Machine hardware upgrades can make a difference in improving productivity, but often the greatest gains don't come from replacing physical components, they come from improving how machines are controlled, explains Beth Ragdale, product manager at industrial control and automation specialist Beckhoff UK & Ireland.

Parker Hannifin has opened the Parker Motion Systems Experience Centre in Offenburg, Germany, giving customers and channel partners a single location to test, compare and specify motion system technologies for mobile and industrial applications.

Siemens has announced Meet at the Machine, a new initiative designed to bring together machine builders, software and automation technologies to accelerate innovation across the machine tool industry and help manufacturers achieve productivity faster.

As automated machines become more capable, the amount of decentralised I/O required increases. Conventional approaches often rely on multiple dedicated input and output modules, increasing hardware, commissioning and the number of additional components that machine builders and system integrators must engineer, stock and support. Festo addresses this challenge with a new configurable digital I/O module for the CPX-AP-I decentralised I/O platform.

Available from OEM Automatic, the SH4 series is a complete family of safety light curtains from Datasensing that not only meet high performance and environmental standards, but also take safety to new levels.

Dust, moisture and high-pressure cleaning place high demands on cameras used for industrial process monitoring. With the new uEye SFA, IDS Imaging Development Systems is expanding its uEye Live monitoring range with an especially robust model designed for challenging operating conditions. The camera combines an IP69K-rated housing and high image quality with flexible streaming functions.

WEG will exhibit at MachineBuilding Live and Food Manufacturing Live, held on October 14, 2026 at the NAEC, Stoneleigh Park. Visitors will have the opportunity to speak with WEG experts about their machinery and production challenges, and discuss how motor, drive, gearboxes and digital technologies can improve efficiency, reliability and performance.

High temperatures no longer need to rule out an elastomeric coupling. With the Quick Flex HighTemp series, R+L Hydraulics provides a robust, low-maintenance coupling solution for applications operating at temperatures up to 177 degC.

ABB's Machine Automation division (B&R), will showcase innovative automation solutions designed to help packaging machine builders and manufacturers increase flexibility, improve performance, and accelerate time-to-market at PACK EXPO International 2026.

Siemens has entered a partnership with the German B2B platform Sparepartsnow to make refurbished Siemens automation products more easily accessible to industrial customers. Through Sparepartsnow's digital marketplace, customers can now purchase manufacturer-refurbished Siemens products.