{"id":9400,"date":"2023-03-22T09:26:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T08:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/news\/1940s-came-to-stay\/"},"modified":"2023-03-22T17:37:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T16:37:06","slug":"1940s-came-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/en\/1940s-came-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"1940s – Came to stay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Phoenix Contact has settled in the city of carnations twice. From the former emergency solution developed in the last almost 80 years a real love affair. Even the current mayor, Christoph Dolle, can hardly escape it, as he reveals with a wink in conversation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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Blomberg, the clove town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The company’s reception was rather frosty at first. When the small trading company Ph\u00f6nix Elektrizit\u00e4tsgesellschaft H. Kn\u00fcmann from Essen submitted a building application in 1943 to convert the former trade union building and then citizens’ home, town mayor Bargob was rather reserved. What did a company in the electricity sector want in his rural and tranquil Blomberg with the twelve chair factories, where horse-drawn carts still rumbled over the cobblestones? There were neither workers nor markets here<\/p>\n\n

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Blomberg at the beginning of the 40s<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

Terminal blocks, not chairs<\/h4>\n\n

Hugo Kn\u00fcmann persisted, though. His brother-in-law had given him the idea of escaping the hail of bombs in the Ruhr region and seeking exile in rural nowhere. He was a sales representative for a chocolate manufacturer and his work took him far and wide. And in Blomberg in eastern Westphalia, there was simply nothing that could have induced the Allies to take military action here. This was in stark contrast to Essen, where the heavy and armaments industries had their headquarters and the main train station with its arcades was also the target of attacks.<\/p>\n\n

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The B\u00fcrgerheim in the 50s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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Mayor Dolle shows the almost unchanged entrance<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

The two-story citizens’ home was rebuilt. The former pub on the first floor was transformed into a reception area, writing corner, and office. The banquet hall on the top floor became the new home to the assembly area and warehouse. Storage racks, scales, typewriters, phones, desks, and office cabinets all fit on one truck and were quickly on their way. The converted pub table was used as a packing station. This temporary solution worked for 14 years.<\/p>\n\n

Soon the terminal blocks were being shipped from Blomberg, which at that time still had its own train station. Parts from the suppliers also found their way to East Westphalia. A logistical tour de force during and shortly after World War II. Kn\u00fcmann succeeded in having his terminals classified as “essential to the war effort”. This meant that a supply of parts was possible. The first staff members were hired, and soon the company was again made up of a group of 20. The manual skills required to assemble the terminal blocks were manageable, there was still no sign of a shortage of skilled workers. <\/p>\n\n

Leaving the provincial area behind<\/h4>\n\n

The war was finally over. In 1948, company management returned to Essen under Hugo Kn\u00fcmann. Business soon picked up again, and the small company made plans to expand. Yet, every attempt to obtain a suitable building permit or a suitable plot of land in Essen failed. So the plans to expand the location in Blomberg, home to the warehouse, assembly, and shipping departments, were solidified. However, these plans did not take off until after the passing of Hugo Kn\u00fcmann’s in 1953. But then they went fast.<\/p>\n\n

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Josef Eisert had a good connection to the town’s manager Eggert and mayor Fritzemeier. The two made a strong case for setting up a new company site on the still untouched Flachsmarkt, an area surrounded by fields and farmland. Josef Eisert hired the young architect Eckhard Schulze-Fielitz from Essen, whose design of a production hall on the basis of the Bauhaus style still shapes the architectural face of Phoenix Contact today. The first hall was erected in 1957. <\/p>\n\n

The company’s own crawler tractor<\/h4>\n\n

Klaus Eisert still remembers the beginnings of Blomberg\u2019s construction activities well: \u201cWe even had our own construction crew with five masons and building tradesmen. With our own concrete mixer, crane, and even a Hanomag caterpillar. We poured the floor slab of the rear half of Hall 1 ourselves.\u201d Immediately after Hall 1 was erected, the go-ahead was given for the construction of Hall 2. And in 1966, with the erection of Building 21, which today is still known as the \u201chigh-rise building,\u201d the administrative staff returned to Blomberg. The office of Schulze-Fielitz erected numerous factory buildings worldwide until the 1980s, making the Phoenix Contact buildings unmistakable. His successor, architect Werner Brandstetter, remained and still remains true to the structural principles.<\/p>\n\n

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Now, a staff of 5,500 employees work at the Blomberg location alone every day. The company premises have become an internationally known landmark in Blomberg. The location’s expansion has not reached its completion yet: In the anniversary year 2023, the innovative Building 60 will be opened.<\/p>\n\n

