Founded in 1989, esitron-electronic is a successful manufacturer of servomotor drive technology and automation tools, including power electronics, controls and displays, for the automation of industry production and special machines.
Interview with Saurabh Basu and Dennis Raiser, Managing Directors at esitron-electronic GmbH.
Easy Engineering: A brief description of the company and its activities.
Saurabh Basu & Dennis Raiser: We have built long-lasting relationships with our customers based on mutual trust and a laser-focus on quality. Qualified advice is our top priority! Our strength is to develop specific solutions to meet the most challenging demands of industrial manufacturing.
In addition to our main product range, decentral servo motors with integrated electronics, we also offer individual and optimal customization of our devices to meet customer-specific requirements.
E.E: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
S.B & D.R: esitron manufactures solutions for motion and positioning applications. We offer adaptive power electronics according to customer needs up to an automation system, consisting of a programmable controller panel, servo drives with integrated servo controllers. Our servo-motion controllers are equipped with most common industrial interfaces – EtherCAT, PROFINET, PROFIBUS, Modbus and CANopen.
Large LED displays with the fieldbus EtherCAT, PROFINET, PROFIBUS, Modbus and CANopen are also products which we offer to our customers.
Offering individual solutions instead of from a standard portfolio, that was and remains the credo of esitron-electronic GmbH. Our scope of work begins with application specific consultation with the customer, design, and dimensioning of the scope of the order, followed by a thorough examination of the customer concept, in which we contribute our expertise if desired. We often send test devices to customers to give them the possibility of testing our products within their applications without committing to a purchase. This approach has proved extremely useful in building customer trust and showcasing esitron’s customer centric approach. In most cases, this test device remains at its new site of operation.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
S.B & D.R: We are happy to refer to our latest product launch: the large digital LED display DMD128 (dot-matrix display). It is the new, graphic-capable display available in multiple sizes for industrial applications from esitron-electronic. The large display is primarily used to display a wide range of process data and physical variables such as weight, pressure, speed, temperature, or velocity. With a viewing distance of 50 m, a brightness of 800 cd/m², a brightness setting in 255 levels and a reading range of 160°, the information shown on the display is easy to read even from a greater distance and at different viewing angles.
We would also like to take this opportunity to introduce the latest addition to our family of decentral servo motors: the esiMot micro. With a flange size of 42×42 mm (NEMA17) and rated power up to 105 W, the esiMot micro packs a ‘mega’ punch! All versions of the esiMot family, our decentralized servo drive with integrated controller can be connected to a wide range of fieldbuses. These include PROFIBUS-DP, ProfiNet, CANopen, and EtherCAT. Alternatively, up to 15 PLC programs can be stored within the motor, which means that the esiMot can be operated in stand-alone mode as well.
With this variety of communication potentialities on our servo drives at the fieldbus level, we are able to enter the networked automation-pyramid as well as display process and device insights with real-time data.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
S.B & D.R: According to our claim “your idea – our solution” we aim to implement automation tasks consistently and successfully. So, the range of our portfolio extends to six areas: Servo Motion Control, Signal Converters, Cam Controllers, Cabinet Motion Controllers, Digital Displays, and Automation Solutions.
We rely on innovation and the highest quality in our products, as well as on our creative and qualified employees, who design, develop, and implement the optimum solutions for our customers – in terms of accuracy, durability, efficiency, and handling.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
S.B & D.R: The buzzwords on the market presently are “smart production” and “sustainability” – at least for us.
Smart products are intended to increase the flexibility of production and thus achieve greater success in terms of productivity and delivery readiness. Manufacturing is also becoming more efficient and productive. This also includes the production of individual parts. De facto, our products perfectly meet these requirements as they can be connected to various communication and operating schemes. Developers see great chances in the vision of cyber-physical systems to realize the factory of the future.
With regards to supporting sustainable manufacturing systems of the future, we intend to replace high power consumption pneumatic actuators and valves with high-power density integrated motion control solutions from esitron.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
S.B & D.R: We think the market trend is heading back to customer specific solutions with individual consultations based on profound subject-matter expertise that meet the customer-specific needs.
In detail, we are constantly extending the esiMot product series (decentralized servo motors). We offer different motor sizes and provide matching motion controllers – suitable to the machine and its application. Our servo motion controllers can be mounted in different positions on the selected servo motor for perfect fitting.
Furthermore, esitron can present several performance improvements, including the aspects of quality management, protection, long-life cycle, and additional connectivity options.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
S.B & D.R: Entering the market with the “esiMot micro” in 2024 is a highlight we are very excited about. This is (for now) esitron’s most innovative product, because this miniature sized compact BLDC motor saves a lot of space in the electrical cabinet or – even better – strives to eliminate the electrical cabinet all-together. It will be available with the fieldbus EtherCAT and PROFINET. Other fieldbuses will follow.
Another product that we are very excited about is a BLDC servo motor with integrated motion controller, for the food and beverage markets. This IP67 standard hygienic drive is currently being developed and is planned to launch in Q4, 2024.
E.E: What estimations do you have for the rest of 2023?
S.B & D.R: The current geo-political environment in and around Europe, combined with a higher cost of capital, have created an uncertain market environment. esitron is using this opportunity to improve its cost structure by driving process improvements through a wider adoption of digitalization.
We want to make it even easier for our customers to reach us and are in the process of preparing a new website which will hopefully be online by the end of the year.
Photos: Edmund Möhrle, Dec. 2022