NRW Minister for Economic Affairs Andreas Pinkwart visits Schmale

The visit of the Minister of Economy was planned long before Corona, but was still on the brink of the pandemic until a few days ago. However, it now took place in compliance with security measures.

Corona was only marginally involved because our company is doing well despite the crisis. As an innovative company that invests in research and development, Schmale has been growing economically for years.

“Mechanical engineering innovation in the province” was our topic for the visit. Again and again we present new technical solutions for the faster and more efficient processing of wire, strip and pipe material.

During the ministers visit, we were able to demonstrate another innovation. A fully automatic X2000NC wire bending machine that works about 4 times faster than the fastest systems of our competitors. Only our in-house development SPEEDMAX is even faster, but it also costs a multiple of the X2000NC.

Our participation in a federally funded research project on Industry 4.0 - digital 3D machine twin was also an issue. Using this example, we were able to show how important a fast internet connection is for us as a digitally positioned company. But this is exactly what is still lacking in large parts of South Westphalia. For years we have been waiting for the repeatedly promised and then just as often postponed fast internet connection. When the project enters the hot phase with the digital machine twin in 2021, a fast data flow will become indispensable.

The Minister of Economic Affairs was accompanied by the Vice President of the State Parliament, Angela Freimuth (FDP), and the Member of the State Parliament, Thosten Schick (CDU).

The politicians were impressed by the performance and innovative strength of our rather small company with only 60 employees and promised to commit to a better infrastructure in South Westphalia.

You can find a video report (only in german language) of the visit in our YouTube channel.