RS Components expands Festo factory automation product range

 Over 10,000* new products include the latest optical sensor and
pneumatic solenoid valve technologies

LONDON, UK, 14 November 2019RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE: ECM), a global multi-channel provider of industrial and electronic products and solutions, has expanded its range of products from factory automation manufacturer Festo to include over 17,000* individual items. The new introductions span all of Festo’s most popular pneumatic and electrical device families, including cylinders, actuators, valves and pneumatic air preparation products.

Significantly, RS will now be able to offer many of Festo’s latest technology releases, such as SOOD and SOOE photoelectric sensors and VUVS pneumatic solenoid valves.

The Festo SOOD and SOOE laser and LED opto-electronic sensor product lines include diffuse sensors with background suppression, through-beam sensors, retro-reflective sensors, retro-reflective sensors for transparent objects, and laser contrast and distance sensors. SOOD integrated miniature sensors are suitable for a wide variety of object detection tasks, especially in small confined spaces; their standardised sensor functions and reusable mounting accessories make them exceptionally fast and cost effective. As well as being compact and versatile, SOOE sensors can offer all optical functions for object detection — from through-beam to distance measurement — in an identical sensor housing for easy assembly.

Festo VUVS heavy-duty pneumatic solenoid valves are innovative, versatile, reliable and easy to install, with a long service life. The 20 or so different products include the VUVS-L series, designed around a piston spool with sealing cartridge and offering a flow rate up to 2300 l/min, and the VUVS-LK series, using a piston spool with sealing ring and giving a flow rate up to 1000 l/min. In-line valves can be used as individual valves or manifold valves, and a wide range of mounting options is available.

“The 10,000+* new products we have added to our Festo range represent a major expansion of our factory automation and smart manufacturing capability,” said Kristian Olsson, Vice President of Industrial Automation and Control at RS. “This gives us perhaps the largest Festo offering of any high-service distributor. As a one-stop Festo shop, we can offer machine builders over 17,000* devices from a single supplier, saving them both time and money.”

*Expanded range currently only available to customers in Benelux, France, Germany, Italy and the UK.