Press

Excellent control cabinet configurator

IHK Magazine 2021/10

FiMAB managing director Markus Fiedler describes the path to his innovation in an interview with the IHK magazine: “In 2018, during a trip to the USA, I was able to visit Silicon Valley and be inspired by the trends prevailing there: products are gradually transforming into services and traditional hardware functions are increasingly being taken over by software solutions. We also wanted to achieve this with our configurator: inexpensive series production with a batch size of 1. Fiedler, when asked about his company philosophy: “I want to offer my employees meaningful employment and good development prospects.”

TSV-Calw is a cooperation partner for the basic value of FITNESS

Löwenpost TSV Calw 2021/09

[...]Our company philosophy is to fulfill individual customer requests quickly and economically. Thanks to the high level of competence of all colleagues, we are able to produce and deliver special solutions and small batch sizes quickly and using digital interfaces in a structured, sustainable and efficient manner. And we are a family business with a tradition and a future, with colleagues who often come to us through training, are constantly developing and therefore stay with us for a long time. A company with relationships that go beyond everyday work. The workplaces at FiMAB are very heterogeneous and therefore the demands on the fitness of colleagues are also very different. On the one hand, there is production, where work is mostly done while standing, with heavy loads and sometimes under sub-optimal ergonomic conditions. On the other hand, in administration, in the office, people work predominantly while sitting, thinking, organizing and communicating intensively and often forgetting an ergonomic posture at the PC. Because we are aware of these challenges to physical fitness, it is important to us to support our colleagues in staying healthy. Fitness is actually one of our core values ​​too. This means that we ensure that working at FiMAB does not make you sick in every respect and that people can become even healthier with FiMAB. [...]

Great joy in Neubulach

Schwarzwälder Bote / 14. September 2021

Great joy in Neubulach. The Fimab company was honored with the Craftsmanship Prize.

The reason: An innovative online configurator for control cabinets.

Neubulach. The VR Innovation Prize for SMEs has now been awarded for the 21st time. It is one of the most important and highly endowed awards for medium-sized businesses in Baden-Württemberg, according to a press release from the Volksbank. All award winners were recognized by Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), who joined in via video message. Among others, an innovation from the northern Black Forest was honored at the SME Day: The company Fimab from Neubulach received the 20,000 euro prize for craftsmanship from the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken cooperative financial group for the development of the online configurator Armario for the individual production of control cabinets, size, Material, color, prefabricated perforation - the customer can configure the control cabinet they need themselves on the computer and receive the finished product within ten working days. The chairman of the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative Association, Roman Glaser, explained: “In Baden-Württemberg, people traditionally act according to the belief that innovative strength is a decisive factor for the competitiveness and thus future viability of companies in global competition. That’s why the southwest has been one of the leading innovation regions in Europe for decades,” emphasized Glaser. Promote innovation. To ensure that this remains the case in the future, it is essential that entrepreneurs have an environment that promotes innovation. According to the press release, Glaser praises the fact that the inventiveness and future-oriented ideas of small and medium-sized companies do not fail due to the necessary capital. The Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks in Baden-Württemberg traditionally contribute a large part to this: "They finance creativity, entrepreneurial courage and the determination to put ideas into practice to carry out the act. And this even in difficult times such as during the corona pandemic. The past few months have shown how strong the partnerships and mutual trust between the Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks and their medium-sized corporate customers are. Now the Fimab company can also look forward to a warm windfall. The winner of the Craft Prize combines three decades of experience in sheet metal processing with the digital, cloud-based possibilities of an online platform. Armario is what Fimab from Neubulach calls their configurator, which can be used to individually design and order control cabinets online with just a few clicks.

