There are many things that can make you happy but the best thing is a child’s smile. We at HAHN Group develop forward-looking technologies and would like to inspire even children to discover those and shape them in the future.
Our trainees have crafted something – learn more in this video. We will be happy to send you the template on request. Please send an e-mail to communications@hahn.group. Happy International Children’s Day!
On February 1st, 2022, Frank Konrad will take over responsibility as CTO/COO for the technical and procedural control of the entire HAHN Group, in addition to his role as CEO of HAHN Automation. With this step, the corporate network will accelerate the integration of its subsidiaries in order to prepare for the planned growth.
As CTO/COO, Frank Konrad will be responsible for the business areas of innovation and development, engineering and software, processes and project management as well as purchasing. With this decision, the HAHN Group is preparing for the great potential of innovative projects in the fields of automotive, diagnostics and medical devices as well as electronics.
“As a global company, we have the size and the strength to be a reliable development and implementation partner for our customers, even for very large and complex automation projects. Therefore, we will join our competencies and capacities even more closely together,” states Philipp Unterhalt, CEO of the HAHN Group. He adds: “I am very happy that Frank is ready for these challenges and that he is putting his decades of experience and competence at the service of the entire HAHN Group.”
Frank Konrad, who also took over the chairmanship of the board of directors of the VDMA for the Robotics + Automation trade association in October 2021, is a partner and CEO of HAHN Automation and has significantly shaped the company’s positive development. The 49-year-old automation expert adds his experience to the management of the HAHN Group consisting of Philipp Unterhalt (CEO) and Axel Greschitz (CFO).
“I see great potential in the HAHN Group, which we will realize even faster through harmonization and integration of the individual companies”, explains Frank Konrad who is looking forward to the new task. “We always take into account the requirements of the individual companies, industries and customers. That is what makes this role so exciting, along with the implementation of a joint innovation strategy.”
Frank Konrad will also keep the role of CEO of HAHN Automation. The massive expansion of the organization that is currently taking place strengthens the entire team and takes the positive market development into account.
As part of the FAKUMA trade fair, the HAHN Group will be presenting solutions for the plastics industry from its subsidiaries WEMO Automation, Waldorf Technik and GeKu at its stand B3-3115. The highlight of the exhibition is a trade fair system from Waldorf Technik and Sumitomo Demag, which has been expanded to include digital monitoring systems from HAHN Digital.
The HAHN Group booth B3-3115 combines the exhibits of the companies WEMO Automation, Waldorf Technik and GeKu automation systems at the FAKUMA trade fair. An exciting detail of the exhibition this year is the MOBILE.EXPO truck, which carries selected automation and robot systems from the entire HAHN Group company network. This includes digital systems that you can touch and try out such as “EVE Support” as a remote maintenance system from HAHN Digital or the options for “Virtual Commissioning”, i.e. the virtual commissioning of systems before they are built. As part of the HAHN Group MOBILE.EXPO, over 13 locations in 5 European countries will be visited by December 17, 2021 in order to present the competencies of the company network to customers, local partners and employees.
With Vario TIP®, Waldorf Technik presents the patented and world-leading system concept for the manufacture of medical and diagnostic consumer products. The Vario TIP® system is characterized by its unsurpassed degree of freedom for different tool configurations and packaging units, with an extremely space-saving design and complete cavity sorting. With Vario TIP®, high numbers of cavities of up to 128 are possible, with cycle times with peak values of 3.8 seconds. The automation system takes on all basic functions such as removal, transfer, screening, buffering and filling. In addition, the system includes a large number of unique functionalities that can be used customer-specifically. This includes camera inspections, cavity-sorted replacement of bad / missing parts, filter assembly and customized packaging of the finished parts.
