Online magazine for design and development

Here you will find everything that the designer needs for his design and the development engineer for his new development, from the draft to quality assurance in production, such as new products, their applications, new technologies or research results. Company reports as well as topics on technological and megatrends in all industrial sectors complete our range of industry news. Let's start with the news.

Company News

Jumo's new Sensilo plant construction is progressing
Jumo is building a factory in the technology park for the production of temperature and pressure sensors with a production area of ​​around 13 m². At around 000 million euros, the new building is the largest investment in the company's history.
3DExperience Word 2024 in Dallas
At 3DExperience World 2024 in February in Dallas, Texas, Dassault Systèmes celebrated the event's 25th anniversary. The annual user meeting supports the global community in the development of future-proof products and processes.
Michael Koch GmbH moves into a new workshop
There is now more space available in Michael Koch's “Factory” for the assembly of customer- and machine-specific safe braking resistors. The new, modern hall was recently “taken by storm” by the employees.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for profit-making
Elon Musk files a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of breach of contract because the company, which was originally designed as a nonprofit, is now operating for profit.
Murat Simsir strengthens strategic corporate management at Montech
Murat Simsir took over the position of CSO at Montech on January 1, 2024. The former head of sales and project management is now strengthening the company's strategic management as part of the management team.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Industry news for your design and development from the specialist areas

switch cabinet

switch cabinet

On to the intelligent drive train for predictive maintenance

The Roba-brake-checker module or the torque-measuring shaft coupling from Mayr ensure intelligent safety in smart production.

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plastics

plastics

The first 100 Igus bikes hit the streets

The first 100 Igus Urban Bikes hit the streets and an in-house production facility with a capacity of 10.000 bicycles is set up in Cologne.

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Couplings

Couplings

Torque measuring shaft coupling

The smart steel multi-plate coupling Roba-drive-checker from Mayr can do more than just transmit torque and compensate for shaft misalignment.

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Robotic

Robotic

Programming robots for cable handling

As an exhibitor in the Application Park at the Hannover Messe, Artiminds Robotics is presenting a cable handling application for precise cable harness assembly.

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INDUSTRY SPECIALS

Industry news for your design and development from the branches

food technology

food technology

Lubrication and sealing-optimized linear guide

Schaeffler presents linear guides for food technology with optimized seals, wipers and long-term lubrication units.

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Mobile Machinery

Mobile Machinery

Flexible, customizable gateway for agricultural technology

IFM Electronic is presenting the Isobus Gateway at the Hannover Messe, which is designed for agricultural equipment and can be specifically adapted.

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Energy Technology

Energy Technology

All Electric Society – vision of the future of connectivity

At the Hannover Messe Preview, Harting gives an outlook on the Hannover Messe and draws the future picture of an “All Electric Society”.

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Inverter

Inverter

Certified servo controller with Profisafe interface

At Logimat, Wittenstein is presenting a safety-certified servo controller with a Profisafe interface and integrated safety card for AGVs.

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EXHIBITION SPECIALS

Industry fair news

Hannover Messe promotes energy for sustainable industry
As a networked industrial ecosystem, the exhibitors demonstrate how climate neutrality can be achieved through the use of electrification, digitalization and automation under the guiding theme of Energizing a sustainable Industry.
Control Fair 2024 | The industry is already looking forward to Stuttgart
Control 2024, the important international trade fair for quality assurance, will take place from April 23rd to 26th in Stuttgart. The trade fair places a particular focus on automation and digitalization.
SPS Nuremberg: Now in 16 halls!
The SPS – Smart Production Solutions from November 14th to 16.11th. 2023 will see significant growth in the trade fair compared to the previous year and is on the way to pre-Corona levels.

Electrical and pneumatic grab are used in automated production and assembly. during a electrical Gripper works on the basis of power supply, uses the pneumatic Gripper compressed air. Electric grippers are particularly advantageous for applications that require continuous force, while pneumatic grippers can be used successfully in dirty or wet environments. In this article we will introduce you to new products.

