In Osterrönfeld, near Rendsburg in Schleswig-Holstein, directly on the Kiel Canal, the Max Bögl group has built a new production facility for concrete shells and concrete rings, from which System Max Bögl hybrid towers can be used to make wind turbines. SPANGLER Automation has designed and implemented the electronic recording of production data and the automation of the coating process.

This solution package includes, amongst other things, the control of heating and ventilation system. 18 decentralised switching devices control the individual fans and are networked in turn via a central control system, operated via a touchscreen.

Data recording is the basis

The second challenge in this project was the full automation of the production process – from surface treatment and installation works through to the painting of the tower segments. Data recording is done on a parts basis. The employee logs into the system, scans a new component using the barcode, and the all relevant quantitative and process data are recorded automatically. The production process is thus fully traceable at a later date.

The electronic recording of production and operational data also forms the basis for the automation of individual processes. They are controlled via a central control station, designed specifically by SPANGLER to meet the needs of Max Bögl, and integrated into the company’s own max-control system. This required a considerable effort. SPANGLER staff were busy on site for several weeks just supporting the installation and implementation of the system.

Building distribution cabinets is a task reliant on the innate expertise of the electrician, but their everyday work often means that they don’t have time for this time-consuming job. Now SPANGLER Automation can also help in this case, as the company has acquired the licence for Easy Panel, a web-based software program for distribution-cabinet configuration.

However, this support does not work in isolation, but only as part of a well-arranged network. Two companies in Germany – one of them SPANGLER – build the distribution cabinets. The two companies purchase components for the cabinets from ABB or from its subsidiary Striebel & John. Sales and logistics is performed by Hagemeyer, a leading wholesaler in electrical engineering.

 Working from the comfort of your own home

The owner of the operation can now configure the distribution cabinet from the comfort of his/her own home: he/she selects the Easy Panel Configurator from the Hagemeyer webshop and enters the project information. After defining the composition and structure of the distribution cabinet and creating the electrical diagram, he/she will receive an emailed quotation together with the circuit diagram. After ordering, Hagemeyer places the corresponding order at SPANGLER and within ten working days a completely wired and labelled distribution cabinet including a complete documentation according to DIN EN 61439 is delivered to the customer.

In March 2015 SPANGLER presented the new configurator to the public for the first time, as part of Hagemeyer exhibition in Munich. “Using this sales channel, we can now reach a target group of customers that we previously couldn’t,” said Rainer Meier, Project Manager for Easy Panel at Spangler, describing this visionary step.

Confidence is the basis for a successful long-term partnership. SPANGLER is interested in building such partnerships and therefore, the company clearly stands up for this aim in its mission statement “SPANGLER – the Plus of Partnership.”.

A classic example for a good and successful business relation is the sewage treatment plant in Burgkirchen an der Alz. The contract for the complete renovation of the regional sewage treatment plant was placed to SPANGLER in this Upper Bavarian town in 1997. Nobody knew at that time that this was only the first step to a long and good project relation. Since then SPANGLER has electrically modernised the plant in many small sub-steps.

Support in all phases

Franz Achhammer, project manager, remembers: “When I went to the plant for the first time in those days, it was not obvious how long this project will accompany me. Today, 18 years later, we have changed almost all parts of the plant from the oxygen measurement for the aeration tank through to software adjustments. In addition to that, we constantly carry out the standard after-sales service. Moreover, I changed from the assembly department to the sales department, and I still visit the plant as a sales engineer.”

Also in 2015 SPANGLER employees will work again on the plant. Together with partners, SPANGLER was able to win the new tender for a screw press with associated peripherals and block-type thermal power plant. In this way, the plant has become even more modern and therefore more environmentally friendly.

Being active is the key to good health. This old piece of popular wisdom is still true nowadays, and not only in terms of your health. Remaining active is also required for exploring new ideas and solutions. SPANGLER has already involved its employees in this process via an internal suggestion scheme, as well as its customers through special workshops.

Now the company has gone one step further and has created a platform on which virtually anyone can present their own ideas to SPANGLER’s innovation process. “We want to complement our traditional development work with ‘open innovation’,” explained Spangler Managing Director Tina Lambert, “because innovations are similar to paintings: if you stand right in front of a picture, you often focus on the detail – you can see the big picture best when you take a few steps back.”

SPANGLER hopes this “open innovation” will appeal to all groups of people connected with the company: customers, suppliers and neighbours, for example, figures in the public eye and employees’ friends.

The path towards being an “innovator” is very simple: the person with the idea opens a form from the SPANGLER website’s “Open Innovation” section, submits their ideas and contact information and sends it to the company. The file ends up right on the screen of the Innovation Manager, Franz Wittmann, who specifically looks after internal and external ideas and impulses. By way of a direct thank-you there is a personal letter and a Kinder Surprise, and if the suggestion is a particularly valuable one, more thanks will follow. We look forward to reading your ideas:

Link Open Innovation

Holding shares in the company, being actively involved in its success and at the same time being part of it. It was from this perspective that SPANGLER introduced profit-participation rights for its employees in 2011 – and with a good response: more than half of all employees have got involved in this model of wealth creation.

But what are “profit-participation rights”? In legal terms, the employee acquires a right, following a financial contribution, to directly share in the business success of the company. In the case of SPANGLER, employees pay an amount into a fund every year for four years, whilst the company matches this every year over the same period.

Fulfilling a wish

The amount has interest paid on it every year, with the amount of interest based on the one hand on the hours worked by the employee and, on the other, on the operating margin of the company. Managing Director Hannelore Spangler described the principle thus: “Personal commitment and the success of the company therefore have an immediate impact on earnings”. This interest income is paid out each year.

The four-year term of the fund does not, however, mean that there is an annual commitment. Both the company and the employee can decide whether profit-participation rights are to be issued or subscribed each year. This year was the first time dividends had been paid out from the fund. In this way, maybe one or two wishes will come true: the long-awaited new mountain bike, a nice holiday or a visit to a Formula 1 race, for example. Or maybe a good bottle of wine…