At the Sumitomo Demag stand (B1-1105), the HAHN Group’s digitization and interface expertise will also be demonstrated. An Intelect S 100 / 460-250 was combined with an automation system from Waldorf Technik, which is based on the Vario Tip® FSS system. This creates a fully automated production cell for the manufacture of caps for insulin syringes on a 16-cavity mold in a total cycle time of six seconds. The use of vacuum sensors on the removal gripper sends data on product quality and the gripper position. A camera system provides additional optical information on the structure, quality and number of the finished parts for automated quality management. The data generated enable the products to be traced, as each test result can be assigned to the mold cavity and the time of production. This allows a well-founded analysis and observation of the quality in order to be able to react in a targeted manner to deviations in good time, such as deselecting cavities as a measure.
The further development of the Vario TIP® FSS with a particularly narrow structure opens up the market for MedTec injection moulders in new performance classes without requiring more clean room space. FSS stands for Floor Space Saving and offers an extremely reduced space requirement compared to the Vario TIP® standard model. By cleverly arranging the buffer areas required for separating the cavities, Waldorf Technik has succeeded in reducing the area by half compared to the basic system. The functionality and variability of the Vario TIP® standard are of course retained.
With the use of EVE Analytics: Connect from the HAHN Digital portfolio, Waldorf Technik enables continuous monitoring of the automation system in real time. With the information obtained in this way, operators can react immediately to anomalies and enable higher efficiency and output. With its EVE Suite portfolio, HAHN Digital offers further solutions for digitization in the manufacturing industry, with maximum data security and close cooperation with the experts from the HAHN Group corporate network. As part of the MOBILE.EXPO exhibition, further digital products and technologies for modern automation systems will be exhibited. This includes EVE support as a remote maintenance system from HAHN Digital or virtual commissioning applications. Visitors have the opportunity to try out the various products directly in the exhibition truck and experience them up close.
WEMO Automation presents a wide range of innovations and concepts for cost-efficient and fast handling, including among other things injection molding machines in cooperation with ABB Robotics. WEMO is known on the European market as a supplier of 3-5-axis linear robots. Together with ABB Robotics, WEMO is now expanding its portfolio around the adaptation of the wide range of six-axis industrial robots from ABB. Effective immediately, WEMO will support the market as an ABB value provider for customers worldwide. With many years of experience in the integration of ABB robots, WEMO offers solutions and support at the highest level.
The offer ranges from flexible configurations to standalone concepts and SGM concepts. This covers most of the applications in the plastics industry, taking into account the respective individual requirements. The advantages of the different configurations and concepts lie in the use for different tasks as well as the simple installation and commissioning. As always, WEMO offers standard solutions and options such as interface EOAT adapters, protective devices and much more.
The “ABB + WEMO hand-in-hand concepts” are space-saving and flexible solutions for using robots in the plastics industry. The WEMO robots are mounted on the injection molding machine with an integrated ABB robot for further downstream operations. The advantages here are commissioning for both devices at the same time as well as the simple addition of communication solutions and other functions.
With the new management by Johannes Kjellgren as CEO and Håkan Larsson as COO, WEMO Automation will strengthen the Robotics Division within the HAHN Group in the future. This bundles the know-how in the areas of linear, collaborative and mobile robotics and makes it even easier for customers to access. In addition, the respective sales and partner networks complement each other very well in order to further increase customer proximity. Through the group network, WEMO is also to be developed even more strongly as a regional hub in Scandinavia in the future.
GeKu, with the exhibition cell for automated contact provision, is part of the mobile exhibition belonging to the truck. For the automotive and electronics industries, GeKu developed a specialized system for providing contacts that can be used as part of the automated production of connectors and sensor housings. The system uses a bending cutting tool with a punching system driven by a servo motor. The force used is approx. 30 kN, but it can also be supplied as a larger version with higher forces and is adapted to the required tools. For each contact group, individual contacts can be made available within approx. 4 seconds. The system uses a KUKA robot whose parallel gripper is equipped with a spreading stroke for the individual contacts. The processes within this automation system can be customized for customers and their requirements and can also be delivered as part of complete automation cells.
The HAHN Group is preparing for further growth.