Select housing type first. The customers, who mostly come from the mechanical engineering sector, first select the type of housing and enter the required dimensions. In the second step, you determine the placement of the components to be installed so that the necessary hole pattern for the cabinet can be produced. Where do there have to be openings for cables, fans or buttons? Thanks to drag & drop, defining the customer-specific hole pattern is extremely easy. Then you just have to select the material and color before placing your order with the last click. The short manufacturing time is impressive: Fimab only needs ten working days to produce the customer-specific housing - and this at no additional cost compared to series production. Ordering such a custom-made product alone can normally take up to three days, but with Armario this process is reduced to just a few minutes. Thanks to this innovation, the family business from the northern Black Forest has quickly made a name for itself as a specialist in the development and rapid implementation of special solutions in control cabinet construction. And since the products are produced exclusively on-demand according to customer requirements and delivered immediately, overproduction is a thing of the past, according to the press release.

Qualification 4.0

IHK Magazine 2021/08

WE ARE ALLOWED TO DEVELOP OURSELVES

The change from a pure production company to a software company has become the biggest challenge for our companies.

Why? Two statements that have had the greatest influence on us as entrepreneurs recently: "Software is eating the world" by Marc Andreessen and "Every company is a software company" by Gregory La Blanc. In other words: "Software beats hardware" and "service beats production", which is also impressively documented by the shifts in the Dow Jones index in recent years.

One thing is clear to us: we are sticking to the production of sheet metal products. Of products for mechanical engineering and also for new markets. Just smarter. In a digital co-creation process along an interactive value chain, we enable customers to customize the design of the products 24/7. The entire production process right up to delivery is carried out in a standardized manner via intelligent software interfaces.

The result of such a digital business model expansion are products that are manufactured exclusively according to customer needs, exactly as the customer wants them and exactly when they need them. No production in stock or in stock. No overproduction, no waste. Digital, economically and ecologically sustainable.

VR Innovation Prize for SMEs 2021

BWGV flyer for the Innovation Prize 2021

Configure and order control cabinets individually and quickly online

With just a few clicks you can create the perfect control cabinet or terminal box - that's what ARMARIO, the world's only existing online control cabinet configurator, promises. The patented innovation combines FiMAB's 30 years of experience in sheet metal processing with the requirements of control construction and the latest digitalization options in a SaaS cloud solution (“Software-as-a-Service”).

For companies that build, sell or design special machines or series machines in small batches, conventional standard control cabinets are either too large for the available space or too small for the controls. Special solutions that fit exactly are far too complex, too risky and too expensive for a batch size of 1.

But since 2018, ARMARIO has been offering the perfect solution for exactly this. With the unique tool, the design and ordering process is reduced from 3 days to 3 minutes, the quality of the case changes from “maybe suitable” to millimeter-precise and absolutely precise, and the delivery time is shortened from 9 weeks to a guaranteed 10 working days. Without specialist knowledge of mechanical design, the desired housing can be designed 24/7 with just a few clicks. The dimensions are entered completely individually. The hole patterns for add-on components can be easily defined using drag & drop and the color can be selected from the entire RAL palette. The price is constantly updated and displayed during the configuration process. In the final step, the customized housing is ordered online. And all of this at no additional cost compared to series production.

The result is a control cabinet housing that fits exactly and no longer needs to be reworked manually. And because with this solution the hole patterns are already set in the shell before coating, there are no “prescribed rust spots”. By producing and delivering control cabinets exclusively on-demand according to customer requirements, storage space is significantly reduced and overproduction is avoided.

Managing director Markus Fiedler targeted a market niche with his idea and his courage was rewarded for being large for the available space or too small. Today the company from the Black Forest employs over 34 people and is recognized as a specialist in the development and implementation of special solutions in control cabinet construction throughout the DACH region. A deserving award winner to whom we warmly congratulate.

Big ideas are always a team effort

Control cabinet construction 06 2020/October

Exactly six months to the day after the originally planned handover of the SCHALTSCHRANKBAU Innovation Award, the time had come on September 9th: the company Fimab from the northern Black Forest was finally able to accept the award for its control cabinet online configurator Armario.

