The vacuum specialists J. Schmalz GmbH, D-72293 Glatten, recently entered their innovative and compact vacuum generator "X-Pump" for the innovation prize of the state of Baden-Württemberg, the "Dr.-Rudolf-Eberle-Preis 2006". Schmalz made it to the final round and thus proved their excellent innovative abilities as a worldwide active market leader in the area of vacuum components and gripping systems, vacuum handling systems and vacuum clamping systems.

The vacuum generator X-Pump is an integrated ejector system with all necessary suction, blow-off and control functions which has a very high suction capacity while consuming far less compressed air than other devices of this type. The compact and lightweight design, coupled with the high suction capacity, permits more dynamic operation and very short cycle times in the handling of all types of products.

The integrated "Condition Monitoring" function monitors the vacuum system and detects and signals any faults which occur, thus optimising the availability of the system. In practical applications, replacement of conventional ejectors with the high-performance X-Pump ejectors results in major savings in compressed air, other energy and maintenance times, thus making operations far more economical.

In these respects, the X-Pump fully complied with the competition categories "technical progress", "special business performance" and "economical success".

The prizes were awarded on 28 November 2006 in the "König-Karl-Halle" of the "Haus der Wirtschaft" in Stuttgart. The main speech of the evening was given by the Minister for Economic Affairs of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Ernst Pfister. Schmalz was represented by managing director Dr. Kurt Schmalz and a member of the innovation-project team, Christian Frey.