Flow Level Pressure
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As early as 2012, AFRISO launched the AFRISO Smart Home system for building automation. In 2015, AFRISO acquired the start-up CODEATELIER. Today, a team of 15 app specialists takes care of the sustainable development of the AFRISO smart home solution. Visit
www.afrisohome.de for more information
What can you as a manufacturer, what can dealers and specialised companies do differently or better in order to foster the awareness of the end user with regard to smart home?
Jürgen Fritz: In the end, the winner is the one who wins most users. Even with maximum quality, ease of use and the best possible security, we cannot achieve this just be ourselves. That is why we rely on strong partnerships, such as the EnOcean Alliance, in which different manufacturers jointly promote an energy- independent wireless standard and offer end users with battery- less smart home sensors real added value. Or by opening our system to sensors and actuators from third-party manufacturers. For the user, this automatically results in a wide range of entry- level options for the topic of smart home, be it as a professional security solution, improvement in living comfort or simply because of technology-related “play instinct”.
AFRISO currently employs 1,100 people. Do you want to stay at this level or continue to hire more staff? Many companies complain about tremendous difficulties filling vacancies and apprenticeships. What are you doing in this regard?
Jürgen Fritz: In the medium term, we will continue to grow in terms of personnel, and this currently applies in particular to our sites in Poland, Romania and China. Although it is currently more difficult than before to find suitable employees, we ultimately always succeed in filling vacancies with qualified staff. And, of course, we also train ourselves.
Will AFRISO continue to be a family-run business for generations to come?
Elmar Fritz: In fact, from the first day to the present, for more than 150 years, at least one family member has been a part of the management. This is certainly very special about AFRISO. Maybe we are just lucky with our family and our mutual understanding. We are hoping - and the prospects are very good - that the next generation will one day take over the fortunes of the company. We would definitely wish that we remain a family owned business. Chances are very good, after all, together, the two of us have 7 children who, in principle, are eligible for this task.
How easy will it be to maintain the special character of a family business in the years and decades to come?
Headquarters at the Güglingen site (Germany)
How important is the megatrend of digitization to you, not just with regard to your products, but also to your processes, production or logistics?
Elmar Fritz: Needless to say, digitization is here to stay. In 2017, we laid a strong foundation for this with the introduction of SAP. Step by step, we can now streamline the processes in all areas of the company. We are currently working on essential improvements for our logistics, which will be implemented by fall 2020 with a new logistics centre in Güglingen.
How important is the German market to AFRISO today – and what significance do you attach to it in the future? Which foreign markets do you consider to be particularly important and attractive?
Elmar Fritz: The German market is and will remain to be the most important market for us – one of the reasons being, perhaps, that environmental legislation is among the most extensive and strictest worldwide. In our foreign markets, we see the great potential, especially in China. We have been active there for years and see continuous growth for the Asian region.
In the field of pressure, temperature and level measurement technology, we basically have a global market in which we cover many different industries. As a company, this makes us as a company of individual effects or cyclical fluctuations in specific regional markets.
AFRISO’s smart response to the challenge of digitisation in the HVAC sector: More than 20 sensor modules of the CAPBs® series take measurements and
transmit the measured values to proven handheld measuring instruments or to the smartphone for further evaluation. The application-specific APP AFRISO TOOLBOX lets you then automatically perform complex test tasks in compliance with standards and regulations and document them as PDF files in a “step by step” manner. Visit
www.capbs.info for more information
Elmar Fritz: We are very confident. Even if we will no longer be a part of it and none of our children should play a leading role, the management to come will keep a focus on maintaining the spirit of a family owned business. Responsibility and social competence will continue to be our guiding principles in the future.
Thank you for the interview.
Author Contact Details Frank Altmann, Head of Marketing & Product Management, Afriso-Euro-Index GmbH • Lindenstr. 20 , 74363 Güglingen, Germany • Tel: +49 7135 102-0 • Email:
frank.altmann@
afriso.de • Web:
www.afriso.com
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER •
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