Gimatic electric pneumatic grippers

 

Contents

 

Magnetic gripper for the production of round cells in e-mobility

11.12.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX | The grasping of round cells in the battery manufacturing for electric cars is very demanding. The round cells have to be brought together closely during the manufacturing process in order to make optimal use of the limited installation space in the vehicle. This requires the gripper to position itself in the shadow of the battery.

The specially developed design of the HM1046 from Rooms (picture above) combined with a holding force of 50 N, the round cells hold securely even at high accelerations and emergency stop situations. In addition, the Zimmer grippers are characterized by a low residual holding force of less than 1 N when the magnets are deactivated. This ensures that the round cells are deposited reliably and also meets the strict requirements for technical cleanliness.

The grippers from the Construction kit follow a modular concept that makes it possible to optimally adapt them to the requirements of your manufacturing process. The magnetic grippers can be combined with a piston position query or battery presence detection. Axis compensators are also available, which, in conjunction with centering plates, compensate for misalignments of the cells in various manufacturing processes.

As for the HM1046 Magnetic gripper What makes it unique is the option vacuumsupported gripper. This combination of two redundant gripping principles enables impressive holding forces of up to 200 N and significantly maximizes process reliability.

Pneumatic coupling gripper for inserting pins

04.04.2021 | Gimatic has a coupling gripper series Flanged hung up. With her you can Robot or linear handling systems Tools or storage positions precisely dock and position. Now the gripper series has been expanded to include a variant for higher accuracies. 

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Smart Gripping: Digitization begins with the sensor

Baumer smart grippingOct 11.10.2019, XNUMX | With the help of high-precision inductive sensors, significant added value can be generated in the production environment: all component states can be queried precisely and thus predictive maintenance can be implemented. At Baumer Digitalization begins with “Smart Gripping”. Sensor.

In modern production environments, sensors not only give the machine “senses”, they also generate valuable data that can be used to significantly improve processes and usability. Exemplary Smart gripping This can be easily illustrated: Pneumatic grippers are used in large numbers for the manipulation and handling of workpieces. Standard sensors on the gripper only detect the end stops of the mechanics and thus the open and closed states.

With the help of the highly accurate inductive sensors All states can be queried precisely. By measuring the jaw position, the gripped workpiece can now be checked for dimensional accuracy at the same time. Using an IO-Link interface, sensor data can be output, which provides information about the sensor status and maintenance cycles. The gripper thus becomes smart and can now be integrated into networked system concepts.

Simple self-centering pneumatic gripper

08.10.2019 | Friedeman Wagner presents the parallel gripper PGM, which is quite simply m design. It is very compact, easy to maintain and functionally leads to a gripping system that is always centered. The pneumatically moved piston transmits its movement directly to a guide link, the so-called deflection piece, via a hard chrome-plated piston rod. 

Clamping jaws made of high-strength, hard-anodized aluminum are forcibly guided in the central setting. The user will later mount his fingers on them. About a slope, the movement of the pneumatic piston is deflected to the gripping or spreading process. At the same time the backdrop is still guided in a groove of the respective jaws. 

To absorb tilting moments, both jaws run on ground and hardened stainless steel guide shaftn. The parallel gripper has an open design and can be blown out and lubricated when installed. The maximum recommended workpiece weight is 0,13 kg to 7,2 kg (piston diameter 10 to 63 mm) across the sizes, the stroke per jaw is 2 to 15 mm. The repeatability is ±0,02 mm.

Sprue tongs for gripper removes injection molded parts

07.10.2019 | Gimatic presents two novel Angus pliers For grippers for removing parts from plastic injection molding machines: The gripper specialist has integrated a patented handling system into the DD and PB series, which eliminates the previous disadvantages when gripping. 

