Companies in the Vulkaneifel district can now adapt even better to the complex requirements of Industry 4.0, digitalization and automation of processes and workflows. The reason for this is not only the advancing broadband expansion in the region, but also a new cooperation between Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft Vulkaneifel mbH and the Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center Kaiserslautern. This gives companies based in the Vulkaneifel district access to competent contacts and support from an interdisciplinary team of experts. According to Judith Klassmann-Laux, Managing Director of Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft Vulkaneifel mbH, the Kaiserslautern SME 4.0 Competence Center offers SMEs and skilled trades businesses a well-founded and wide-ranging information platform.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular are sensitized to the major topic of digitalization so that opportunities and risks can be identified at an early stage and companies can make targeted adjustments.” The competence center is supported by experts from the fields of industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, business administration, electrical engineering and ergonomics. Institutions such as the SmartFactory KL technology initiative, the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the Institute for Technology and Work (ITA) also offer their expertise to companies based in the Vulkaneifel district to help them with individual questions and problems and develop recommendations for action.
One company from the Vulkaneifel region that benefits from the newly created cooperation and has long seen digitalization as a “measure to secure the future” is apra norm Elektromechanik GmbH. The manufacturer of enclosure and cabinet technology from Mehren has started the digital transformation in the company with the introduction of an online configurator for front panel design. This enables customers to have front panels manufactured individually and independently by entering the data from the online CAD (computer-aided design of geometric models), which is adapted to customer requirements, into the internal Enterprise Resource Planning system (program for material requirements planning, among other things) and transferring it to the producing machine. “This allows us to put our idea of a digital order system into practice,” says Managing Director Stefan Meffert.
The tourism industry as well as traditional craft and agricultural businesses, which are themselves driving the digital transformation, are among the economic pillars of the Rhineland-Palatinate district. The Vulkaneifel is part of the Trier region and is divided into 109 local communities and the five municipalities of Daun, Gerolstein, Hillesheim, Jünkerath and Kelberg. The district owes its name to its geological appearance, which was created by the funnel-shaped depressions caused by volcanic activity. The entire district is part of the Vulkaneifel Nature Park, which includes large areas of forest. Numerous other nature conservation and FFH areas (special European protection areas for animals and plants as well as habitat types) are spread across the district. With around 61,000 inhabitants, the Vulkaneifel is the smallest district in Rhineland-Palatinate.
A few towns such as Daun, Gerolstein or Hillesheim with several thousand inhabitants as well as many smaller, sparsely populated villages form an overall rural settlement structure, which poses topographical and economic challenges for the expansion of the broadband infrastructure. Despite the topographical conditions in the hilly Vulkaneifel region, the district is relatively densely populated with traffic routes and therefore offers the opportunity to expand the broadband network along the roads. With the help of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure’s(BMVI) broadband funding program, broadband expansion can also be implemented in the sparsely populated areas and smaller villages in the Vulkaneifel.
“Funding from the BFP is essential in order to close the economic efficiency gaps that exist here and to ensure nationwide expansion with high-speed Internet,” says Judith Klassmann-Laux from the Vulkaneifel Economic Development Agency. As part of the Federal Broadband Promotion Program, the district is receiving 4.73 million euros to cover a profitability gap for broadband expansion. This funding is supplemented by co-financing of 2.61 million euros from state funding and 871,319 euros of the district’s own funds. Following the ground-breaking ceremony in Meisburg on May 2, construction work has now begun on the broadband expansion project, which includes 184 kilometers of civil engineering work to connect over 3,000 households and 85 companies to high-speed Internet. Broadband expansion is extremely important for the future of companies in the Vulkaneifel region.
Klassmann-Laux sees the efficient and needs-based expansion of broadband for the entire region as one of the most important flagship projects of the district and the municipalities: “Digitization today determines all areas of life and at the same time offers a great opportunity for rural areas. For the future of the Vulkaneifel district, for the positive economic development of our companies and for securing an attractive living environment, a well-developed broadband infrastructure with fast, comprehensive broadband Internet connections has become the most important location factor par excellence.”
Photo: View of the Rengen industrial estate in the Vulkaneifel district.
Photo credit: WFG Vulkaneifel mbH