all five continents.

Energy efficiency: answers to key questions
As one of the industrialized world’s biggest consumers of energy, the manufacturing sector is uniquely positioned to make a major contribution to global CO2 emission reduction. To do this, it needs to implement energy-efficient processes and technologies as quickly and on as wide a scale as possible. The INTERKAMA+ tradeshow at HANNOVER MESSE 2009 is gearing up to make a contribution of global significance in this area via its “Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes” display.

HANNOVER MESSE 2009 will identify and quantify the main areas of production in which energy use can be optimized and savings achieved. It will also demonstrate a range of fully developed, market-ready process automation products and technologies for realizing these savings.

INTERKAMA+ feeds into all automation technology disciplines
INTERKAMA+, a top tradeshow specializing in process automation, owes its unique status and reach to the fact that it is part of the HANNOVER MESSE industrial trade fair. It is thanks to its multiple interfaces with allied automation technology disciplines at HANNOVER MESSE’s other shows that INTERKAMA+ has become the No. 1 event on the international process automation expo circuit. The show will remain true to this outstanding reputation in 2009. “INTERKAMA+ remains the definitive tradeshow for the process automation industry. It gives trade visitors an overview of the entire market and plots emerging trends,” explains Emanuel Marra of Deutsche Messe AG’s INTERKAMA+ project team. “INTERKAMA+ 2009 features an extended Process Automation Gallery program themed around energy efficiency and an INTERKAMA+ Lounge program on ‘Operational Excellence.’ There will also be speaking events and panel discussions – perfect opportunities for trade visitors to learn and share knowledge.”

Keynote theme of Operational Excellence a big plus for manufacturing industry
The INTERKAMA+ Lounge is located in Hall 7 at the Hannover Exhibition Center and is the venue for the INTERKAMA+ tradeshow’s supporting events. In 2009, the lounge will be themed around Operational Excellence, providing visitors from the manufacturing sector with valuable insights into complex process automation and plant management issues. The lounge’s array of expert discussions and its Process Automation Gallery will focus on the practical applications of the technologies on show at INTERKAMA+ and their benefits for the manufacturing industry. The Process Automation Gallery is an integrated offering of information, discussions, practical demonstrations and opportunities for knowledge-sharing and relationship-building – all of which makes the INTERKAMA+ Lounge the perfect platform for process automation decision-makers from around the globe.

Wireless Automation and Speaker’s Corner
Other highlights include the Wireless Automation exhibition area, which in 2009 will continue the discussions on the WirelessHART standard initiated in 2008, and the Speaker’s Corner, where exhibitors will deliver presentations on the latest trends, and technology users will reflect on process automation applications in their organizations. These two events contribute further to the INTERKAMA+ tradeshow’s unparalleled status in the industrial automation sector.

Factory Automation: solutions and real industrial applications
The HANNOVER MESSE fair’s displays and presentations on cutting-edge factory automation technology are grouped for maximum synergy into its aptly named Factory Automation tradeshow. “These industrial applications are crucial to Europe’s long-term economic success,” comments Matthias Goeke, head of the Goeke Technology Group. “For us and other innovative companies, the Factory Automation show is the perfect platform for showcasing technically advanced solutions to a wide trade audience.”

Factory Automation deals with all aspects of networked manufacturing automation solutions and profiles a wealth of innovations in mechanical engineering and robotics. The show’s wide-ranging exhibition content is supported by a number of forums, expert discussion panels, speaking events and workshops.

Application Park: deep insights into industrial production processes
The Application Park is a group pavilion at Factory Automation organized and produced by HANNOVER MESSE in association with Germany’s foremost engineering industry association, the VDMA. Automation solutions are highly complex, and requirements vary enormously among users. It is therefore important for providers of factory automation components and integrated solutions to build confidence among users by giving them the chance to see a range of real-life solutions in action. This is what the Application Park does. Located in Hall 17 at the Hannover Exhibition Center, it uses live demonstrations to showcase Germany’s production automation expertise to truly stunning effect. In 2009, the park’s exhibition area will have a strong focus on robot-assisted automation and identification technology.

