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The Baumer Group is one of the world's leading experts for high performing sensors and sensor systems in industrial automation. The unrivalled broad product portfolio, measuring precision and smart sensor functionalities provide intelligent solutions for digitalized production. Baumer Optronic GmbH as
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Outstanding Product Innovation: Baumer SmartReflect Light Barrier Recognised by Frost & Sullivan
POSTED 01/15/2013
SmartReflect by Baumer brings numerous benefits for industrial customers and is a proof of how technological innovations can significantly improve productivity in manufacturing, stated Frost & Sullivan.
“Baumer has developed an innovative SmartReflect for diverse industrial environments to address the need
for a robust light barrier solution, which would not have the disadvantages of conventional sensors available
in the market.)”, noted Emil Lazarski, Research Analyst Frost & Sullivan.
With the SmartReflect light barriers, the light beam - in contrast to a retro-reflective or through beam sensor -
is set up between the sensor and a machine part, for example. An object interrupts the light beam and
triggers the sensor. The only condition is that there must be a background, for example any machine part, in
the sensing distance of the sensor. In this way the separate reflector becomes superfluous and a common
weak point is rectified. Special SmartReflect variants can use the same principle to detect transparent
objects like bottles, trays or even foils.
Frost & Sullivan also underlined the aspects of cost efficiency provided by the SmartReflect sensors: “This
product is capable of enabling a very high ROI (return of investment) due to savings in maintenance costs,”
stated Lazarski. “As there is no need to replace reflectors, downtime is reduced and productivity is improved.
SmartReflect not only ensures substantial reduction in operating costs, but also cost savings due to easier
installation, commissioning and alignment.”
Dr. Oliver Vietze, CEO of Baumer Group, expressed his appreciation for the award: “It is Baumer’s
commitment to be innovation driver on the sensor market, and the award is giving impressive proof of our
endeavors.“
An innovation is only as good as rated by the customers for its additional product benefit. This time again,
the force behind SmartReflect were the customers. The initial spark for SmartReflect came from the food &
beverage industry where demanding hygienic standards caused many problems to the reflector of
conventional solutions. “We listened carefully and worked on a novel approach ” noted Vietze. “This is how
SmartReflect was born, the light barrier without separate reflector. Thanks to measurable product benefits,
our SmartReflect sensors are experiencing greatest interest also in many other application fields in the
handling and packaging industry as well as logistics”.