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Archive for Gripper News

2 and 3 jaw grippers with steel/aluminium guide



24.09.2018/XNUMX/XNUMX | the Room Group has expanded its premium gripper series 5000 with a new series of pneumatic grippers. In addition to the existing models with steel-in-steel guidance, versions with steel-aluminum profile groove guidance are now also available. The GPP/GPD5000AL grippers expand the product range with two-jaw parallel grippers and 3 fingers or three-jaw centric grippers. Technically, these pneumatic grippers with their steel-aluminum profile groove guide surpass all T-slot gripper and are at least equal to grippers with multi-tooth guides in the market environment. The manufacturer guarantees up to 15 million cycles without maintenance. In addition to the new variant, the pneumatic gripper series consists of the pneumatically driven GPP/GPD5000 and GPW5000 models, the pneumatic-electric hybrid gripper GPP/GPD5000IL, and a purely electric version, the GEP/GED5000.

the gripperSeries 5000 was designed for universal use and, depending on the variant, has a number of features such as speed, high gripping forces and large gripping jaw lengths. With tightness classes from IP40 to IP67, the pneumatic grippers are interchangeable. The 5000 series grippers feature a variety of detailed solutions that make daily use easier and often make the use of accessories unnecessary. The manufacturer relies on newly developed magnetic field sensors that allow them to be inserted from the side. The sensors can therefore be easily replaced without having to dismantle the entire pneumatic gripper. Another advantage is that they do not protrude beyond the C-slot. This means that the pneumatic grippers can be installed flush with each other.

Mechatronic grippers with IO-Link for Industry 4.0

26.06.2018/4.0/XNUMX | The increasing Industry XNUMX Automation also shows Gimatic not stop. And so the mechatronics specialist started equipping its grippers with an IO-Link interface. The reason why this often happens out of the blue has something to do with a certain level of uncertainty among users. IO-Link technology has only recently been in demand at Gimatic.

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Double-stroke needle gripper easily grips textiles

16.10.2017 | Needle grippers can be found in many applications for handling textiles, fabrics and non-crimp fabrics that increasingly have to be inserted in injection molding. for this AGS brought a needle gripper onto the market, which significantly simplifies the removal of a stack. With the double-stroke needle gripper type NAG-D, individual layers of textiles can be safely separated from one another.

How the needle gripper works: The first stroke is adjustable and only penetrates the top layer to separate it from the stack. The second stroke extends the needles to their full length to hold the fabric securely during handling. This function, in combination with the lightweight construction technology typical of the manufacturer, enables completely new ones Applications such as the handling of fabrics, non-crimp fabrics, prepreg and organo sheets.

The provider also has that Precigrip Modular system supplemented and improved. With the MPP-30-30 profile, the torsional rigidity was again increased by more than 12% compared to the previous model. All P22 Precigrip connection points remain compatible. The product family has also been supplemented with the MPP-60-60 profile, so that Precigrip is now also available for heavy-duty applications.

Individual grippers from the 3D printer

26.09.2017/3/XNUMX | In the development and production of automation components using XNUMXD printing in the SLS process Jomatic as a production and construction service provider. In addition to components suitable for industrial use, the company has specialized in various post-processing and surface technologies, including ESD, colouring, varnishing and rubber coating. Entire assemblies and system solutions are the result. By means of a chemical-thermal smoothing process, the SLS-Refine the surface to a water and dirt-repellent surface - without applying an additional layer. 

We have specialized in individual customizable Gripper systems, surface or suction grippers from the 3D printer. Surface suction cups with a patented vacuum valve system suck up individual parts with full suction power. They can be further processed without the entire suction surface having to be occupied. The advantages of additive production are combined in this system: lightweight structures, integrated channels and an individually adaptable shape. In this gripping system, balls serve as a non-return valve for unused surfaces.

Needle gripper for textile handling in plastic injection molding

21.08.2017/XNUMX/XNUMX | For the hard-to-reach materials in the automated handling of porous or limp parts special grippers must be used. Gimatic presented for such applications at this year's autumn trade fairs Motek and Fakuma the needle gripper PT28, thereby supplementing the range in the Plastics product group. The needle grippers are particularly suitable for gripping fabrics, fabrics or nets. 

