Ermaksan POWER-BEND PRO + COBOT at EuroBLECH 2026

Ermaksan’s compact POWER-BEND PRO + COBOT merits evaluation for recurring sheet-metal brackets, covers and panels that fit its forming capacity and remain securely grippable through every bend. The hydraulic CNC press brake forms the sheet; the cobot feeds, positions and holds it, targeting repeated manual handling rather than changing the forming process.

The EuroBLECH 2026 configuration combined a 1270 mm POWER-BEND PRO with a cobot and carried Ermaksan’s 40-ton designation. The package was announced on August 28, 2026, for the October 20–23 exhibition in Hannover, Germany. A POWER-BEND PRO/cobot demonstration at the show was subsequently covered in a November 4, 2026, report published by TB Maskin AS.

Hand-guided teaching and manual flexibility

Ermaksan’s cobot-system family supports hand-guided teaching in free-drive mode: the operator guides the arm while the software records movements and speeds. That offers a hands-on alternative to conventional robot-path coding. For a buyer, the useful demonstration is teaching a representative component—not simply watching an already prepared motion repeat.

The system family also supports returning to manual operation. That flexibility is worth investigating when some jobs will remain manually handled. Have the proposed brake and controls demonstrate the actual mode change; a family-level capability does not establish how every installation will implement it.

Trial the component through its changing shape

A practical starting trial is a recurring bracket with an accessible gripping face, followed by a cover or compact panel from the intended production mix. These are application recommendations, not documented customer-production examples for the exhibition package. Assess the flat pattern, intermediate shapes and finished component together: an initially accessible gripping area may become obstructed as flanges form.

The gripper needs usable access while the workpiece approaches the tooling, bends and withdraws. Follow the complete sequence to identify any regrip, alternate tool position or manual intervention. A component that the brake can form is not automatically a component the proposed cobot arrangement can handle.

Ermaksan’s cobot-family documentation describes a vacuum holder. For a vacuum-based proposal, use representative surface conditions, component weights and handling orientations in the trial, and identify possible contact areas on the drawings. Establish the proposed robot’s payload and reach, the gripper’s holding capability and the required clearances rather than inferring them from the compact brake designation.

Match forming force and changeover to the work

The 40-ton designation does not establish a maximum material thickness. Air-bending force depends on material, thickness, bend length and die opening; a narrower opening increases the required force. Check the intended punch and die, their allowable loads, the required radius and the available flange geometry alongside the brake’s capacity. Have the quotation state rated force and its unit system explicitly rather than silently interpreting the exhibition designation as 40 U.S. tons.

Teaching is only one part of changing jobs. Compare a complete representative family change—including tooling work, motion teaching and any gripper adjustment—with the useful running time that follows. A short taught cycle is not the same as an economical short batch. Use measured changeover and production cycles to compare the proposed station with continued manual bending; the teaching feature alone does not establish a saving.

Buy the defined bending application

The installed bending application needs safeguarding appropriate to the robot, gripper, sheet-metal workpiece, brake tooling and worker access. A cobot label does not establish barrier-free operation. Teaching, automated bending, manual operation and recovery should each be addressed in the application risk assessment, operating procedures and task-specific training.

The POWER-BEND PRO base-machine family has a Mac-Tech quote-inquiry path, but that page is not a listing for the complete exhibition cobot package. A proposal for automated bending should identify the brake, robot, gripping arrangement, controls interface, tooling and application-support scope. Confirm training, installation responsibilities, price and delivery for that configuration rather than assuming the exhibition display defines a complete U.S. offer.

Call me, Adam Quoss, Mac-Tech’s Vice President of Sales, to discuss whether this approach fits your bending work. I can help assess tooling, controls, teaching and training questions with Mac-Tech and clarify the equipment proposal with the manufacturer. Bring representative flat patterns, formed drawings or samples, material grades and thicknesses, tooling details, batch sizes and repeat frequency so the discussion starts with the work you need to produce.