How do small towns and large companies fit together? Blomberg’s mayor Dolle in an interview ><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inquired<\/h2>\n\n

Blomberg’s mayor Christoph Dolle in an interview on his city’s relationship with Phoenix Contact, plus the opportunities and challenges in the interaction with the largest company in the City of Carnations.<\/p>\n

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Christoph Dolle, Mayor of Blomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

UPDATE: Mr. Dolle, how would you describe Blomberg’s relationship with Phoenix Contact?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

As a true success story. Not only does it shape the cityscape, it also changed the external perception of our city. As far back as 1957, it was clear that the company settlement at the Flachsmarkt was special, which my early predecessors, City Director Eggert and Mayor Fritzemeier strongly supported at the time. <\/p>\n\n

The woodworking industry was almost wound down in rural Blomberg, and the chair manufacturing companies that Blomberg had once been famous for were also in decline. In this respect, our town considers it a stroke of luck not only that Phoenix Contact settled here, but also that it became so successful.<\/p>\n\n

UPDATE: How do the city and the company interact with one another?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Phoenix Contact is a company that does not just focus on profits and earnings. It has acted in partnership with our city from the very start, and it has been and still is aware of its role here, its social responsibility, and its role in society as well. This is a critical point, and it especially applies to the enormous development over the last few years. This has been the case since the start of our cooperation.<\/p>\n\n

One example is the current situation relating to the expansion of the company’s premises. I have never seen a company owner like Klaus Eisert or a general manager like Frank St\u00fchrenberg take the time to sit down and talk with residents, be open to critical questions, and take up suggestions in an open dialog. It is truly a very special relationship that we have built up over decades. <\/p>\n\n

UPDATE: What are the problems that such a large company brings to a small rural town?<\/em><\/p>\n

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With the mayor in the city archive<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

If you look at the cityscape from a bird’s eye view, there are two parts of the city \u2013 the core city of downtown Blomberg on the one hand and the Phoenix Contact city on the other. In terms of infrastructure that can be challenging. The core city of Blomberg has 8,000 inhabitants and Phoenix Contact 5,500 employees \u2013 that amounts to the inflow and outflow of an entire city population every day. <\/p>\n\n

The topic of housing is a complex one. Phoenix Contact does not put extra strain on the housing situation, because many of its employees are commuters who do not live here at all. On the contrary: I would even prefer it if many of the staff members would find Blomberg so appealing that they decide to relocate here. Rural exodus as a result of demographic change is a persistent issue. Blomberg is significantly less affected by this as the communities in the surrounding area are. <\/p>\n\n

The salaries Phoenix Contact pays its staff ensure that skilled workers like to start at Phoenix Contact and not at other local companies. This represents a competition for the best minds. Yet, it’s the same everywhere where industry meets skilled trade and smaller medium-sized businesses.<\/p>\n\n

UPDATE: What advantages does the town of Blomberg gain from working closely with Phoenix Contact?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Of course, a company of this size contributes to a good share of the municipal budget in the form of trade tax. It is not for nothing that the treasurers of the Lippe municipalities like to use the term \u201cthe Blomberg effect.\u201d If things don’t go well at Phoenix Contact, significantly less money flows into the coffers of the other Lippe municipalities via the district taxes. <\/p>\n\n

Its traditional values and attachment to Blomberg and the region have meant that production has not been outsourced to low-wage countries. Phoenix Contact not only creates jobs for highly qualified people but also jobs for those with little or even less education. This helps our town a great deal, of course.<\/p>\n\n

In other communities and cities, relationships with large employers are often much more difficult than ours. Contacts with the Executive Board and the owner family here are both professional and characterized by a trustworthy dialog at eye level.<\/p>\n

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Mayor Dolle in front of “his” historic town hall<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

blomberg-lippe.de<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phoenix Contact has settled in the city of carnations twice. From the former emergency solution developed in the last almost 80 years a real love affair. Even the current mayor, Christoph Dolle, can hardly escape it, as he reveals with a wink in conversation. Blomberg, the clove town The company’s reception was rather frosty at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1466,324],"tags":[1489,1147,1467,1468,712,1509],"class_list":["post-9400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-infrastructure","tag-100-years","tag-blomberg-en","tag-history","tag-history-en","tag-inquired","tag-mayor"],"yoast_head":"\n1940s - Came to stay - UPDATE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Phoenix Contact settled in Blomberg twice. 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