{"id":3872,"date":"2020-02-14T11:33:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T10:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/news\/the-disruptor\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T10:18:22","slug":"the-disruptor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/en\/the-disruptor\/","title":{"rendered":"The disruptor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Similarly to a velociraptor in the jungle of primeval times, our disruptor sweeps through the electronic and mechanical undergrowth of his territory. Always on the lookout for an application that he can incorporate. Always ready to track down established processes and turn them into something completely new.<\/p>\n\n

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Frank Schr\u00f6der – a lateral thinker with courage and method<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Et voila, Frank Schr\u00f6der comes around the corner. Frank \u201cBuilding Technology\u201d Schr\u00f6der, he adds, grinning. Actually, the 49-year-old operations engineer is not scary at all. Rather, he is open and warm-hearted. And captivating. Because when it comes to \u201chis\u201d building technology, Frank Schr\u00f6der cannot and does not want to hide his enthusiasm for his workplace.<\/p>\n\n

Schr\u00f6der has been here since day one. At the Bad Pyrmont site, at least. \u201cI completed my apprenticeship as an operations technician at Phoenix Contact in Blomberg and was there for a total of eleven years before I was given the chance to be at the forefront here on the greenfield \nsite.\u201d In 1996, Schr\u00f6der started with just one colleague and the responsibility for the facility \nmanagement of a single building. \u201cBack then, Phoenix Contact was developing the production \nof printed circuit boards here in Bad Pyrmont. I said at the time that this would be the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The zero-current winner<\/h4>\n\n

The new site grew rapidly, and Frank Schr\u00f6der and his team grew with it. But how did a \u201ccompletely normal\u201d master operations technician and facility manager become \u201cBuilding Technology Schr\u00f6der\u201d? Schr\u00f6der can name his \u201cmoment of enlightenment\u201d immediately: \u201c2013, at and during the Wave Trophy.\u201d Together with his colleague Frank Knafla, he formed the \u201cFrank & Frank\u201d team. And he didn’t just win the rally, but also an intensive insight into social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Since then, the robust East Westphalian romps through all networker levels.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThat is when I realized the importance of networking, of working together on bigger goals.\u201d It wasn’t just technicians involved in the rally, but members of the sales, marketing, and development teams as well. A look outside of the box, the interest in new topics, the overcoming of individual barriers \u2013 \u201csince then I have been a man of the new media\u201d. <\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
On the roof in Bad Pyrmont<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Frank Schr\u00f6der discovered an ideal partner and kindred spirit in Bernhard Tilmans, who has been responsible for the development of the Building Automation Business Unit in Sales Germany since 2015. \u201cTogether, we are now pushing through projects and developing ideas.\u201d The once rather publicity-shy Schr\u00f6der became a much-sought-after speaker who can easily inspire a hall full of 150 experts with his talks. <\/p>\n\n

From toolbox to laptop<\/h4>\n\n

\u201cI have been co-managing and involving myself in our Building 4 from the very first sketches since 2015\u201d, Frank Schr\u00f6der says, and not without pride. And he has a right to be proud, because the building is bursting with innovations, whether in energy efficiency, ventilation and air conditioning, building automation, mobile networking with its own app, right through to rain and service water management. Augmented reality is used as a part of the operations technology, and in the open-plan building, seating groups with fully automatic lighting distribution and seat recognition invite guests to linger. The PV system on the roof feeds renewable energy into a system to which, among other loads, the charging stations for electric vehicles are connected. \u201cNaturally, with automatic occupancy displays and billing.\u201d adds Schr\u00f6der. <\/p>\n\n

Innovation in the team<\/h4>\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n

Where does a facility manager actually get the information about such technologies and their possible use in the company’s own buildings? Why is Schr\u00f6der so close to the developers and the product portfolio (“I’m practically swimming in our 80,000 products and help myself to them.”)? A visit to Frank Schr\u00f6der’s department makes it clear how unusually this operating technician understands his area of responsibility. After all, this is where technicians sit together with in-house software developers who work together to use the company’s own hardware and software products in its own buildings. “We are system integrators in our own company,” is how they describe their unusual job. And add: “What we do and are allowed to do here is unheard of anywhere else.” Looking at the events at which Schr\u00f6der is invited to speak, it is safe to assume that Phoenix Contact’s example is likely to set a precedent. Frank Schr\u00f6der not only links the company’s own products to profitable new and unimagined tasks in buildings, but also gives new impetus to the entire industrial architecture. The disruptor is also revolutionizing the job description of the industrial and building technology engineer.<\/p>\n\n

Phoenix Contact Geb\u00e4udeautomation<\/a>Der Geb\u00e4udefl\u00fcsterer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Similarly to a velociraptor in the jungle of primeval times, our disruptor sweeps through the electronic and mechanical undergrowth of his territory. Always on the lookout for an application that he can incorporate. Always ready to track down established processes and turn them into something completely new. Frank Schr\u00f6der – a lateral thinker with courage …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":3,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[325,606],"tags":[425,424],"class_list":["post-3872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smart-building","category-smart-people","tag-emalytics-en","tag-smart-building-en"],"yoast_head":"\nThe disruptor - UPDATE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/en\/the-disruptor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The disruptor - UPDATE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Similarly to a velociraptor in the jungle of primeval times, our disruptor sweeps through the electronic and mechanical undergrowth of his territory. 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