MANUFACTORY
Bodo Finken likes to meet his visitors directly at the
door to “his” production facility. Because you can’t
just walk in here. Those who work for or supply the
automotive industry are very reluctant to show their cards
– discretion is key in this industry. But with the Head of
Production at your side, this hurdle is quickly overcome.
And then there is the fact that it is quite different from a
“normal” production facility. While other machine parks rattle
and rumble, click and clack, sometimes loudly, rarely quietly,
there is a concentrated calm near-silence in Schieder. All
around, employees dressed in white coats devote themselves
almost devoutly to the assembly of various charging
connectors, cables, and vehicle charging sockets – the inlets.
Surrounded by working material, mostly at workstations.
Every handle fits, every tool is exactly where the hand that’s
looking for it expects it to be.
Humble beginnings
“We started out in 2013 as a spin-off with 23 employees from
the Business Area DC, that is to say the connector division. A
major customer from the automotive industry had asked the
Executive Board whether Phoenix Contact could also enter
the field of e-mobility. At that time, we had just one large
bus charging connector for the Chinese market. But because
the number of inquiries for this field were increasing, we
established the spin-off on January 1, 2013.”
The number of employees was still very manageable, with
14 people in administration, logistics, and sales, along with
nine production experts. The premises in the former furniture
factory in Schieder were just as modest. “Here, this room
we’re in right now, this was all we had,” says Bodo Finken as
he gestures around the room. “The very first connectors were
manufactured in Blomberg as pre-series. The colleagues who
worked there were also our first employees here in Schieder.”
Today’s pre-series facility looks very similar to the
production facility that we started back then. “We, with our
nine experts, initially produced batch quantities of one on a
total of 12 simple, completely empty assembly tables – one
meter wide, eighty centimeters deep, along with a few hand
tools and roller containers with parts – depending on the item
version or component. A few shelves, plenty of plastic boxes
with material – that’s how we started our production logistics
system.
We were as happy as pigs in mud whenever a customer
ordered a connector. And then we built the connector. And
then another one for the next customer. Until they started
ordering five of them at a time. I remember how hectic things
got the first time a customer ordered 10 connectors. Back
then, every employee was able to build each type of connector
blindfolded.”
Treacherous exhibits
But this idyllic scene did not last long. A real run on the
connectors from Schieder began in the very first year. This was
due to Phoenix Contact offering a broad product portfolio from
à
Lab or workshop? Both.
Fundamental research is carried out here
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