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Gripper as a composite solution with high-performance ceramics

06.09.2017 | In automated assembly and handling technology, grippers take over the task of the human hand - only often with a significantly higher cycle rate than with manual assembly. The grippers are subjected to correspondingly high loads. If the gripper fingers, or at least parts of them, are made of ceramic doceram are manufactured, the user benefits from significantly longer service lives.

For the Electronicsproduction, the company manufactures gripper and transport fingers, for example, in which the gripping elements are made of impact-resistant high-performance ceramics cerazur are made and the kinematics are made of metal. In other applications, small parts grippers made of metal are used, in which cylinder pins or feather keys made of ceramic are incorporated. They form the contact surfaces of the gripper and create the conditions for a very long service life. Gripper elements made of glass fiber reinforced plastic and ceramic gripper fingers or feather keys are also part of the ceramics specialist's production range.

The high-performance ceramic Cerazur is used for the contact surfaces zirconiabase is used, which is characterized by extreme wear resistance and - and this is atypical for ceramics - by its impact strength. The grippers thus achieve a very long service life, even with short cycle times. This also applies to applications in which, in addition to mechanical wear, factors such as chemical resistance, electrical insulation or high thermal loads must be taken into account. The glass fiber reinforced high-performance plastic "Doglas" is often a good choice as a further material partner in these hybrid constructions. Its property profile includes high mechanical strength, very good dimensional stability and temperature resistance of up to 300 oC.

Flexible, efficient grippers for packaging

29.06.2016 | Fipa offers an alternative solution for gripping packaging with highly efficient and process-reliable area gripping systems. Individual boxes or entire layers can be handled without changing the gripper and regardless of the position of the box.

A new repacking station The PCA robot and packaging technology was supposed to remove filled cardboard boxes from crates and place them on a roller conveyor, and vice versa place the cardboard boxes in crates. The sizes of the boxes are between 240 to 360 mm in length and 220 to 240 mm in width. The weight of a box is up to 20 kg. For safety reasons, the gripper system should be designed for a load of up to 30 kg.

A vacuum gripper mounted on a Z-axis was selected as an economical and process-reliable handling solution. The Z axis ensures the vertical lifting movement for depositing the cardboard boxes in the crate and for subsequently removing them from the crate. Since the position of the cardboard in the box and on the roller conveyor was not precisely defined, the area gripper had to cover the entire area of ​​the box. In the case of smaller cardboard boxes, part of the area gripper was therefore not occupied by the cardboard box to be handled and would suck in false air if no countermeasures were taken. The consequences: A large volume flow for the vacuum generator and the associated high costs. 

A customer-specific design of a surface gripper of the TC series has efficiently solved this handling task. In this series, integrated valves close unused suction ports. The area gripping system with a footprint of 340 x 240 mm and a payload of up to 30 kg thus fulfilled the requirements.

Mechatronic plug-and-play grippers for industry

02.04.2014/XNUMX/XNUMX | Originally for the Clean room technology or medical technology applications, the mechatronic grippers of conquer Gimatic Today there are more and more application areas such as handling, assembly, machine tool construction or general automation. The gripper specialist is now presenting the complete mechatronics kit.

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 Pneumatic grippers with passage for leak testing

05.12.2012 | The pneumatic internal grippers of the MFD / MFU series from Gimatic now have a through hole for leak testing or for cooling the parts. From gripper size 27, magnetic sensors can optionally be installed. The new patented concept of the two grippers is suitable for picking up or setting down parts.

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Electrical or pneumatic gripper or rotary module

25.09.2012/20/50 | With the presentation of the new gripping/rotating modules of the electric EG-20/RE-50 series and the pneumatic GMQ XNUMX/RE-XNUMX series, the Afag the delivery program of "Red Modules" again. This is the combination of a rotation module with a gripping module in one compact unit. Depending on the requirements and customer wishes, there is one gripping/rotating module each consisting of an EG-20 or GMQ 20 gripping drive (electric or pneumatic), a RE-50 rotation module (normal or low voltage) and a GMQ 20 gripping tongs.

