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INDUSTRY NEWS

Motion control specialist

celebrates 50 years

50 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, AEROTECH WAS AN AMERICAN GARAGE
START-UP WITH HUNGARIAN ROOTS. FROM ITS BEGINNINGS AS A
TOOLMAKER, THE COMPANY IS TODAY RECOGNISED AS A LEADING
POSITIONING SYSTEMS DESIGNER MK delivers belt conveyors
erotech, manufacturer of high-performance for PPE mask production
motion control and positioning systems, is
celebrating it’s 50th company anniversary. It all K has responded to a key customer
Abegan with the Hungarian uprising of 1956. request by delivering a large number of
Stephen Botos, an 18 year old trained toolmaker, was on conveyors in a short time frame. The
the front line and supplying the insurgents with food. Mconveyors were required for a plant that
When the uprising was put down with the help of the needs to produce up to 100 PPE masks per minute in
Russian army, he had to leave his home, and one foggy a fully automatic process. As the demand for such
night he hid in a hay cart and crossed the Austrian border. plants is extremely high due to the spread of the
From Austria, he came eventually to the US, and a few enabled an extremely high resolution as well as a large coronavirus, the conveyors needed to be delivered
months later had an American high school diploma in his range of motion. The initial manual positioners were soon quickly as well as being easy to put into operation.
pocket. He started his professional career at Goerz followed by the first electronic controls and driven The MK conveyors needed to convey the masks to
Optical, a manufacturer of optical lenses and systems. The positioners. As a result, demand in the commercial sector separate production steps within the plant, such as
products in which he participated as a designer included for precision manufacturing and testing technology folding, bonding and supplying nose clips. The masks
test devices for highly developed inertial control systems increased noticeably. are then disinfected in subsequent steps. The
in the aerospace industry. Since his previous Hungarian The first subsidiaries in the UK and Germany in the conveyor had to be designed for a three-shift
degrees were not recognised, Botos took evening courses 1980s heralded international expansion. Thanks to the operation.
in mechanical engineering from the University of product range of positioning systems that has now been Together with the customer’s design team, MK
Pittsburgh, while working as a designer. Immediately after achieved, Aerotech was able to cover a wide range of employees configured a conveyor consisting of as
completing his mechanical engineering degree in 1969, industries, from medical technology and life science many standard components as possible, but which
he and two of his engineering colleagues teamed up and applications, in photonics, automotive, data storage, laser still satisfied the necessary cleanliness requirements.
founded Aerotech, in Pittsburgh in 1970. processing, aerospace, as well as verification and testing The best-selling MK GUF-P 2000 conveyor was the
The new company’s first development was $ 20,000 to assembly. best solution for the job. The highly standardised belt
prototype location system for industrial use. The first From it’s early beginnings in a Pittsburgh garage to conveyor can be quickly delivered and is easy to
positioning system manufactured was a simple two-axis today, Aerotech has carved out a solid niche in the field of integrate, which enabled MK to deliver 40 conveyors
electromechanical application and was available for high-precision motion control. “With our wide range of in just a few weeks. The conveyor is also reasonably
around $300. Botos asserts that Aerotech was the first products, we specialise in machining in the nanometre priced thanks to the high level of standardisation.
company to use closed-loop servo technology for its linear range”, explains Simon Smith, European director An FDA-approved belt was used in order to keep
positioning systems. This was four times the performance Aerotech. The vertical range of manufacture is enormous; the masks free of contamination. MK constructed the
of conventional stepper systems. almost all components from the positioning system to belt conveyor with low-maintenance, indirect drives
Aerotech saw rapid growth in the first few years. The interferometers and drives to motion control and with timing belts to ensure that the three-shift
first patent and the subsequent introduction of a manual software are mainly manufactured by Aerotech itself. operation runs reliably and without malfunctions.
optical holder contributed significantly to this. This MORE INFORMATION: www.aerotech.com MORE INFORMATION: www.mk-group.com/en

Universal Robots offers free consultations to Pharma companies

ollowing increased enquiries from the their part in ensuring our frontline workers are supplied
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Mark Gray, UK&I sales director said: “In these believes that even in the most difficult times, companies
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flexible as possible. Our cobots have already helping many wish to pass on this knowledge to all others who can play www.universal-robots.com/gb/online-meetings/

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • April 2020
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