Ulrich Balbach studied electrical engineering. He has been one of over 1,200 Sensor People worldwide for 22 years and has been CEO at Leuze for eight years. He sees himself and his colleagues as trailblazers for technological milestones in industrial automation.
pj: Mr Balbach, what are the current packaging-related focal points? with Leuze?
Ulrich Balbach: We support our customers in the packaging industry as pioneers in a constantly changing industry and make them successful in the long term. The latest innovation in this area is our dynamic reference sensor DRT 25C, based on a completely new functional principle, CAT technology. We want to Making IO-Link even more usable for packaging technology. A new generation of reflex switches with teach function and IO-Link communication was recently presented.
In addition, more and more ready-made IO-Link function modules and tools are being developed on the software side, which make it easy for the user on the control side to integrate Leuze sensors into the control system and to set the scanning range on the sensor and thus carry out an automatic format change on a packaging machine. A further product innovation, especially for manufacturers and users of labelling machines, will follow shortly.
pj: What particular challenges did you face last year?
Ulrich Balbach: One particular challenge in recent months has been the health crisis around Corona is a challenge. Here, Leuze benefited from the experience of its Asian subsidiaries at the beginning of the year, recognised the situation at a very early stage, acted proactively and adapted its concept worldwide. For example, a company-wide alternating shift model was introduced at the beginning of March and production was run at maximum capacity in order to minimise Avoid breaking the supply chain.
pj: How do you assess the economic situation?
Ulrich Balbach: Corona was portrayed by many as an economic crisis from the outset. In our view, this is not entirely correct. With the exception of the automotive industry and the machine tool sector, the industrial environment in which we operate is not experiencing an economic crisis. In fact, due to a lack of political solutions, the health crisis is now having a negative impact. Economic crisis in the industrial sector as a result.
pj: And what effects do you expect for Your company?
Ulrich Balbach: In our view, the main problem is that our machine manufacturers are unable to deliver their machines and commission them on site. We all have this problem, and it is having a negative economic impact on the entire industrial sector. This cannot be solved individually, but only at the highest political level! However, as long as no political solution is found, such as the „green line“ for lorry transports, there can be no recovery.
pj: What do you see as the most important tasks and trends in the packaging industry?
Ulrich Balbach: The requirements for sensors and machines in the packaging industry are becoming ever more complex due to the increasing individualisation of products and their packaging. For a higher degree of automation, maximum flexibility and the most reliable quality control, we are developing ever more intelligent sensors that can interact with the machine via standardised industrial communication such as IO-Link.
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