It is for questions like this that our think tank is coming up with answers and solutions, and so, for the past two years, ebm-papst neo has been developing digitalization strategies and business models for ebm-papst. Due to the huge future potential for the entire group and the highly successful development of this young company, the fan and motor manufacturer in Mulfingen decided to further expand the start-up in Dortmund.
To this end, ebm-papst neo GmbH & Co. KG was founded in April 2020 and the management positions were filled with Thomas Sauer (ebm-papst Group Director Electronics and Digitalization) and Oliver Kühnle (ebm-papst Group Director IT).
Thomas Sauer is now responsible for the technical and operative part directly in Dortmund, while Oliver Kühnle manages the commercial side of from out of the IT department in Mulfingen. They are joined by Brendan Dow, who had been in charge of international start-ups and digital business models for the technological leader and who has now moved from Australia to Dortmund to take on the sales management of ebm-papst neo.
Scope of activities and additional stakes
The mission of the start-up is to develop, market and sell digital solutions to, for instance, improve the energy balance and air quality in buildings or for intelligent data analysis. These solutions may take the form of software, hardware, services or consultancy.
“Digitalization in connection with energy is a key and cutting-edge field for our ebm-papst Group and opens up new opportunities”, as Stefan Brandl, CEO of the ebm-papst group explains. “in our role as driver of innovation in air and drive solutions, we use IoT and Cloud technologies to develop new business models which create new growth potentials for our companies and, what is more important, will offer additional value to our customers.”
To allow for the rapid transfer of technology, ebm-papst used neo to gain a stake in three strong and international partners in the last months. “Due to these stakes, we managed to integrate a broad base of knowledge and expertise and have almost instantly gathered a great pace of innovation”, states Thomas Sauer, Managing Director of ebm-papst neo GmbH. “The first projects in the field of air-conditioning for buildings and in refrigeration are already being realized with our customers.”
More space for successive expansion
To have more space for the future development in Dortmund, the existing team of seven colleagues has just moved into new offices in the technology center. As before, they will be supported by ten colleagues in India whose main job is in software development. In the coming months, more specialists are to join the team.