Mobile Areas: the success story just gets better
“Mobile Robots & Autonomous Systems,” an exhibition area of the Factory Automation show that wowed trade visitors and media representatives with spectacular demonstrations and hi-tech feats at its premiere in 2008, will be back again in 2009. Prof. Frank Kirchner, spokesman for the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence’s (DFKI) Bremen facility and head of the centre’s robotics research group, explains: “For DFKI, HANNOVER MESSE is the single most important technology and industry fair. It is an outstanding platform for dialogue between research and industry. It has a whole hall dedicated to Mobile Robotics & Autonomous Systems, complete with a top-notch lecture and discussion forum and Mobile Areas where mobile robots can range freely. In 2008, these features provided us with authentic settings in which to showcase our extensive expertise in underwater robotics, space robotics and safety robotics.”

Robots in flight at the exhibition centre
In 2009, a clever new twist to the innovative “Mobile Robots & Autonomous Systems” exhibition will give a selection of UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicles) free range of the airspace above the exhibition area – beyond the confines of their home display stands. The climbing, glass façade-cleaning robots that will be on show are equally out of the ordinary. This is certainly true of the hi-tech robotics wizardry that powers them.
“Robots are becoming increasingly autonomous with each successive breakthrough in information technology and embedded systems,” explains Matthias Brucke, head of Business Development at the OFFIS Institute for Information Technology. The OFFIS showcase at HANNOVER MESSE 2009 will include “Guard,” an autonomous flying robot that has potential applications in border surveillance and protection, maritime and coastal surveillance, and the surveillance of critical transport, energy and urban infrastructure.

“Autopilot systems that keep aircraft on course have been around for years,” says Brucke by way of lead-in to a proposition that will sound perfectly plausible to anyone who witnesses “Guard” in flight at HANNOVER MESSE 2009: “I believe that a few years from now we will see autonomous flying robots in service in the civil aviation sector. Some day they may even be entrusted with logistics and transport tasks.”

World premiere at HANNOVER MESSE 2009: Robot Ballet
Götting KG, a German-based manufacturer of guidance sensors for automated guided vehicles (AGVs), is planning a joint exhibition featuring 10 AGV manufacturers at HANNOVER MESSE 2009. Götting KG has been making radio and sensor systems since 1965 and has the world’s most extensive range of AGV guidance components. “Automated guided vehicles have played a key role in industry over the past 20 years, especially in Germany,” comments CEO Hans-Hermann Götting. “Germany is in fact the global technology leader in this field. The country has more than 20 providers of AGV systems. Götting KG is happy to support the AGV industry and will be subsidizingits co-exhibitors at the planned pavilion. After all, almost all of the co-exhibitors are Götting KG customers.”

The company has devised a somewhat unusual idea for presenting its products and those of its co-exhibitors that will consolidate HANNOVER MESSE’s claim to fame as “the Mecca of the AGV world.” Mr. Götting explains: “All the unmanned vehicles are members of a ‘ballet troupe.’ They are controlled by a radio guidance system that coordinates their routines so that they are able to move about in a confined space in an orderly fashion without colliding with one another.” It will in all probability be the first time that such a large number of vehicles from different manufacturers have performed in unison. The market is so fiercely competitive that manufacturers have so far avoided collaboration on this scale. “To the best of our knowledge the performance is a world-first,” Mr. Götting adds.

Industrial Identification delivers reliable production processes
For industrial companies, staying ahead of the competition often revolves around juggling a diverse range of automation technology components and systems and getting them to function together as one. Help is at hand with the Center of Expertise for Industrial Identification, a highly successful exhibition section dedicated to intelligent identification and marking systems that will feature at the Factory Automation show at HANNOVER MESSE 2009. The section will be even bigger than in 2008, as Susanne Schütz of Deutsche Messe AG, the show’s organizer, explains: “In 2008 we leased just on 500 sqm (5,380 sq. ft) of display space for ‘Industrial Identification’. This time around we’re already at just on 700 sqm (7,530 sq. ft) – and we haven’t even finished marketing yet.”

Dr. Andreas Stock from the Institute for Transport and Automation Technology (ITA), Hannover, Germany, explains why industrial identification is such a growth area: “One of the main trends in the manufacturing industry is to develop the ability to recognize goods directly with the aid of image processing technology – in much the same way as humans perceive the world primarily through their eyes. Another emerging area is the ability to distinguish between items that are outwardly identical but internally very different. Containers are classic examples of this. As automation and intralogistics progress, more and more products will become subject to increasingly frequent automated identification.” The design concept for the ITA pavilion for 2009 is all about making complex industrial identification technology accessible. “Visitors will be able to learn the theory at the Industrial Identification User Advice Clinic and then experience this cutting-edge technology live in action at the RFID Test Area. A number of industrial identification businesses will be providing linkage between innovative ideas and real-life projects at their own stands in and around the ITA pavilion.”