With the reorganization of the investment structure by RSBG SE, the investment company for medium-sized companies of the RAG Foundation, RSBG Automation & Technologies GmbH is created as a new corporate platform. This also results in a broader potential and further synergies for the HAHN Group. The previous CEO of the HAHN Group, Thomas Hähn, will be in charge of the new platform. The previous managing director Philipp Unterhalt will take over the helm of the HAHN Group on April 1, 2021. Together with Axel Greschitz (CFO), the further expansion of the group in factory automation is driven forward. Additional locations are to be opened in the next few months.
RSBG Automation & Robotics Technologies GmbH as a new company platform enables growth in further business areas through the use of technical and organizational synergies
With the establishment of RSBG Automation & Robotics Technologies, RSBG SE opens up the possibility for further technology investments besides the HAHN Group. The HAHN Group is a 100 percent stake in the new platform and focuses on automation and robotics in the industrial environment. In addition, further investments in automation and robotics in non-industrial areas are planned.
Further development of the management team underlines the stability and continuity of the HAHN Group
The management of RSBG Automation & Robotics Technologies is taken over by Thomas Hähn, founder of HAHN Automation and longstanding CEO of the HAHN Group. In the future, as CEO of RSBG Automation & Robotics Technologies, he will be responsible for all activities in the area of automation & robotics, and will therefore continue to be strategically linked to the HAHN Group.
Philipp Unterhalt takes over the management of the HAHN Group. Together with Axel Greschitz as CFO, he will push the next growth step and promote the diversification of the company network. Unterhalt will take up his new role as CEO of the HAHN Group on April 1, 2021.
“I am pleased to introduce Philipp Unterhalt as the new CEO of the HAHN Group. He has demonstrated outstanding strategic orientation. With his international experience and value-based management style, he is the ideal candidate for the further development of the HAHN Group. I really appreciate our cooperation and look forward to continuing it in the new constellation,” said Thomas Hähn, CEO RSBG Automation & Robotics Technologies GmbH.
Philipp Unterhalt has been with the HAHN Group since 2014 and worked as its managing director since 2019. Together with Thomas Hähn he developed the concept of the HAHN Group as a platform for entrepreneurially managed automation companies and managed all transactions of the group of companies. Under his leadership, the new companies were integrated and the digital strategy was also developed and implemented. In addition to the operational business, the 39-year-old is also responsible for corona management at the HAHN Group. The economist lives with his family in Essen.
“The HAHN Group is a fascinating group of companies and entrepreneurs. Due to the network character, we can use the synergies of a large company and still be very close to the customer with innovative solutions,” explains Unterhalt. “I am really looking forward to working with the entire team in order to continue our successful strategy: organic growth, supplemented by technological expansion as well as expansion of the business in additional industries and the strengthening of global activities.”
Into the future with mobile robotics
The HAHN Group continues to grow even during the pandemic. Incoming orders across the Group in 2020 increased by 21 percent compared to the previous year, in particular due to orders in the healthcare sector. The focus of the current year is, among other things, on growth in the area of mobile robotics. Two more locations for the HAHN Robotics Network are to be established in southern and eastern Germany this spring. Mobile robotics enables the support of logistics processes in production with minimal integration effort and thus offers even for smaller companies interesting automation solutions that quickly pay for themselves.
Bochum, Germany – At the Bochum location, Rethink Robotics will develop new robotics technologies with the support of Siemens Corporate Technology, creating highly qualified jobs
In summer 2020, Rethink Robotics, as a subsidiary of the HAHN Group, moved into its new company headquarters, where the production of collaborative robot systems takes place as well. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the learning factory of the chair for production systems at Ruhr Universität Bochum. Now the location has been officially inaugurated in the presence of Bochum’s Lord Mayor Thomas Eiskirch and Bernd Tönjes, CEO of the RAG-Stiftung, which holds a majority stake in the HAHN Group through its holding company RSBG SE.
