Innovation is the key for WEBER-HYDRAULIK
Trends 2023
Güglingen, 15th February 2023. Electrification, sensor technology, digitalisation: Fluid power drives are becoming more and more efficient. This trend will also play a dominant role in the coming year. In addition, the evaluation and processing of data is increasingly gaining significance. It is therefore crucial for the industry to stay innovative, says Frank Schlosser, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at WEBER-HYDRAULIK.
“The innovative capacity will determine to what extent the industry and businesses will be able to follow the trends and meet the market requirements. Innovation is the key”, Schlosser emphasises. For example, the greatest increases in energy and production efficiency can currently be achieved in cross-domain optimisation of development, commissioning and operation. This includes complex control processes, new system architectures, the integration of fluid know-how into the components or appropriate, real-time capable sensors that communicate wirelessly. Today, hydraulic systems manufacturers need to be well versed in electrification, the use of sensors, software, safety and cyber security. Moreover, the digitalisation of processes as well as the networking of components, machines and products make sure that the data from fluid power systems can be processed in suitable calculation models in the future.
In the future, decentralisation will also become much more important in the field of hydraulic drive technology. The development of products such as steering systems in lorries or tractors should be understood in this context. While in the past motors used to be kept running at idle, these functions now work according to the principle of “power on demand”. This means that the hydraulic pump or electric motor is only actuated when a movement is necessary, saving considerable amounts of energy and increasing efficiency.
Further development opportunities for the hydraulics industry
According to Schlosser, the hydraulics industry is nowhere near the end of its development. The current development is inspired by new raw materials, because their degrees of strength can have effects on new products. In addition, the development cycles are becoming shorter, given that digital technologies allow for developing and testing products virtually on the computer before having to make costly investments. The pretesting of the digital product counterparts already works very well, significantly increasing the probability of businesses to go into series production and application, should they decide to manufacture the product in the real world.
A modern, innovative company against skills shortage
Schlosser considers the lack of qualified workers to be a major problem. Like many other industries, the hydraulics industry is affected by a shortage of skilled labour. “In our opinion, getting young people interested in hydraulics with a modern image will be a great challenge not only for WEBER-HYDRAULIK, but also for the entire industry”, Schlosser says. “Those who keep up with the times in terms of structures, processes and innovations will increase their attractiveness on the labour market.”
