Automation & Robotics

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - May 19, 2026 - Sidel is presenting its latest smart manufacturing technologies, complete line engineering expertise and digital production solutions at ProPak Asia 2026 in Bangkok. The company will exhibit at Booth AG 28 in Hall C2 from June 10-13 at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani, highlighting innovations aimed at improving efficiency, flexibility and sustainability across beverage, food, and home and personal care production environments. The showcase reflects the industry's ongoing shift toward integrated line performance, energy efficiency and data-driven production systems designed to support manufacturers facing increasing operational complexity.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - May 10, 2026 - SEW-EURODRIVE has officially introduced the OrchestrationSuite, a comprehensive web-based software platform tailored specifically for system integrators, machine builders, and packaging line operators, at the interpack 2026 trade exhibition. This newly developed system establishes a centralized administrative environment designed to manage diverse automation software across components sourced from entirely different hardware manufacturers. By consolidating the operational workflows required for programmable logic controllers, industrial drives, robotics, and human-machine interface systems, the platform directly addresses the heavy administrative burdens historically caused by fragmented engineering tools and cumbersome manual update processes.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - April 13, 2026 - SMS Group has positioned its X-Pact Digital Hub as a foundational platform for autonomous production in the metals industry, consolidating more than 300 industrial software applications and third-party tools within a single scalable ecosystem. The announcement coincides with mounting AI adoption across wire, tube, cable, and plant manufacturing, as producers confront high energy costs, skilled labor shortages, and intensifying sustainability requirements. TRUMPF has separately outlined a company-wide AI strategy spanning sales, production, software development, and human resources, with its Head of AI confirming a growing pipeline of operational use cases. Against a backdrop in which nearly half of German manufacturing companies are already deploying AI, suppliers and processors are accelerating investments in digitization and intelligent automation as a direct competitive response.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - April 13, 2026 - Industrial robot adoption in pipe, wire, and tube manufacturing is accelerating sharply, driven by efficiency demands, sustainability targets, and a widening skilled labor shortage across the sector. KUKA, WAFIOS, and TRUMPF are among the equipment suppliers extending robot integration across welding, bending, and laser processing workflows, with solutions designed to reduce setup time, specialist training costs, and production downtime. According to the International Federation of Robotics, 542,000 industrial robots were installed globally in 2024-more than double the figure recorded a decade earlier-reflecting sustained investment as manufacturers pursue higher output and lower scrap rates. The European pipe market is projected to reach nearly 34 billion US dollars by 2030, reinforcing the commercial basis for continued automation investment across the sector.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - December 8, 2025 - AGIBOT has reached a key industrialization milestone with the rollout of its 5,000th mass-produced humanoid robot at its Shanghai factory, signaling that embodied AI is moving beyond pilots and demos into scaled deployment across manufacturing, logistics and service environments.

From R&D to Scaled Production Across Three Robot Families

The milestone reflects years of work on stability, reliability and durability in embodied robotics systems. AGIBOT's portfolio now spans three mass-produced humanoid platforms, each tailored to distinct use cases and deployment environments.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - November 14, 2025 - Ricoh and Neat have formed a global partnership aimed at redefining the future of workplace collaboration through integrated, AI-driven audiovisual solutions. Neat, a global leader in professional AV technology, will join forces with Ricoh-one of the world's foremost AV integrators-to expand Ricoh's high-end meeting-room portfolio and deliver enhanced workplace-experience capabilities to customers worldwide. The agreement is signed at Neat's Mastery Level, the highest tier of its global partner program.

Expanding Premium Meeting-Room Capabilities Through Integrated AV Services

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 15, 2025 – Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HEIDELBERG) and China’s MK Masterwork are deepening their decade-long collaboration to advance automation and robotics in packaging production. The renewed strategic partnership, announced at a joint anniversary event in Tianjin, underscores both companies’ commitment to delivering integrated, end-to-end solutions for the global packaging and printing industry.

A Decade of Partnership Strengthening Global Reach

Since entering a strategic sales agreement in 2015, HEIDELBERG has distributed MK Masterwork’s high-performance finishing systems—including die-cutters, folding carton gluers, and hot-foil stamping machines—outside of China. Over the past decade, approximately 1,500 systems have been installed worldwide, supporting packaging manufacturers in achieving higher efficiency and throughput.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 15, 2025 – Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HEIDELBERG) brought together more than 200 global industry leaders at its new SHIFT 2025 summit to address one of the printing sector’s most pressing challenges: how to remain competitive amid rising costs, labor shortages, and increasingly fragmented order structures. The event underscored the company’s commitment to driving end-to-end process digitization, automation, and hybrid print production through its evolving Prinect workflow platform and AI-supported solutions like Prinect Touch Free.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – August 6, 2025 – Deutsche Telekom has officially expanded its nationwide 5G+ Gaming offering to include iPhone users, delivering ultra-low-latency mobile gaming through its standalone 5G network. As the first European network operator to offer consumer-facing network slicing, the company is redefining mobile cloud gaming by pairing technical innovation with broad accessibility.

Bringing Standalone 5G Gaming to a Wider Consumer Base

Deutsche Telekom’s 5G+ Gaming service leverages its expansive 5G Standalone (SA) network, now the largest of its kind in Germany. Previously exclusive to Android users, the service now supports all iPhones in the 15 and 16 series—including the newly added iPhone 16e—and integrates seamlessly with the latest Samsung Galaxy S25 models. This update significantly broadens access to latency-optimized gaming, targeting both casual and competitive gamers on the move.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – July 2, 2025 – LINAK has introduced its LC3 IC electric lifting column, a pre-tested, ready-to-use solution engineered to simplify demanding lifting tasks in industrial automation projects. This launch provides machinery manufacturers with a proven, instantly deployable alternative to custom-built lifting mechanisms, helping reduce engineering complexity, shorten project timelines, and improve ROI.

A Turnkey Solution for Heavy Lifting Applications

The LINAK LC3 IC stands out as a plug-and-play system designed specifically for industrial environments where precise, reliable vertical movement is essential. Unlike bespoke lifting systems that require extensive development and validation, the LC3 IC arrives fully tested and optimized for immediate integration.

Key features of the LC3 IC include: