Interview with digitalization experts LHP Europe
Software with which companies can protect their employees from Covid-19 – just one example of the many areas in which LHP Europe is active. The American company develops digital solutions for customers in industries such as agriculture, shipping, medicine and mobility. In an interview, Managing Director Dr.-Ing. Ralf Marquard tells us exactly what this means and what the company's goals are for the new location in Cologne.
“Build connections across the world to enable a better life and create an environmentally sustainable future” – this is how LHP Europe defines its mission. Can you explain this in more detail?
Yes, with pleasure. Our mission contains several approaches regarding quality of life, environmental compatibility and a sustainable future, all of which are interwoven. Our entire company feels a responsibility to develop and implement solutions for our customers that will create an environment for future generations and for us that is in a better state than it is today. In addition, we want to improve the living and working conditions and consequently the social conditions of people in such a way that they can master and shape the challenges that the changes in industry and technology bring with them. To this end, we offer extensive training programs. As a digitalization company, we connect our customers with one another so that they can better monitor, analyze and use their wide-ranging data to optimize processes. This also connects companies externally with customers and partners, enabling them to communicate worldwide with maximum efficiency.
- LHP Europe has been represented here in Germany since the end of 2019. What are the topics you would like to focus on here?
Fundamentally, of course, we want to make our entire range of products and services, which we have successfully implemented in the USA, known to companies in Germany and demonstrate the advantages of working with us. In our discussions with them, we try to jointly identify possible gaps in processes and procedures.
In Germany, we are focusing on three main topics in our portfolio:
- Introduce digitalization using IOT and data analytics methods in production processes to create transparency and optimize throughput times.
- Optimize development processes and reduce development times while maintaining product quality.
- And the third point is to analyze, improve or expand process flows with regard to functional safety.
Overall, LHP Europe methods and processes contribute to improving the profitability of customer companies and thus enhancing their market position.
- As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization is experiencing a boost in many areas. What is your experience here and how will this impact LHP Europe?
Yes, that's right, we have recognized this boost. Companies have largely allowed their employees to work at home and discovered that this has had little or no effect on process efficiency. These companies are now open to modern digitalization methods and are using joint projects with LHP Europe to generate further efficiency improvements in process flows.
We also have the opportunity for some companies to introduce our Connected Workplace System, which helps to easily implement the required social distancing of employees and, in case of infection of individual employees, to have only a limited number of colleagues examined.
- What advantages does North Rhine-Westphalia offer as a location for your company?
North Rhine-Westphalia has a particularly large number of medium-sized companies in addition to global corporations. These are frequently "hidden champions" who are not very prominent in the public eye, but whose special products and services occupy a recognized world market position. These are dynamic companies that are very open-minded and recognize our services in digitalization and their economic and technological benefits and are happy to use them.
In addition, North Rhine-Westphalia offers a large number of prestigious and successful universities and colleges, which are extremely important for us to jointly carry out interesting research and pre-development projects and to attract suitable new employees. We also have a strategic partnership with three universities in North Rhine-Westphalia.
With North Rhine-Westphalia exiting the coal industry over the next 10 years, retraining of the current workforce will be necessary. With our training measures we can prepare employees for new technologies in digitalization. This is associated with an increase in the number of start-up companies being founded in NRW. We can support these companies in a variety of ways, for example in the areas of clean energy and ecological sustainability. In these areas, we work together with industry, universities and public authorities in an appropriate manner.