There are also three available Tongs-Versions as parallel gripper, 2 finger parallel gripper or toggle lever gripper. Thanks to the very compact and slim design, as mentioned, and the endless rotation function of the rotation module, there are almost no interfering edges. In relation to the movement sequences and the design as well as the action area, there is more freedom. The gripping/rotating modules are supplied as complete, ready-to-connect units. The electric rotary modules are designed for operation with the supplier's in-house controllers of the type SE-Power, but can also be operated with third-party controllers. The installation position is basically arbitrary, however, mounting surfaces are available on the front and side as standard. In addition, both the gripper and the rotary drive can be rotated 4 x 90° to the mounting surface, which means that the side of the cable outlet can be freely selected. 

Gripping/turning modules with endless turning function

08.11.2012/20/50 | With the presentation of the new gripping/rotating modules of the GMQ XNUMX/RE-XNUMX series Afag the delivery program of “Red Modules”. They offer the combination of a rotation module with a gripping module in one compact unit. Such a gripping/rotating module consists of the GMQ 20 gripping drive, a RE-50 rotation module with normal or low voltage and a GMQ 20 gripping tongs.

The designer can choose between the three available gripper versions: parallel gripper, two-finger gripper, toggle-lever gripper. Thanks to the very compact and slim design and the endless rotation function of the rotation module there are almost no interfering edges. In addition, there is more freedom in relation to the movement sequences and the design as well as the action area. 

The gripping/rotating modules are supplied as complete and ready for connection assembled units supplied. The electrical rotation modules are designed for operation with the in-house controllers of the SE-Power type, but can also be operated with third-party controllers. The installation position is basically arbitrary, however, mounting surfaces are available on the front and side as standard. In addition, both the gripper and the rotary drive can be rotated 4 x 90° to the mounting surface, which means that the side of the cable outlet can be freely selected.

Precision gripping module in mini format

12.10.2011 | The new gripping modules from Afag form the logical continuation of miniaturization within the small compact handling modules. This in turn allows for a narrower design and overall smaller dimensions with increasing functional integration. The result is expressed, among other things, in less weight and thus in greater dynamics, which reduces handling cycle times.

The designation "PG" stands for precision gripper and sizes 12, 16 and 20 indicate the piston diameter (12, 16 and 20 mm). A size 12 precision gripper develops a static force of F = max. 30 N. Closing times of 10 ms can be achieved with a finger weight of 10 g. With a finger weight of 30 g, closing times of 50 ms are reached. The pure gripping force is 2 x 23 N (opening) or 2 x 18 N (closing).

The repeatability is ± 0,01 mm. With a total weight of only 35 g, the precision gripper PG 12 is one of the lightweights among the modular grippers with pneumatic drive. If more gripping force is required, the PG sizes 16 and 20 are available, which then come up with gripping forces of 2 x 39 N (PG 16) or 2 x 68 N (PG 20). At 70 g (PG16) or 132 g (PG 20), these grippers can also be described as lightweight and are ideally suited for highly dynamic handling cycles.

The novel Baking Leadsystem has guides per jaw that are twice as long as the universal gripper UG. This ensures high stability and rigidity, especially in the direction of movement of the jaws, as well as high mechanical accuracy of the gripping functions. Last but not least, the jaw guides, which can be adjusted without play, also contribute to this. The PG are also characterized by a very high handling accuracy and very precise height, which in turn makes it particularly easy to exchange or group. Additional fastening threads for hold-down devices, ejectors, sensors and the like are attached to them. Otherwise, the Afag mounting hole pattern, which is always part of the scope of delivery, has been retained.

Side and rear mounted air connections M3 allow individual single or package assembly, especially since the slim, compact design mentioned allows several grippers to be packaged in the smallest of spaces. The PG are approved for use in class 10.000 clean rooms and can be operated with oiled or oil-free compressed air, depending on the application. The precision gripping modules of all sizes have a long-term guarantee of 2 years in multi-shift operation or 40 million (!) load changes.