Due to the pandemic, the award ceremony originally planned for the Light + Building trade fair, which was ultimately canceled, had to be rescheduled at the company's premises in Neubulach. Managing Director Markus Fiedler and the entire staff were even more pleased to finally be able to accept the award. With the online configurator Armario, the company Fimab offers a tool for having a control cabinet individually assembled according to dimensions, material and color delivered to your home within ten days. “Big ideas are never a personal effort, but always a team effort. Therefore, this award is your award,” said company boss Fiedler to his 34 employees.

The innovation prize goes to Neubulach

Schwarzwälder Bote, September 12, 2020

FiMAB GmbH & Co. KG receives the “Innovation Award 2020” for control cabinet construction.

Recently, Jürgen Wirtz from the trade magazine Schaltschrankbau (TeDo-Verlag) ceremoniously awarded the Innovation Award 2020 to the proud FiMAB team at the Neubulach branch.

The jury, consisting of representatives from research, switchgear manufacturers and the trade press, awarded Fimab GmbH the Innovation Award for its new online ordering system “Armario”. With this tool, the Neubulach-based company not only provides its customers with an intelligent ordering and design system for control cabinets that can also create individual, custom-made products with just a few clicks, but also significantly reduces delivery times by directly connecting the online solution to the production process.

While ordering a custom-made product can normally take up to three days, Fiedler reduces the process to just a few minutes with its “SaaS solution”.

Digitalization in medium-sized businesses - Markus Fiedler in an interview with Impulse

IMPULSE - The entrepreneur magazine / July 2020 issue

"MAKE IT EASY!"

In an interview with Myriam Apke from the business magazine Impulse, Markus Fiedler talks about how digitization can be successful in medium-sized businesses.

On the one hand, it is about not missing out on the technological development of processes and systems; On the other hand, it is also about thinking outside the box, constantly questioning your own business model and aligning it with the actual customer benefits.

Further training & digitalization - Birgit & Markus Fiedler in an interview with IMPULSE

IMPULSE - The entrepreneur magazine / July 2020 issue

“A crisis can happen every now and then,” says Markus Fiedler in the first research interview with Impulse at the end of January 2020. The head of the company Fimab does not say this because he suspected that a pandemic would paralyze the economy across Europe shortly afterwards would - no, he said that because he still remembered the financial crisis of 2008 well. She was the reason that he started studying alongside his full-time job as an entrepreneur - which led to him and his wife Birgit further developing the family business's business model so that their company is doing well in the Corona crisis. [...] "We were only able to save the company through my wife's studies" [...]

Digitalization makes it possible - configure an individual control cabinet around the clock

Published in Control Cabinet Construction Magazine October 2019

The online configurator Armario takes the traditional process for developing special control cabinets out of the departments, transfers it to a compact digital process and enables the user to take everything into their own hands, from design to ordering. This eliminates time-consuming transitions between departments. The user selects the variant and enters the free dimensions of the control cabinet. Hole patterns are added via drag and drop and the color is selected from the complete RAL palette. The price and a 3D model are constantly displayed during the ordering process.

Three days become three minutes

Published in Schwarzwälder Bote, August 8, 2019

At an information event organized by the employment agency, initiated by Martina Lehmann (Chairwoman of the Northern Black Forest Region Employment Agency), Saskia Esken (MDB) visits FiMAB GmbH and uses a "best practice" example to experience how a medium-sized family business meets the challenges of digitalization and secures the classic off-line business of sheet metal processing with a digital business model.

Digitalization makes it possible - ordered in three minutes, delivered in ten daysDigitalization makes it possible - ordered in three minutes, delivered in ten daysDigitalization makes it possible - ordered in three minutes, delivered in ten days

Published in SPS magazine / TEDO publishing house October 1st, 2019

You can see what happens when an innovative entrepreneur from the sheet metal processing and mechanical engineering sector tackles the topic of digitalization in medium-sized businesses in the northern Black Forest. The company Fimab is based in Neubulach, southwest of Stuttgart, and offers its customers a special service. And not just there, because Markus Fiedler has moved his business to the cloud so that everyone can get an idea of ​​his business model on the Internet.

