{"id":4845,"date":"2020-07-07T11:46:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T09:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/news\/the-mobility-manufactory\/"},"modified":"2020-08-31T15:02:45","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T13:02:45","slug":"the-mobility-manufactory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/en\/the-mobility-manufactory\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mobility Manufactory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyone entering the Phoenix Contact E-Mobility production area will immediate note the atmosphere of concentrated activity. Each handle has to fit, and every little component must be set exactly in the right place. There is no room for booming full automation; only for experienced professionals with a love of precision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bodo Finken likes to meet his visitors directly at the door to \u201chis\u201d production facility. Because you can\u2019t just walk in here. Those who work for or supply the automotive industry are very reluctant to show their cards \u2013 discretion is key in this industry. But with the Head of Production at your side, this hurdle is quickly overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bodo Finken<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And then there is the fact that it is quite different from a \u201cnormal\u201d 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 \u2013 the inlets. Surrounded by working material, mostly at workstations. Every handle fits, every tool is exactly where the hand that\u2019s looking for it expects it to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humble beginnings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. \u201cHere, this room we\u2019re in right now, this was all we had,\u201d says Bodo Finken as he gestures around the room. \u201cThe very first connectors were manufactured in Blomberg as pre-series. The colleagues who worked there were also our first employees here in Schieder.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n