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Every new product, package format, control architecture, and handling application can create another engineering task for packaging OEMs, adding time, cost, and complexity to the machine build.
At PACK EXPO, Festo shows OEMs how to automate format changes in washdown areas, handle different products without changing grippers, switch PLC platforms without redesigning motion and I/O, and build multi-axis handling systems with less engineering. Festo Booth N-6132, McCormick Place, Chicago, October 18–21.
Bring automatic format change to washdown applications
Caustic cleaning chemicals, high-pressure washdown, and constant moisture have traditionally limited the use of electric motion in hygienic applications or required costly protective enclosures. Those conditions have made it more difficult to use programmable electric positioning for automatic format changes in washdown areas.
EPRF electric cylinder with EMMH-AS motor parallel mountedFesto
Festo brings electric motion directly into the washdown environment with the new hygienic EPRF stainless-steel electric cylinder and EMMH-AS stainless-steel servo motor. Combined with Festo CMMT-AS multiprotocol servo drives, the IP69K EPRF and EMMH-AS provide linear and rotary motion that integrates with Rockwell, Siemens, Beckhoff, and Festo PLC architectures. A multi-turn absolute encoder on the EMMH-AS retains position through power cycles, eliminating homing and reducing startup and commissioning time.
At PACK EXPO, a new dynamic booth demonstration brings electric and pneumatic automation together under simulated washdown conditions. EPRF electric cylinders and EMMH-AS servo motors operate alongside an IP69K MPAC pneumatic valve manifold and stainless-steel pneumatic actuator, demonstrating how machine builders can combine both motion technologies in hygienic applications without sacrificing washdown capability.
Change the product without changing the gripper
Delicate products present another engineering challenge. Their varying shapes, sizes, and consistency make them difficult for conventional robotic grippers to handle without damage.
The HPSX soft gripper is food safe, features a sanitary design, and handles a wide variety of objects with different shapes and sizes without requiring a tool change.Festo
Each HPSX all-in-one gripper accommodates a wide variety of shapes and sizes without a tool change, allowing the same cobot to move from one product to another. When an application requires a different gripper size or number of fingers, the change can be made quickly using simple tools.
HPSX grippers are highly corrosion resistant and feature a sanitary design that facilitates cleaning and maintenance. They have an IP69K high-pressure washdown rating. Their silicone fingers are certified for direct food contact and are metal detectable, allowing material fragments from a damaged finger to be detected by the food processor’s metal detection system.
At PACK EXPO, attendees can see the HPSX simulate picking and placing an apple in the EPRF washdown demonstration.
Change the PLC without redesigning the motion and I/O
Packaging OEMs build machines for customers that specify different PLC platforms, potentially requiring controls engineers to re-engineer the motion and I/O for each architecture.
At PACK EXPO, Festo’s new Seamless Connectivity 2.0 demonstration shows how OEMs can move from one PLC platform to another without re-engineering the underlying motion and I/O system.
Visitors interact with the demo by unplugging one PLC and plugging in another, switching among Rockwell Automation, Siemens, and Beckhoff controllers. The Festo motion, pneumatic, and I/O system continues operating through automatic addressing and initialization. Festo CMMT multiprotocol servo drives, CPX-AP-A remote and CPX-AP-I decentralized I/O, electric motion, and pneumatics operate without alteration and are visibly displayed in a transparent case.
Festo Automation Suite, a free software application, further reduces commissioning work by automatically identifying Festo devices and providing a single environment for parameterization and configuration. Instead of configuring components individually, machine builders can bring the connected automation system into operation faster.
Design a Handling System Without Engineering Every Component
Developing a multi-axis handling system can require machine builders to select, size, and integrate many components individually.
CODI Manufacturing, Littleton, Colorado, brings its FlexStack Pro gantry-based palletizer to the Festo booth, demonstrating how application-specific handling systems can be engineered and built faster. FlexStack Pro palletizes or depalletizes 44- to 110-lb. boxes at rates of 4 to 10 per minute. It offers industrial speed and dependability at about the same cost as a slower and less weight-capable cobot system.
CODI’s Flex Stack Pro gantry-based palletizer outperforms cobots in capacity, cost, setup, operation, and ease of maintenance. Festo’s handling system is the heart of the solution. Festo
At the core of FlexStack Pro is Festo’s FPaKit, a pre-engineered multi-axis handling system that integrates axes, motors, drives, controls, cabling, and software into a system ready for mounting to the machine frame. “On our first FPaKit-based machine, we saved 20 to 30 hours of engineering and another 10 to 15 hours of assembly,” said CODI Manufacturing Chief Operating Officer Jared Jones.
CODI also offers Festo AX, an AI-based predictive analytics tool for monitoring electric and pneumatic components. Festo AX can run at the edge, keeping operational data under local control.
Reduce inventory without risking the build schedule
Festo FAST gives packaging OEMs rapid access to frequently specified automation components. Pneumatic cylinders, valves, air preparation, fittings and tubing, electric actuators, motors and drives, and remote I/O are stocked at Festo’s Mason, Ohio, facility for next-day shipment. OEMs can order nearer to when materials are needed, reducing inventory without jeopardizing machine build schedules.
Skilled people keep automation productive
Advanced automation delivers its full value only when employees have the skills to operate, maintain, and troubleshoot the technology. At PACK EXPO, Festo Didactic highlights standardized and customized mechatronics training that prepares employees for these responsibilities. Festo Didactic is PMMI’s preferred technical learning partner, with training aligned to PMMI’s industry-recognized Mechatronics Certifications. At the Pack Expo booth, attendees will interact with mechatronic learning systems.
Visit Festo Booth N-6132 at PACK EXPO International 2026, October 18–21 at McCormick Place in Chicago, to see how integrated automation, engineering tools, rapid product availability, and workforce training can help packaging OEMs build more flexible machines with less engineering.