Electric gripper with patented clamping mechanism

08.09.2011 | The electric gripper MPPM from Gimatic was designed for handling small parts. A newly developed, patented clamping mechanism makes powerful electrical gripping possible in the smallest of spaces. The easy-to-integrate MPPM electric gripper is used wherever pneumatic solutions reach their performance limits.

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Rotary gripper grips and turns

14.09.2010/16/XNUMX | Specifically designed, solidly and precisely built, compactly designed, guaranteed compatibility – these are the features of the DG XNUMX rotary gripper in a few words Afag. The powerful and most compact rotary gripper in its class combines the two functions "part gripping" and "part turning" in one device and is equipped with sensors for monitoring the "open/closed" or 0 and 180° position functions.

In addition, the DG 16 XNUMX with its stable structure and high mechanical precision for the highest handling accuracy in all installation positions, and the manufacturer also grants a guarantee of 40 million load changes or two years for this new handling module. The DG 16 rotary gripper has the dimensions 32 x 38 x 86 mm and weighs only 200 g. Since the supply hoses and cables are largely integrated and do not move when the gripping head rotates, there are no interfering edges to be taken into account and faults are avoided, which of course has a positive effect on process reliability.


Robot gripper, EOAT, gripper kits for Cobot and IR


The DG 16 has a gripper stroke of 2 x 3 mm and a gripping force of 100 N. It rotates or pivots through 180° or 90° and develops a torque of 1,3 Nm. The gripper accuracy is ±0,03 mm and +/-0,02 mm are specified for double-sided parallelism. The DG 16 rotary gripper is approved for operation in class 10.000 clean rooms and can be used with pick-and-place handling devices as well as linear, portal, SCARA or industrial robots.

Lightning-fast electrical parallel gripper

13.08.2010 | Summer Automatic comes onto the market with an electric parallel gripper that is lightning-fast and, in addition to an integrated controller, also offers a position query. The electric gripper fits perfectly with the "Green Automation" theme: The so-called impulse gripper works with short current pulses and is only energized for around 20 ms during the jaw movements.

When open or closed, on the other hand, it is currentless and does not consume any energy. This makes it suitable impulse gripper for all automation tasks that require both very short cycle times and low energy consumption. Unlike pneumatic systems, electrically driven components such as the impulse gripper do not require a complex pneumatic infrastructure in the background.

The parallel gripper is equipped with a integrated control equipped, which makes real plug & play use possible: simply connect the 24 volt power supply and the control line. The position query integrated in the gripper using a Hall sensor provides the higher-level control with reliable information about the current status of the gripper and thus contributes significantly to a high level of process reliability.

Electric gripper and rotary drive

26.07.2010/60/XNUMX | The electrical automation components parallel gripper GPE, angular gripper GWE and rotary drive DAE-XNUMX from Montech complement the electrical product range of the Swiss company with slides KUSE and Servoline. With the electric grippers, the gripping force and speed can be adjusted independently of one another. Various settings can be flexibly switched and saved via the control.

There are mounting holes for the grippers proximity switch for end position query. The GPE parallel gripper can transmit data to the PLC via pulses (Hall sensors). Sorting, counting and measurements can be carried out on the basis of the data. The rotary drive DAE-60 has numerous advantages: Due to the electrification, many positions can be approached (up to 31 permanently programmable) and the speed between the individual positions can be varied.

The angle of rotation ranges from 0° to 360°. Up to ten complete revolutions can be performed, with the brushless servo motor guaranteeing high performance and dynamics. This can also be equipped with a permanent magnet holding brake for horizontal installation.

Due to the specific arrangement of the drive elements, the rotary drive is characterized by a low installation height, so that compact systems can also be implemented. The hollow output shaft allows inside Cables and hoses, and the mechanics have extremely low and adjustable play. 

Compared to a pneumatic gripper, maintenance is less complex and the Energy consumption lower. The electrical components can be used universally in all sectors. However, they are particularly suitable for applications in which compressed air cannot be used for reasons of space, safety or hygiene.

 

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Author information
Angela Struck

Angela Struck is editor-in-chief of the development scout and freelance journalist as well as managing director of Presse Service Büro GbR in Ried.