? Mr. Eisenhuth, Bartec has carried out the largest acquisition in company’s history. If you had known, what would happen, would you do it again?

Eisenhuth: Every time. Obviously, everything worked well, I think the integration is on a good path. Surely because of the good work of the integration manager and the involved teams, who are giving their dedication to this task and the “can do” approach of all involved people. The managing directors and the management of the purchased companies are still completely on board and very active. The brand names are also retained. These are important signals to give security and future to the employees.

? How does your portfolio earn profits?

Eisenhuth: The Top Group is the perfect completion for us in our largest product division of explosion-protected control and connection equipment, specifically in enclosure technology, lighting solutions and installation materials. With the additional portfolio and the greater manufacturing depth we can supply more products and faster now.

? Through the purchase, you can now offer explosion-proof LED lights. Why is there so much music in the lighting technology currently?

Eisenhuth: Once installed, the lighting is usually switched on 24 hours a day. The topic of energy saving plays an important role for the use of LED lamps and obviously for the problem of safety against breakdown. We are convinced that there is a lot of potential in the replacement of conventional lighting installations into LED. FEAM in particular has won major lighting projects in Middle East in recent years. And now we can offer the entire lighting technology as a part of the complete package together with Top Group.

? Acquisitions are an important part of buy-and-build strategy. How many acquisitions can a company manage?

Eisenhuth: Buying is always the easy part, the integration is the tougher part and to generate growth from the acquisition. In my opinion, a capable team and enough capacity are needed to get the integration right.

? Since the purchase of Pixavi two years ago, Bartec’s key focus is on enterprise mobility. What’s behind the slogan “Bartec goes mobile”?

Eisenhuth: There is a lot of dynamics in the field of enterprise mobility. The growth figures are impressive and we are convinced that mobile devices are advancing more and more into hazardous areas. The arguments are at hand. Enterprise mobility means increased productivity and online-data on hand wherever you are. To further stimulate mobile computing and automation technology we have formed an automation and communication systems business unit. This has the advantage that we are able to combine our R&D technologies to support mobile as well as traditional HMI solutions. Pixavi is a key building block in this business unit and is leading with its dedicated development team the innovation pipeline like in a start-up mode.

? What will be the next enterprise mobility innovations Bartec will launch?

Eisenhuth: We will consequently complete our enterprise mobility portfolio. At SPS/IPC/Drives Bartec will present the Android based Lumen X series consisting of a 7" industry tablet and a 4.3" industry mobile computer. Orbit X, an extremely rugged, intrinsically safe helmet camera will be launched as well. The device makes mobile work in hazardous areas clearly safer and more effective. Finally yet importantly, we will show several add-ons for the Agile X tablet PC. Its expansion port allows connecting accessories like a HART modem for a direct and secure parameterization in the field with the HART protocol or an RFID reader with further data recording options along with the integrated barcode scanner. Further developments are already in our innovation pipeline.