These three pillars, which have positioned Festo at the forefront of technology throughout this century, have now become key factors in addressing the future challenges of European industry.
Festo emphasizes that, during its century-long history, motion, from pneumatics to electric motors, has had the power to improve people's work, factory efficiency, and the quality of life in society. Founded in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany, the company began operations in 1925 manufacturing woodworking machines. In 1926, it patented its first piece of equipment. In 1955, it developed its first pneumatic products. In 1965, it established its training division, Festo Didactic. In 1971, the company began operations in Spain. In 1989, it launched the VIMP-01 valve distributor, a pioneering product that combined pneumatics and electronics and greatly simplified wiring. Today, it serves 300,000 customers worldwide.
“Throughout this time, Festo has been the sum of hands, minds, and hearts,” summarizes Xavier Segura, Head of Cluster SWEA (Spain, Portugal, France, Africa) at Festo. “By being able to engage people and keep the project moving forward, we have maintained the curiosity, creativity, and responsibility needed to face future challenges,” he adds.
Sophisticated but Simplified Technology
One of these challenges involves the decentralization of global manufacturing, which compels industries worldwide to operate competitively and efficiently. Another challenge is the increasing demand for high technology in emerging sectors, such as the semiconductor industry, life sciences, electromobility, and hydrogen. Furthermore, the exponential growth of technology in hyper-connected industrial environments is driving the need for simple, highly usable solutions.
Innovation is key to meeting these challenges. Festo, with 58 innovation centers worldwide and 2,600 patented solutions, has made a firm commitment to production digitalization, artificial intelligence, biologization, and the circular economy.
This commitment has led the company to pioneering solutions such as Festo AX Industrial Intelligence software, which brings intelligence to machines and monitors them through AI. This real-time monitoring enables predictive maintenance, offers a high degree of control over energy leaks, and prevents production inefficiencies.
Spain, an innovation hub for Festo.
In Spain and Portugal, the commitment to innovation is reflected in projects such as the Digital Sales Hub, inaugurated in Barcelona five years ago. This sales office, focused on analytics and innovation and with more than 50 employees, has begun incorporating artificial intelligence to identify industry needs, anticipate future requirements, and assist customers in selecting and configuring their solutions.
One of the recent milestones of the Digital Sales Hub has been the development of Festo Virtual Assistant, an AI-powered application that assists with machine design, installation, assembly, maintenance, and specifications. By integrating various Festo data sources, it can provide specific answers to maintenance managers through ChatGPT technology.
“Today, users need to be able to combine motion and control technologies, artificial intelligence, data integration, and predictive maintenance in a short development period,” explains Xavier Segura.
This trend toward technological hyperconnectivity increasingly requires professionals with the appropriate technical training to absorb innovation. For this reason, Festo collaborates with education departments, universities, and vocational training centers to adapt training program curricula and foster collaborative frameworks where students have early exposure to technology. Another priority is promoting STEM careers for both men and women.
In parallel, the company's training efforts have reached 56,000 students worldwide, making Festo Didactic the global leader in technical training. This investment in current and future professionals stems from the company's conviction that skills development is fundamental to the success of a thriving workforce, capable of understanding, developing, and applying the technologies of the future.
At the Festo centenary celebration at Advanced Factories, in addition to Xavier Segura, the following were present: Frank Notz, Board Member Global Sales; Dr. Ansgar Kriwet, Board Member Research & Development; and Giampiero Bighiani, Head of Sales Management Region EMEA.
