In 1925, in a workshop in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany, Gottlieb Stoll asked himself how technology could make work easier. From the initial production of machines for woodworking, Festo, the company he co-founded, morphed into the production of pneumatic and electrical automation technology, selling to 300,000 customers worldwide in over 35 industries.
To mark the family-owned company’s 100th anniversary this year Festo, which reported a turnover of $3.45 billion in 2024, built what it called an “Incredible Machine” (see the picture) a Rube Goldberg-type contraption which touches on applications the company now covers: everything from battery production for electric cars and laboratory automation in the life sciences to intralogistics and the semiconductor industry. The contraption highlights how even digitalization and AI are becoming increasingly important parts of Festo’s business. But, as the company’s tagline says, in the industrial world of automation standing still is not an option.
Amidst geopolitical and technological turmoil Festo wondered how it should set the right course for the future: what new things should it automate for a world in motion?
Festo decided to work together with UnternehmerTUM, a center for innovation and business creation at the Technical University of Munich. Through a series of workshops over several months they settled on a future focus for its agricultural division. Festo’s journey provides some valuable insights on what it takes to become future-ready in a turbulent world.
Scenario Analysis
Christine Marie von der Ohe, head of global business development for agtech in Festo’s agricultural division, is responsible for scouting for startups and business to bring more smart technology into the sector. Festo has been working with makers of cow milking robots for about 25 years. She was tasked by the company with envisioning what agriculture will look like in 2035 and what new types of automation might be needed. Having grown up on a farm von der Ohe was aware that big changes are happening in the sector.
The rising cost of labor in the agricultural sector is compelling farmers and agribusinesses to turn toward automation as a cost-effective solution. Additionally, the growing global population and the consequent rise in food demand necessitate innovative approaches to boost crop yields and farming efficiency. “I understood it would not be possible to continue farming as we used to do it, but we had to figure out how to approach the whole topic,” she says.
Agricultural robots, with their ability to perform tasks such as planting, weeding and harvesting more efficiently and with minimal human intervention, could meet escalating food production demands.“We can see the potential,” says von der Ohe. “The challenge was how do we know if this is really coming?”
UnternehmerTUM’s specialists supported Festo in utilizing a foresight methodology to analyze what farming of specialty crops might look like in 2035, including the availability and price of labor and energy as well as climate and political restrictions that could influence the sector’s development. “We had so many topics on the wall,” says von der Ohe. They then ranked potential market drivers, eventually narrowing it to two factors with the most significant expected impact on the focused sector and the highest level of uncertainty regarding its evolution: level of food sovereignty and degree of value chain centralization.“In three of the four scenarios the case for the use of mobile robots in the field was really strong,” she says.
From there UnternehmerTUM worked with Festo to step back from 2035 to today and figure out what needs to happen in the coming years to prepare for the projected outcomes.
“Precision farming requires smaller, possibly electric, motions, and this is what we can supply,” says von der Ohe. Mobile robots have already started with plant care, pollination or harvesting tomatoes inside greenhouses. Harvesting outdoors is the holy grail, says von der Ohe. Strawberries are particularly hard to harvest. The fruit is fragile, and it is backbreaking work. Some farms have tried to avoid workers bending by having them lay face down on a machine, their foreheads, stomachs and legs resting on adjustable pads. The workers face and hands are free, so they can view the row as the wheeled machine carries them over it and can pick whatever berries they see. “On the one hand we are facing a physical shortage of workers and on the other hand this is physically exhausting work which can be relieved by robots,” she says. The same is true for apple picking because “people don’t want to do this job anymore,” she says.
“With smaller machines we see as well a change from hydraulics to electric power,” says von der Ohe. “This enables the machine builder to integrate more intelligence.” Take the case of cutting weeds that grow around lettuce. In the past farmers would have to physically fix the diameter of the plate blades. “Today you have cameras in front that detect each individual lettuce and a broader range of possibility for positioning,” she says.
To prepare for demand for more autonomous and precise systems and robotic farmhands in the field, Festo is now examining existing products from its portfolio to see how they might be applied. “My task is to identify a future opportunity that will allow us to sell what we have already developed for other industries,” says von der Ohe. Festo might find some of the components from the milking robots useful. Or, she says, the company might find what is needed in divisions that have nothing to do with agriculture.
After the strategy and scenario planning project with UnternehmerTUM, the finalized agritech scenarios were illustrated by a graphic designer. Picturing how and why robotic farmhands would be needed was not only helpful in setting a course of action, “it turned out to be a great tool for internal communication,” says von der Ohe.“It is hard for people to visualize what we are doing,” she says. “With this it makes it easier to communicate not only to my team but to communicate with management and try to get the resources we need.”
Key Learnings
What can other companies learn from Festo’s experience? “Preparing for the future requires more than detecting trends,” says Lea Weil, the senior innovation consultant at UnternehmerTUM who worked directly with Festo on foresight and scenario analysis. “One of the first things many clients express– regardless of whether they are large corporates or small and medium-sized businesses – is a strong interest in purchasing a customized trend radar to gain a structured overview of the trends most relevant to them,” says Weil. “But focusing too much on collecting and cataloging trends can be misleading as it this does not automatically translate into a real understanding of what is going on. The first step is understanding what is happening, but the real work is figuring out what you are going to do with this knowledge.”
In the case of Festo the company had been working on its agricultural strategy for about a year. UnternehmerTUM’s job was to “challenge what they already had in mind and to add strategic depth by uncovering potential disruptions and new opportunity spaces,” she says. “It is not only about the final results but about the insights and alignment they gain throughout the process.”
Weil cautions that focusing on just one scenario is risky: a strategy that only works in a single future context is inherently fragile. In contrast, those who keep multiple scenarios in mind are better equipped to recognize and interpret signals of change when they happen. As was the case with Festo, instead of betting everything on one possible future, it is more effective to identify actions or strategic directions that could lead to success across multiple scenarios. And finally, be both humble and flexible. “There is only one thing that is sure about the future,” says Weil. “Whatever you imagine, it won’t happen like that.”
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