SCHUNK alternatives

SCHUNK began in 1945 as a mechanical workshop in Lauffen am Neckar and remains family-owned, now in its third generation. Gripping systems, clamping technology and automation components are its whole focus, delivered by 3,700 employees through 34 directly owned subsidiaries and distribution partners in more than 50 countries. For robot cells, that makes it a specialist in the last few centimetres: where the arm meets the part. The neighbouring suppliers cover the rest of the cell. SEW-EURODRIVE moves what SCHUNK holds: the Bruchsal company, founded in 1931 and still family-owned, builds servo gearmotors and MOVI-C drives with around 22,700 employees across 57 countries. SIKO measures the movement, supplying rotary encoders, motor feedback and positioning systems from Buchenbach, where it has operated since 1963 with roughly 300 employees. SKF supports the rotating machinery itself — the Gothenburg group founded in 1907 employs 38,743 people and combines bearings with linear motion across some 130 countries. SMC offers the pneumatic route to actuation: the Tokyo company, established in 1959 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market, employs 24,773 people and sells pneumatic and automatic control equipment, including end-effector pneumatics, into about 80 countries through some 500 overseas sales offices. Choose SCHUNK when gripping and clamping performance decides the cell design; look to SMC for pneumatic actuation and a broad control catalogue, SEW-EURODRIVE for the drives behind the axis, SKF for bearings and linear products, and SIKO for feedback on every movement.

Alternatives to SCHUNK

SEW-EURODRIVE

SEW-EURODRIVE is a German family-owned drive-technology company, founded in 1931 and headquartered in Bruchsal, that grew from a small electric-motor works into a global leader in drives for mechanical and plant engineering.

SIKO GmbH

SIKO is a German manufacturer of sensors and positioning systems headquartered in Buchenbach near Freiburg, with more than 60 years of history since its founding in 1963.

SKF

AB SKF is a Swedish engineering group founded in 1907, based in Gothenburg and listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, built around a single idea: reducing friction in rotating equipment.

SMC Corporation

SMC Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of pneumatic and automatic control equipment, headquartered in Tokyo and established on April 27, 1959, originally as a maker of sintered metal filters.

Full profile, with every fact and its source: SCHUNK. Profile facts last verified 6 November 2026.