The Viessmann Group entered its one hundredth anniversary year at the ISH Energy trade fair in Frankfurt last week (14th-18th March) and introduced its new motto: ‘Into a new century.’
The Viessmann Group entered its one hundredth anniversary year at the ISH Energy trade fair in Frankfurt last week (14th-18th March) and introduced its new motto: ‘Into a new century.’
The international manufacturer of heating, industrial and refrigeration systems outlined its path towards a new digital and carbon-neutral century and demonstrated how it will support its partners and customers to align their companies with future requirements.
The company says it saw positive sales growth in a declining market in 2016 and this year expects to see examples of recent investments come to fruition.
Speaking in Frankfurt, the president of the company’s executive board, Professor Martin Viessmann, said: “In this, our anniversary year, the task before us once again is to see the major challenges that face us as opportunities. We see the energy transition on one hand and digitalisation on the other.”
Group chief digital officer, Maximilian Viessmann, said: “Digitalisation is the single greatest structural change our industry has been faced with. It offers our market partners completely new possibilities to create an even better customer experience, while gaining them time, reducing complexity and increasing their business success, for example through predictive maintenance and the control of heating systems using mobile devices.”
Viessmann’s main focus will be on digital services, which are key to the future of professional contracting, from quick, online tender preparation to support during the installation phase through to ongoing operations and, finally, modernisation.
The company is pushing forward its comprehensive digital transformation on three levels by: creating a forward-looking and entrepreneurial culture and digitalising all key internal processes; by developing digital products and business models that are close to the core business. An example of this is ‘Digital Energy Solution,’ a joint venture with BMW that offers digital solutions for increasingly flexible energy markets; and through diversification by investing in new business segments.
As part of a transition to using energy from carbon-neutral, sustainably-generated electricity as a key fuel source, Viessmann presented a new energy management system (EMS) at ISH. The EMS optimises the generation and consumption of electrical energy in a building and controls current-based components for sector coupling such as photovoltaic systems, heat pumps and battery storage systems.
The most innovative form of combined heat and power generation is fuel cell heating. The company introduced the device to the market as a world first, and is already working on the next generation of this pioneering technology.
In addition, Viessmann demonstrated innovative technologies with a high degree of energy efficiency for all fuel sources and areas of application. These included highly efficient condensing boilers, in combination with solar heat, biomass heating systems, heat pumps and also as hybrid systems.