After a brief welcome address, Oliver Hermes, President & CEO of the Wilo Group, illustrated why the opening of the Wilopark in Dortmund represents an important milestone in the history of the company: “With an investment volume of around 300 million euros, the redesign of Wilo’s headquarters not only represents the largest project in our company’s history, but also one of the largest industrial construction projects ever undertaken in North Rhine-Westphalia or indeed Germany”.
Wilopark – an exemplary beacon project
The ultra-modern digital Smart Factory, the “PioneerCube” office building, a customer service centre and product development facilities extend across an area of almost 200,000 m².
Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel expressed her congratulations on the opening of the Wilopark. She took the opportunity to highlight the Wilo Group’s impressive track record in economic and environmental terms with its innovative pumps and pump systems, for which the group has been recognised with the National German Sustainability Award 2021.
NRW Minister-President Armin Laschet also offered his congratulations and complimented all Wilo staff members: “They show very successfully how one can use smart ideas, creativity and innovations to make local production fit for the future and at the same time secure jobs. We need all of this to secure our prosperity. Especially in the area. The Wilopark is a clear commitment to Dortmund and North Rhine-Westphalia. "
Furthermore, Prof. Andreas Pinkwart, State Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Karl-Josef Laumann, State Minister for Labour, Health and Social Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia, passed on their personal congratulations to the Wilo Group, also by video message, to mark the official opening of the new headquarters in Dortmund.
Industry 4.0 – climate-neutral production already today With the construction of its new headquarters, the Wilo Group has implemented a future-oriented operator concept and digitally networked building services. This means a reduction in energy consumption by almost 40 percent. At the same time, CO2 emissions are set to fall by 3,500 tonnes per year. This equates to the same amount of CO2 that 280,000 trees can absorb. “For us as a climate protection company, implementing a comprehensive sustainability concept was massively important from the outset. We are proud of the fact that climate-neutral production is already taking place at the Wilopark. We want this to be standard practice at all of the main Wilo production sites by 2025”, emphasised Georg Weber, Member of the Executive Board & CTO of the Wilo Group. Wilo has developed an explicit sustainability strategy on the basis of its corporate strategy “Ambition 2025”. The group’s goal is to supply more people with clean water whilst at the same time reducing its carbon footprint. “The Wilopark is one of our many contributions towards helping the tried and tested transformation region that is the Ruhr as well as North Rhine-Westphalia and indeed Germany on the journey to a green and at the same time digital future”, reiterated Oliver Hermes.
Enthusiasm from top customers and partners around the world Also tuning in live from around the world were top customers and partners of the Wilo Group. For example, congratulatory words were sent in to Wilo top management all the way from Kazakhstan by Deputy Prime Minister, Roman Sklyar, and from China by former Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Germany, Shi Mingde.
Digital Smart Factory tour as a closing highlight Before the event was brought to a close, guests were given another glimpse into the centrepiece of the new Wilopark, the digital production site. Despite “social distancing”, guests were able to virtually experience the site and see at close range that all the process steps are networked and transparent in this state-of-the-art facility, and that the individual process components and machines are equipped to handle Industry 4.0.
