Festo’s automation portfolio delivers solutions that help manufacturers increase productivity, flexibility and reliability while reducing lifecycle costs. Central to this portfolio is Festo Automation Experience, a unified automation platform that combines modern control technology and industrial intelligence to meet the needs of today’s smart production systems.

In this edition of The Road to the Indaba, the spotlight turns to Professor Thuli Madonsela, one of Africa’s most respected voices on ethics, leadership and social justice, and a keynote speaker at the Africa Automation Indaba 2026.

Feedforward control is a powerful technique that can dramatically improve control variance in cases where load changes cause big deviations from setpoint and the actual process dynamics are too slow to allow the feedback controller to operate fast enough to catch these disturbances.

South Africa stands at a critical inflection point in its industrial and skills development journey. The decisions we make today as engineers, technologists, educators and industry leaders will determine whether 4IR becomes a catalyst for inclusive growth or a missed opportunity that deepens existing divides.

The energy company Compagnia Valdostana delle Acque generates electricity in the region’s 32 hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of over 900 MW. Vibration sensors from ifm monitor the maintenance requirements of the turbines and power generators at all times.

Motivair by Schneider Electric has introduced a new, industry-leading 2,5 MW coolant distribution unit designed to cool high-density data centres reliably and at scale.

The new Heavycon series click-in module carrier frame from Phoenix Contact simplifies the assembly and installation of heavy-duty connectors significantly.

For more than 20 years, numerous wind turbines have stood in the Black Forest and are now receiving a performance boost through repowering projects.