What To Know
- “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.
- 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.
Editor’s brief: Functional safety and security are big topics these days, with escalating global uncertainty and the need for safe, reliable, and sustainable critical infrastructures in oil and gas, energy, chemical, and rail facilities. One of the leading safety-related automation solutions companies, HIMA, has launched globally two substantial customer solutions centers, one in its headquarters in Germany, and another in the hub of ASEAN, Singapore. The event was helmed by Friedhelm Best, Vice President Asia Pacific, HIMA, graced by dignitaries including Dr Norbert Riedel, Ambassador, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Singapore, Rachel Ong, Member of Parliament, West Coast GRC (Group Representation Constituency), Singapore, and Dr Tim Philippi, Executive Director, Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Read more below.
SINGAPORE – HIMA’s new Customer Solutions Centers in Brühl and Singapore provide an exciting new venue for the company to collaborate with its customers on the experience, testing, and development of safety and security solutions. Customers can get their questions answered and their assumptions confirmed more quickly when the experts are all in one place.
Each Customer Solutions Center integrates five distinct but complementary services for its clientele: consulting, applications, academy, security lab, and experience room. Rooms can be arranged in a variety of ways, and cutting-edge technology is installed, so that every meeting runs smoothly and efficiently. Visitors are encouraged to mingle and share ideas in a fertile setting thanks to well-planned networking and catering areas. In addition, the office space was planned to inspire originality and cooperation among workers.
“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 a newly rented 2,000 square meter building in Brühl, near Mannheim, a whole new world has been created for customers, partner companies, and employees. Since the Asia region is so crucial to the company’s long-term success, the existing space in Singapore was doubled to accommodate the construction of a dedicated Customer Solutions Center.
“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.”
Customers will have the opportunity to ask questions of and receive answers from experts in the field of safety in the context of joint workshops held on-site. The developed solutions can be put through their paces in the Experience Room, where cutting-edge hardware and software, as well as novel digital approaches for customer processes, can be put to the test for immediate validation.
“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 22nd, guests from 13 different countries joined 200 locals for the grand opening of Germany’s Customer Solutions Center. The attendees got to hear about the ways in which HIMA is working to better collaborate with its clientele. Digitalization of the safety lifecycle, secure remote access, automated testing, digitization of the field level with Ethernet APL, and modular automation MTP were all presented as examples of solutions in live demonstrations. Speakers from BASF, Bayer, Max Bögl, and genua gave keynote addresses.
The opening of the Customer Solutions Center in Singapore is on the same day, and both events feature similar programming involving engineers and professionals in the industry. Over one hundred people from all over Southeast Asia are tuning in to a livestream of the Center’s opening ceremony at the same time. Keynote presentations and demonstrations were given by PETRONAS, PT Len Railway Systems, and Mangan Software Solutions, showcasing their expertise in providing safety consulting for hydrogen production, safe signaling systems for the railway industry, digital twins for operator training, and innovative burner control methodologies.
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