The premises are part of the new HAHN Group Technology Center, a meeting point for customers, partners and interested parties to experience and further develop innovative technologies. In the immediate vicinity of universities and research institutions, this creates a central place for the exchange of information, skills and technological developments. The building itself was constructed by sister companies of the HAHN Group within the RAG-Stiftung, accounting for the short-term space requirements and promoting further growth.
“The opening of the new corporate headquarters and production facility of Rethink Robotics symbolizes the transformation of the mining region into a location for future technologies. We supported the settlement from the start and are sure that Rethink Robotics will find an ideal environment here in order to continue their growth,” states Bernd Tönjes.
Rethink Robotics has already created 30 highly qualified jobs in Bochum. Their collaborative robot systems, which will be produced on-site, are used in manufacturing companies, as well as in in service applications for laboratory environments. Further investments in the development of the technology and the ongoing expansion of the team are planned for the future.
“Rethink Robotics made the right choice of location with Bochum,” says Mayor Thomas Eiskirch about the company’s decision to set up its new headquarters in Bochum and to create additional highly qualified jobs. “In Bochum, modern robot technology is already being developed and used in other areas to support people in everyday life. And in Bochum we like to rethink tasks that we face today and tomorrow. We like to think outside the box – with the aim of finding new, future-oriented answers.”
Another milestone for the development of the company at the Bochum location is the recently implemented cooperation between Rethink Robotics and Siemens Technology Accelerator (STA). STA acquired a minority of the shares in Rethink Robotics as part of a technology contribution. The contribution includes know-how, patents and designs in the field of innovative hardware solutions for lightweight robots and cobots. In addition, a development cooperation between Rethink Robotics and Siemens Corporate Technology was agreed upon, in which the Siemens Corporate Technology hardware solutions are to be further developed in a transition period so that their strengths are optimally combined with the Intera software from Rethink Robotics. The first studies on this are already running.
“With the technology from Siemens, we are getting closer to the start of a new series of robots very quickly and will be presenting a first prototype in spring 2021,” explains Daniel Bunse, CEO of Rethink Robotics GmbH, with pleasure.
Dr. Rudolf Freytag, CEO of Siemens Technology Accelerator GmbH, states: “We see great potential for success in this hardware technology developed by Siemens Corporate Technology and are pleased to be creating the best conditions for market success with Rethink Robotics. Siemens Digital Industries will of course continue to support the robotics sector with controls and innovative software solutions.”
About Siemens Corporate Technology
Corporate Technology (CT) is Siemens’ central research unit. In cooperation with the business units, CT advances the basic technologies that are important for the entire company. For more information visit https://new.siemens.com/global/en/company/innovation/research-development.html
About Siemens Technology Accelerator
Siemens Technology Accelerator GmbH is a subsidiary of Siemens AG and has been successfully commercializing innovative Siemens technologies in applications outside the strategic focus of the Siemens business units for almost 20 years. This happens either through the establishment of venture capital financed start-ups or through sale or licensing to established companies. For more information visit www.siemens.com/sta
Photography by Lina Nikelowski
Frankfurt, Germany – In the ranking of EconSight for the German Handelsblatt newspaper, the HAHN Group holds place 36 among the most innovative companies in Germany.
Every year, the Swiss EconSight GmbH examines companies in terms of their innovation power at the intersection of digitalization and applied technologies. Three factors are assessed for the analysis: The networking of digital and existing technologies, digitalization and the dynamics in its implementation. In the final ranking, the HAHN Group holds the 36th place among the most innovative German companies in 2019. Within the first 10 positions there are several longtime partners and customers of the HAHN Group. VW Group, Bosch and Siemens lead the German ranking of most innovative companies. In the global assessment for 2019, the HAHN Group is among the top 500 companies.
The company and product portfolio of the diversified HAHN Group serves the increasing demand for technologies in the fields of automation, robotics and solutions for Industry 4.0. With its 14 brands, the group is represented in numerous promising industries such as electronics, medical technology, medical devices, consumer goods and the automotive industry.
