KNF 2046. A Vision for the Future

KNF in the year 2046. The door to the production hall opens. 3D printers are quietly whirring away, almost inaudibly. One printer is churning out a new wearing part that a KNF customer just ordered by scanning the old one with their smartphone scan. But even that is often no longer necessary. The diaphragm pumps are now able to autonomously detect when they need maintenance or when a wearing part needs exchanging and send the respective data to the 3D printer if necessary. The 3D printer can either be at KNF or even at the customer’s location.

Martin Becker is confident that in 25 years’ time, KNF diaphragm pumps will no longer “just” transfer, evacuate and create pressure. “They will be able to measure, control and repair themselves, and identify faults before they arise,” says the CEO. Sensors, functional materials and a digital connection to the KNF cloud will have turned pumps into complex devices that collect, receive and process information on their own. Today, we can only guess what artificial intelligence will be able to do in the future.

But let’s go back to the future – to 2046. Highly skilled experts are needed to manufacture these “mini computers.” Thanks to 100 years of experience and the knowledge of many longstanding KNF staff members, the company has remained a technology leader. But competition at the top is fierce. Interdisciplinary teamwork and close collaboration with the customer are more important than ever. Though communication is a little different to how it was in the “good old days,” back in the 2020s.

A project meeting: Everyone joins the digital meeting. Today, the team is focused on the details of a customized product. The KNF engineer brings up a hologram of the pump and shifts to an internal view of the design. He updates the team on the status of the development and immediately applies his colleagues’ ideas and suggestions to the 3D model. An hour into the meeting, the most important issues have been resolved, everyone leaves the meeting to find themselves wherever they were working before – a co-working space in Hamburg, a village in Southern Germany, the Group Board’s headquarters, the KNF development department in Switzerland, an office somewhere outside of Toronto.

Even today, in 2021, sustainability is key at KNF, and it will continue to permeate all areas of the family-owned company, resulting in more recycled materials, even smaller pumps using less material, and more environmentally friendly technologies. In 25 years, KNF diaphragm pumps will require up to 80% less energy than they do today. This trend is already clear.