Brilliantly simple – simply brilliant

Halle: 1 Galerie / Stand-Nr.: 1GA81

Increasingly complex applications, rising cost pressure, more and more lack of skilled workers and the growing importance of sustainability and modularity: Anyone offering solutions for industrial automation must be able to provide convincing answers to these questions in the future. Murrelektronik already has them: the consistently decentralized Vario-X installation system.

Why make things complicated and expensive when it can be done much easier and faster? This is the question that decision-makers are increasingly asking themselves when planning new automation concepts or retrofitting existing ones. And instead of laborious, time-consuming and error-prone point-to-point wiring in the control cabinet, they are turning to the future of automation: decentralized solutions.

Better short ways than long cables

Into the field, decentralize, modularize, combine technologies, act more energy efficiently, reduce and simplify complexity: With its unique Vario-X system, Murrelektronik has developed a holistic overall solution for this transition in industrial automation – a solution that seamlessly integrates all peripheral elements from the sensor and actor to the cloud, regardless of the manufacturer.  

Vario-X is a consistently flexible and scalable automation platform with maximum openness and performance on all levels and at all interfaces. And this is not a coincidence: The company is the forerunner for decentralized automation concepts that bring signals, data and power from the cloud to the process environment, eliminating the need for control cabinets.

This is where extensive know-how and decades of experience in decentralized installation technology meet the openness and technological expertise to radically rethink the control level. The result: With Vario-X and ready-made software blocks, Murrelektronik makes industrial automation as simple, seamless and cost-effective as possible – and this compatible with all major industrial protocols.

Thanks to the modular design, components can be added or replaced easily and without long downtime. And the digital twin makes it possible to virtually test and optimize the machine or system before commissioning.

Vario-X provides customers with a system that is open to future challenges or expansions, and already offers 30% less effort for electrical installation. This is because all components are connected directly in the field to decentralized I/O modules – as easily, quickly and safely as plugging a plug into a socket, thanks to the plug & play principle with pre-assembled connection and junction cables based on internationally recognized standards.

At LogiMAT 2025 in Stuttgart, Murrelektronik and its partners will be demonstrating how easy it is to implement typical automation tasks with the Vario-X installation system, showing several real-life intralogistics applications. In addition to decentralization, the company will also address other current upheavals in the world of industrial automation.

This year’s motto is therefore: Shaping Automation

Electric actuators are increasingly used to replace pneumatics

Murrelektronik has long been convinced that the future of automation is not only without cabinets, but also without compressed air – and that is why the Vario-X installation system is not only consistently decentralized, but also purely electrical.

At LogiMAT 2025, the company will use typical applications from the intralogistics and packaging sector to demonstrate how easy, cost-effective and sustainable it is to implement all-electric concepts with Vario-X.

The demonstration systems vividly illustrate the major benefits to system builders of using electric rather than pneumatic drives: All parameters can be programmed to suit the application. Acceleration, braking cycles, the number and specific behaviour during intermediate stops – everything can be flexibly adapted to the requirements. And thanks to Murrelektronik’s Solution App, it’s quick and easy. This app also makes commissioning a breeze.

A customer example: While it takes several minutes to teach and adjust pneumatic clamps, commissioning of electric clamps with the Murrelektronik Solution App takes less than 30 seconds.

In addition, electric actuators constantly provide a wealth of data that can be used to detect deviations from standard values at an early stage. This makes it possible to avoid expensive failures through predictive maintenance. 

It is not only in terms of flexibility and control that electric drives are a step ahead, but also in terms of efficiency: after all, it is much more efficient to convert electricity directly into motion. And if I don’t need compressed air, I don’t need hoses or cylinders. And what’s not there, doesn’t have to be maintained or repaired.

And let’s not forget the positive impact on the health of the workers: no more noise in the factory, no more oily mist in the air – all-electric intralogistics concepts score big here too.

This has been proven by a study certified by TÜV Nord, in which the Global Production Management Center (GPMC) in Aachen, Germany, compared the environmental footprints of pneumatic and electric clamping systems. The result: in 14 of the 17 categories examined, the electric clamping fixtures provided significant savings. Overall, switching to this pioneering technology can reduce CO₂ emissions by around 60 per cent.

These advantages, combined with the many other benefits of the consistently decentralized Vario-X installation system: brilliantly simple – simply brilliant.

Vision systems are more and more replacing simple sensors

As applications become more complex, new approaches to system design are required.

One example: In the past, many simple sensors were used to evaluate individual stages of automated production or transport systems. Today, intralogistics often uses a few advanced vision systems that can do much more – but also pose significantly more demanding tasks in terms of programming and installation.

However, the plug & play installation system and the flexible and modular software library of Vario-X make even these tasks as easy as possible – as demonstrated by the intralogistics demonstration system at the Murrelektronik booth.

Ultimately, the planners, plant engineers and technicians who integrate complex vision systems into their plants using Vario-X should also say after implementation: brilliantly simple – simply brilliant.

Many exciting topics, one central meeting point: hall 1G, booth 1GA81

Does this all sound very exciting and forward-thinking? You will see and experience that it is.

We cordially invite you to come and see for yourself. Talk to our experts and learn more about Vario-X and our other innovative ideas for making industrial automation as simple, seamless and cost-effective as possible.

Mark Böttger looks forward to receiving your email or phone call. He will be happy to arrange exclusive appointments with the experts of your choice.