Each company within the HAHN Group is an industry expert with a high degree of innovation in its field. For example, HAHN Automation has been awarded the Innovation Prize of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate several times in the Digitalization/Industry 4.0 category. HAHN Digital continues the development of the innovative product portfolio EVE Suite to implement the digital transformation for smart factories. With the launch of WIPS 4.0, WEMO enables even more user-friendly dialog programming of robots. The company Walther Systemtechnik introduced the fully automatic degassing system for greases in 2019. The innovative strength of the HAHN Group remains at a high level for the coming year as well. In 2020, HAHN Automation will launch a completely new concept for automated assembly and testing processes.
Thomas Hähn, CEO of HAHN Group, comments on the outcome: “Position 36 in the EconSight ranking of the most innovative companies in Germany is a fantastic result for us. The outstanding achievements of our employees and the cooperation of our teams make this success possible.”
Frankfurt, Germany – HAHN Group acquired REI Automation, Inc., which will continue to operate under existing management.
The HAHN Group, a leading provider for factory automation and robotic solutions, has acquired REI Automation, Inc. The takeover is effective as of 01. November 2019. With the company based in Columbia, South Carolina, the HAHN Group adds a hub in the important industrial area of the Southeast and strengthens its regional coverage in the United States. REI Automation will complement the Assembly & Test Division within the HAHN Group. With 80 employees and USD 25 million revenue, REI Automation focuses on medical, electronics and consumer goods. The recent acquisition is once more reflecting the strategy of the HAHN Group to diversify its business across industries and regions.
“We found a passionate team with an impressive track record building the company in the past and ambitious plans to develop it further,” says Philipp Unterhalt, Managing Director of HAHN Group. “We are ready to support REI Automation on its further journey and are delighted to have them on board.”
Operations of REI Automation will continue under the existing management, which will also remain as shareholders going forward. Grant Phillips, CEO of REI Automation comments: “We are excited to begin planning with a partner who has all the experience in bringing a company to the next level. For REI Automation and its clients the transaction is a very important step into a reliable and sustainable future.”
With the acquisition HAHN Group continues its buy and build strategy to form a global network of automation specialists. HAHN Group is owned by Germany’s largest foundation RAG-Stiftung and employs meanwhile nearly 1.400 employees in 13 countries, serving clients in various industries around the world.
Frankfurt, Germany – HAHN Group acquires the majority stake in Ruhrbotics GmbH in Recklinghausen, Germany
As of 1. October 2019, the HAHN Group, headquartered in Rheinböllen, took over the majority of shares in Ruhrbotics GmbH. The Recklinghausen-based company with 12 employees specializes in complex robot programming. In the future, it will continue to expand these services under the name HAHN Ruhrbotics and strengthen the Robotics Division of the HAHN Group.
Philipp Unterhalt, Managing Director of the HAHN Group, is pleased about the transaction: “We receive a team with outstanding training which will also support us in projects within the group.” HAHN Ruhrbotics forms another building block in an extensive network of smaller robotics integrators. With agile organizations and proximity to the customer, the automation offer for industrial and collaborative robot solutions will be further expanded.
The founder and former CEO of Ruhrbotics, Daniel Bunse, has taken over the management of Rethink Robotics, another HAHN Group subsidiary, since October 1st. “It was important to me that the company can continue to develop solidly and sustainably,” emphasizes Bunse, and adds: “As part of the HAHN Group, Ruhrbotics employees now have the opportunity not only to harness their passion for robotics and automation in the service of their customers but also to share it with the other brands of the HAHN Group.”
The former authorized representative, Christopher Drewer, will take over the management of HAHN Ruhrbotics. He has been with the company for more than 10 years. “We have built a great company in the Ruhr area and are proud to continue this story from our location together with the HAHN Group on a global level,” says Drewer.
+49 6764 9022 0
info@hahn.group
