Simultaneous Starts in Germany and Singapore

Five disciplines are combined in each Customer Solutions Center: Consulting, Applications, Academy, Security Lab and the Experience Room. Flexibly configurable rooms with state-of-the-art technology are set up to most effectively facilitate each type of meeting. Networking and catering areas, carefully designed to optimize interaction, invite visitors to exchange ideas in an inspiring environment. Furthermore, the employees’ work environment has been designed to enhance creativity and teamwork.

"As shareholders, we are convinced that the new Customer Solutions Centers are an investment in the future of our globally positioned family-owned company. We made this choice as our customers’ business partner to actively drive customer partnerships and innovations forward, while providing an exceptional working environment as a modern employer," explains Steffen Philipp, Managing Partner of HIMA.

In Brühl, near Mannheim, a completely new world was created for customers, partner companies and employees in a newly rented building of 2,000 square meters. In Singapore, the existing space was doubled in order to set up an independent Customer Solutions Center for the strategically important Asia region. "The new Customer Solutions Centers in Europe and Asia are important milestones in the implementation of our strategy," explains Jörg de la Motte. "We create innovative solutions there that can be experienced by our customers on site. This applies in particular to the cooperation with our strategic partners such as Mangan Software Solutions and genua." In joint workshops on site, customers will be able to shed light on their questions, and find better answers, together with respective safety experts. The solutions that are developed can then be tested in the Experience Room to enable direct validation using state-of-the-art hardware and software as well as innovative digital approaches for customer processes.

"For security, for open integration, and for the digitalization of the safety lifecycle, the Customer Solutions Center offers practical solutions that are developed together with the customer," explains Sergej Arent, Director of HIMA’s Process Applications Center and responsible for the Customer Solutions Center in Brühl. "In this way, real added value is generated for, by and with our customers," adds Sergej. Friedhelm Best, Vice President of the Asia Pacific Region and responsible for the Customer Solutions Center Asia in Singapore, sees the creation of the center as an important milestone in strengthening the company’s presence in the market of Asia: "With the Customer Solutions Center in Singapore, we are building a base that enables us to intensify our cooperation with our customers and simultaneously demonstrate that there is a firm focus on the Asian market."

Opening
On June 22, 200 participants from 13 countries celebrated the opening of the Customer Solutions Center in Germany. The invited guests were able to gain an insight into how HIMA is strengthening its partnership with customers. In practical demonstrations, solution examples on topics such as digitalization of the safety lifecycle, safe remote access, automated testing, digitization of the field level with Ethernet APL and modular automation MTP were presented. Keynote speeches by BASF, Bayer, Max Bögl and genua rounded off the program.

On the same day, the opening of the Customer Solutions Center in Singapore with over 100 participants from Southeast Asia taking part in a similar program was live-streamed. Safety consulting for hydrogen production, safe signaling systems for the railway industry, digital twins for operator training and innovative burner control methodologies were all demonstrated and keynote speeches were given by PETRONAS, PT Len Railway Systems and Mangan Software Solutions.