Prestigious industry award officially presented

Dortmund/Munich. In November, Wilo’s Smart Factory in Dortmund was named “Factory of the Year 2022” in the “Excellent transformation: digitalization” category. Officials of the multinational technology group have now officially accepted the award at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The award ceremony took place as part of a two-day conference where Germany’s best manufacturing companies shared their success stories.

In discussion with other drivers of innovation

“We’re proud of our pioneering flagship factory. With a high level of digitalisation and a consistent focus on Industry 4.0 standards, we are ideally equipped to meet the major challenges of the future”, explains Georg Weber, Member of the Executive Board and CTO of the Wilo Group. “This award highlights once again that we’re the digital pioneer within our industry.” Dr. Mahmud Al-Haj Mustafa, Senior Vice President of Group Operations at Wilo, adds: “Shortage of specialists, digitalisation, sustainability – the tasks facing manufacturing companies today and in the future are huge. Exchanging ideas with other drivers of innovation as we recently did in Munich is therefore particularly useful.”

A keynote speech delivered by Branko Calusic, who is responsible for the plant at Wilo’s headquarters as Vice President of Operations in Dortmund, demonstrated the role of digital technologies in the Smart Factory, which was only opened in 2019. For example, Wilo uses live dashboards that show the utilisation of individual production lines at any time. In addition, networked, driverless transport vehicles are used to automatically supply production workers with the right material at the right time.

The “Factory of the Year” is one of the most prestigious industry awards in Europe. Wilo took part in the competition for the first time last year. With the award, the jury recognises, among other things, the digitalisation and sustainability of Wilo’s Smart Factory. The jury also found Wilo’s hydrogen strategy remarkable.