Repositioning of industrial image processing content
The organizers are putting a greater emphasis on the theme of industrial image processing at the center of the Factory Automation show in Hall 17. Thanks to its strong focus on applications and solutions, the show’s industrial image processing content generates strong interest among visitors. The organizers have developed a new format that will expand the existing exhibition content and integrate it more closely into the overall HANNOVER MESSE showcase. This will generate major synergy benefits for trade visitors. They will find multidisciplinary solutions for increasing the efficiency of their production processes and will be able to determine whether a barcode solution is what their specific situation calls for, or whether they should opt for an RFID solution or perhaps a more complex image processing solution.

Special program by newly established Robotation Academy
Deutsche Messe AG and Volkswagen Coaching GmbH will be opening their newly founded “Robotation Academy” on site at the Hannover Exhibition Center in January 2009. Housed in its own building spanning some 2,500 sqm (26,900 sq. ft) of floor space (Pavilion 36), the Robotation Academy will provide year-round hi-tech training courses tailored specifically to the needs of SMEs. The courses will be run by automation and robotics experts from Volkswagen Coaching GmbH. Thomas Rilke, Deutsche Messe’s Director of Industrial Automation and head of the Robotation Academy, explains: “In a world-first we are setting up a training establishment that will run conferences and training courses on automation and robotics. The point of difference is that the courses will be physically staged around a range of robotics and automation solutions by big-name manufacturers – real hands-on learning.” The unique training concept is already proving a hit with businesses: 12 firms from the electrical automation sector have already signed up to have their employees trained in art of human-machine interaction.

In addition to the year-round Robotation Academy, Deutsche Messe and Volkswagen Coaching are offering a special program for HANNOVER MESSE 2009 comprising ten separately bookable modules on robotics and automation. Experts from the Academy will also be running a robotics question and answer session on each day of the fair.

New: Center of Expertise for Clean Production
Clean production technology is fast growing in importance – and not only in established user industries such as microelectronics and pharmaceuticals, but also in other sectors such as car-making and hydraulics. The focus in these sectors is on plant, machinery and components that are suitable for operation under cleanroom conditions.

Deutsche Messe has responded to this trend by partnering with the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation (IPA) to set up an all-new Center of Expertise for Clean Production. The Center is sited in Hall 16, right next-door to the classic exhibition areas of the Factory Automation tradeshow. It features a full range of innovative components and practical solutions for “clean” production – everything from cleanroom-compatible hydraulic systems to industrial robots.

Industrial Building Automation: smart buildings
One of the foremost trends in the industrial sector will be examined at the third tradeshow making up the industrial automation trio at HANNOVER MESSE 2009: Industrial Building Automation.

Welcome to the future of industrial production: automated, intelligent factory buildings that log the processes going on in their interior, provide their users with every conceivable kind of information and control all the processes necessary for performing pre-defined functions.

Industrial Building Automation, like its 12 sister tradeshows at HANNOVER MESSE 2009, accords central importance to the theme of energy efficiency. Efficient building measurement, feedback and control systems have the potential to deliver major energy savings and in fact account for a sizeable percentage of the total energy savings achievable by industrial automation processes generally. In describing her company’s mission at Industrial Building Automation 2008, Gabriele Striebel of automation and power technology provider ABB AG encapsulated perfectly the value and appeal of the show: “We develop systems that improve the energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impacts of manufacturing – systems that span the entire process chain from electric generation to electricity consumption in industrial buildings.” This will be no less true in 2009.

About HANNOVER MESSE (the Hannover Fair)
The world’s leading showcase for industrial technology is staged annually in Hannover, Germany. The next HANNOVER MESSE will be held from 20 to 24 April 2009, with the Republic of Korea to be featured as its official Partner Country. The following flagship fairs are taking place under the umbrella of HANNOVER MESSE 2009:
INTERKAMA+ • Factory Automation • Industrial Building Auto¬mation • Motion, Drive & Automation • Digital Factory • Subcontrac¬ting• Energy • Wind • Power Plant Technology • MicroTechnology • SurfaceTechnology • ComVac • Research & Technology.
In 2009 the spotlight will be on industrial automa¬tion, energy, power transmission and control, industrial subcontracting and pioneering technologies.

Your contact for further information:
Marco Siebert
Tel. +49 (0)511 - 89-31619
E-mail: marco.siebert@messe.de

Selected press releases and photographs can be downloaded at: www.hannovermesse.de/pressservice