eXtreme Fast Control (XFC) and EtherCAT in semiconductor manufacturing

Electronic components and their structures are becoming smaller and smaller, making it all the more difficult to bond them. Conventional processes have long since reached the limits of what they can do in this area, but the Impulse PrintingTM process developed by Dutch start-up Fonontech is bringing something new. It enables advanced packaging of semiconductors in 3D structures in the micrometer…

PC- en EtherCAT-gestuurde onderdelen­sorteermachine met 100% inspectie

Dimac ontwerpt en ontwikkelt innovatieve oplossingen voor 100% inspectie van bevestigingsmiddelen en kleine metalen onderdelen. Het bedrijf gebruikt de EtherCAT en PC-gebaseerde besturing van Beckhoff als basis voor haar volgende generatie sorteermachines. Deze technologieën zullen de La Mille-conceptmachine – het duizendste project van Dimac – nog sneller, krachtiger en beter integreerbaar maken voor aanvullende systemen. Lees…

PC-based control technology in large telescopes

The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC – Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands), a research institute at the University of La Laguna, Spain, operates two astronomical observatories on the Canary Islands: the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma and the Teide Observatory on Tenerife. PC-based control and motion control from Beckhoff enable…

Semiconductor industry – automated with EtherCAT

From automation and electromobility to communications and AI, many high-growth technologies owe their performance to high-tech chips from the semiconductor industry. Future demand will significantly exceed manufacturers’ production capacities. To close the gap, existing semiconductor plants must undergo further automation and new, highly efficient fabs must be built worldwide. A key technology in this area is…

PC- and EtherCAT-controlled for parts sorting with 100% inspection

Dimac designs and develops innovative solutions for 100% inspection of fasteners and small metal parts. The company has identified EtherCAT and PC-based control from Beckhoff as the mainstays of the next generation of sorting machines, which will make the La Mille concept machine – the thousandth Dimac project – even faster, more powerful, and open to…

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz tested AI-assisted engineering for programming industrial control systems

On March 31, 2025, as part of the traditional Hannover Messe opening tour, acting Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Beckhoff Automation, a company headquartered in Verl, Germany. He was accompanied by Stéphane Dion, Canada’s Special Envoy for Europe and the European Union. Canada is this year’s partner country for Hannover Messe. Hans Beckhoff, Managing Director and owner of Beckhoff Automation, presented his company…

Artificial intelligence seamlessly integrated at control level

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a very successful method of automating processes, as it imitates the cognitive abilities of humans. There are many different ways to imitate these skills, with the most successful approach in recent years being machine learning (ML), which is based on processing large sample data sets. The basic idea of machine learning is…

Non-destructive inspection in the aerospace industry

When Innerspec Technologies was commissioned by a major aerospace end user to develop a non-destructive testing (NDT) system, the company opted for flexible automation with PC-based control from Beckhoff. The open control, motion and networking technologies of the robotic solution facilitate the inspection of a wide variety of part geometries combined with a greatly increased throughput.