Natural selection: why Festo thinks evolution could help shape the factory of the future

A spontaneous aerobatic display by giant robotic butterflies isn’t, sadly, a regular feature of the traditional factory tour.

But, late last year, this was exactly how German automation giant Festo chose to mark the opening of a flagship manufacturing facility in Scharnhausen, on the outskirts of Stuttgart. The giant 66,000-square-metre factory, now home to the firm’s valves and electronics production operations, is about as modern and hi-tech as manufacturing plants get. This, claims the company, is Industry 4.0 in action. A meticulous use of data; a relentless focus on energy efficiency; ‘co-bots’ on the factory floor and even touchy-feely breakout spaces more redolent of Silicon Valley, conspire to create the kind of ultra-modern facility that will surely become commonplace in the years ahead.

But it was notable that among the presentations at a conference convened to celebrate the plant’s opening, one topic Festo chose to focus on was its – some would say eccentric – obsession with bionics.