Bosch Rexroth has recently opened a customer innovation center (CIC) near Austin, Texas. The Rexroth CIC is an approximately 9,200-sq.-ft. building with multiple exhibits and presentation areas housed inside. With the new building, visitors can learn about the company’s factory automation and industrial hydraulics products and technology.

The exhibits and presentation areas feature interactive technology demos that integrate multiple Rexroth factory automation systems that includes the company’s crtlX AUTOMATION platform, Smart MechatroniX systems, TS assembly conveyors, autonomous mobile robot, linear motor-based flexible transport system (FTS), smart hydraulics and more. The demos are available so visitors can see a scaled version of a completely automated factory production line.

The company is hoping to connect its customers with other Rexroth innovation centers, including its CU.BE center in Germany, along with others across the U.S. and globally. It states that this connection allows for an immersive digital experience as well as enabling connections between customers and Rexroth partners for access to automation technologies around the world.

Advancements are also made inside the Austin CIC with its engineering lab. Manufacturing customers and partners have the ability to join engineering teams from Bosch Rexroth globally to address specific factory automation challenges and applications. The company states the lab’s collaborative setting is designed to expand factory automation technology based on the needs of customers. Rexroth experts are reportedly able to work directly with customers to develop working prototypes and proof-of-concept systems that integrate multiple controls, drives, material transport, assembly and linear motion products from the company’s portfolio.