Rexroth Pneumatics becomes AVENTICS
At the 2014 Hannover Messe, the former Pneumatics division of Bosch Rexroth will celebrate not only its product highlights and extremely compact, lightweight valve technology. The new brand AVENTICS will be the focus of attention – and bring change to the international pneumatics market.
Machine manufacturers and system integrators have one name to remember for the future: AVENTICS. The previous subsidiary of Bosch Rexroth, Rexroth Pneumatics, is now acting as a stand-alone company, starting out with around 2,100 employees worldwide and a total of six plants in Europe, the U.S., and Asia. “We are small enough to respond quickly and flexibly, and large enough
to remain competitive in all growth markets,” explains Dr. Thomas Bru¨ckner, Chairman of the Board at AVENTICS, the restructured company. The former Pneumatics division of Bosch Rexroth changed hands on January 1, 2014. The business, headquartered in Laatzen, near Hanover, Germany, is looking towards the future with confidence. “We are connecting the best of two worlds: in AVENTICS, a long tradition and the solid expertise of our employees meet many new ideas and the flexibility of a medium-sized company.”
The change of ownership also came with a fresh name – both for the brand and company. At the 2014 Hannover Messe, AVENTICS celebrated its first major public appearance, at its own stand and directly next to its former owner Bosch Rexroth. “For a transitional period, we will follow a dual branding strategy so that customers can become accustomed to our new name,” explains Stuart Cheyne, Managing Director UK. This is why the old brand Rexroth Pneumatics will make an appearance next to the new name AVENTICS.
Expert with an international presence
“We are a new company with a long history,” Dr. Bru¨ckner says, referring to the company’s history dating back to 1884, starting with the construction of the first Pneumatics plant in Hanover (see box). AVENTICS will also benefit from decades of experience in pneumatics products and applications in the future. The new name marks an important milestone in the company’s history. “With the launch of our new name, we are ringing in the next generation of pneumatics,” the Chairman of the Board adds.
With around 2,100 employees, AVENTICS is now considered a solid mediumsized enterprise. Right from the beginning, the company has benefited from an international position, with production sites in Germany, France, Hungary, the U.S., and China. And its market coverage is also global: AVENTICS is present in 40 countries. “In the U.S. alone, we have 600 man-years of pneumatics experience in sales,” Stuart Cheyne acknowledges. In addition to the industrial pneumatics sector, the company is also active in the areas of marine technology, trucks, and inverted tooth chains.
Leading in the use of high-performance polymers in valves
And innovation doesn’t by any means run short. “Traditionally, only two companies dealt in plastic valves, that is Rexroth and Bosch Automationstechnik,” Dr. Bru¨ckner recalls. “The merger doubled development capacities and brought with it an enormous amount of expertise.” In recent years, the company has continued to promote the use of high-performance plastics on this basis. The latest generation of plastic valves, the AV series, is more lightweight and compact than ever. The valves are only half the weight of metal valves and are as small as a business card.
“The printing industry demands toluol-resistant plastics while the food and beverage industry requires acid resistance,” explains Stuart Cheyne. Current valve generations, such as AVENTICS’ Clean Line, meet these requirements. Their material has been certified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and they feature NSF-H1 greases suitable for food products. AVENTICS plastic valves from current series production have proven themselves in both clean and high-dirt, high-dust environments. “Tests have shown that our plastic valves can withstand more than 120 million switching cycles – a benchmark for the industry,” Stuart Cheyne reports.
Increased energy efficiency is the future
The future of pneumatics depends on how it is able to achieve a higher energy efficiency in order to lower the total cost of ownership. Here, plastic technology plays a crucial role. The smaller and lighter the valves are, the closer to the actuator they can be placed, reducing dead volumes and moving masses.
The new AV valve series is AVENTICS’ major breakthrough in miniaturization. AV – short for “Advanced Valve” – combines the advancements in plastics processing with a new design concept. AV series valves are half the weight of and over 50% more compact than conventional valves of the same performance level. In practice, machine manufacturers reach compressed air savings of up to 20%. They can achieve even more savings with the electropneumatic pressure regulator for application-specific pressure control within the AV system, which will be available from mid-2014. The regulators are one of the highlights at the Hannover Messe exhibition.
The AV series features a modular design and is currently available in two flow rate sizes. It can be integrated into plastic control electronics in a wide range of automation environments and communicates with all common fieldbuses. This makes it suitable for all standard controllers in machinery and system engineering. “We are concentrating solely on pneumatics and focusing on industries where we have exceptional application expertise,” Dr. Bru¨ckner affirms. This includes the automotive, food and beverage, medical technology, and heavy industries. “We are proud to be a specialist for niches, because that’s where we can offer our customers clear added value with our experience and our products,” Stuart Cheyne summarizes.
130 years of Pneumatics from Hannover
Pneumatic components and systems have been produced in the German city of Hanover for over 130 years. In 1884, Westinghouse WABCO established a plant here for pneumatic valve production for the then booming railroad industry. The decades to follow saw the development of a control technology division for industry, train, and marine, which relocated to plant 2 in Hanover-Linden. In 1989, Westinghouse WABCO sold these activities to Mannesmann Rexroth. The purchase of Mecman, a Swedish company founded in 1945, reinforced the enterprise’s position on the market. At the same time, Bosch Automationstechnik was expanding its own pneumatic activities, acquiring CPOAC, a French firm founded in 1946 located in Bonneville, in 1996. The merger of Mannesmann Rexroth and Bosch Automationstechnik resulted in a common corporate division. With a new owner, the company has been operating under the name AVENTICS since early 2014.
AVENTICS has around 2,100 employees globally. In addition to production facilities in Laatzen and Gronau/Leine (Germany), Bonneville (France), Eger (Hungary), Lexington (USA), and Changzhou (China), the company has an extensive sales network and is represented in more than 40 countries Worldwide.