Hubtalk Nagold - Markus Fiedler about cloud computing and digitalization in medium-sized businesses

YouTube, 29.08.2019

FiMAB GmbH, Managing Director Markus Fiedler talks to Patrick Walz at the Digital Hub Nagold about the cloud software ARMARiO, the challenges of digitalization in medium-sized companies and what all of this has to do with corporate values.

The alternative to special construction

Published in control cabinet construction / TEDO-Verlag, September 13, 2018

It's not just on the table football that things are getting better and better

Published in Schwarzwälder Bote, April 7th, 2018

Quickly configured, quickly delivered - configure in just five steps and produce immediately with the specially developed online configurator

Published in IHK Northern Black Forest Magazine, December 15, 2016

Maschinenmarkt.de

Standard custom-made control cabinet in ten days

Onlinekonfigurator von Fimab
03.05.16 | Autor: Reinhold Schäfer

Blechnet.com

Standard custom-made control cabinet in ten days

Onlinekonfigurator von Fimab
03.05.16 | Autor: Reinhold Schäfer

Training at FiMAB

Published in Schwarzwälder Bote, March 7, 2015

Fimab on the road to success with the configurator

Published in Schwarzwälder-Bote, November 20th, 2013 6:35 p.m., September 25th, 2012

Neubulach, November 20th, 2013. Actually the idea is quite simple. Fimab's customer puts together his own control cabinet. He goes to the metal specialist's homepage and easily finds the relevant tool there. “We are still pretty alone on the market,” reports managing director Markus Fiedler in an interview with our newspaper. “Our software developers also confirm this to us.” All data such as dimensions, design, accessories, material and surface coating are requested. The user enters his specifications with a mouse click. At the same time, the configurator checks the plausibility. The advantage: Delivery times are significantly reduced for the customer. This configurator made a significant contribution to the success that Fimab Fiedler Maschinenbau Blechbedarf GmbH, Neubulach, had at the BLECHexpo trade fair in Stuttgart. But the exhibition, in which Fimab took part for the first time, also went better than expected. According to Fiedler, “qualified new contacts” were made. In general, the exhibition was well attended. Fimab also wanted to use the opportunity to recruit qualified employees. To Fiedler's regret, it didn't go quite so easily. The flyers that the company had put out were hardly noticed. This is definitely a problem for Fimab. Fiedler: “We currently have to fight for the employees rather than the customers.” Of course, the sheet metal processing specialist tries to recruit employees through his own training. Four of the 24 employees are trainees. However, it is not always easy to find suitable applicants. Fimab, founded 25 years ago, covers the entire range of sheet metal manufacturing services, as stated in a company statement. This ranges from individual products to assemblies, from prototypes to series production. These include, for example, control cabinets for electrical engineering. The Neubulach company also supplies mechanical engineering and the food industry. These are primarily stainless steel components for catering systems for thermal insulation. Fimab is primarily a specialist in automated sheet metal processing processes such as laser cutting, punching, folding, CNC milling and turning, welding, surface finishing and assembly.

Fimab, vor 25 Jahren gegründet, deckt, wie es in einer Unternehmensmitteilung heißt, das komplette Leistungsspektrum in der Blechfertigung ab. Das reicht vom Einzelprodukt bis zur Baugruppe, vom Prototyp bis zur Serienfertigung. Dazu gehören beispielsweise Schaltschränke für die Elektrotechnik. Darüber hinaus beliefert das Neubulacher Unternehmen den Maschinenbau und die Lebensmittelindustrie. Da sind es vor allem Edelstahlbauteile für Catering-Systeme zur Wärmeisolierung.

Fimab ist vor allem Spezialist für automatisierte Blechbearbeitungsprozesse wie Laserschneiden, Stanzen, Abkanten, CNC-Fräsen und Drehen, Schweißen, Ober-flächenfinish und Montieren.

FiMAB makes you fit for the future

Neubulach, September 20, 2012. The starting signal for a successful future has been given. At the beginning of September, three new trainees started their professional lives at FiMAB Fiedler Maschinenbau Blechbedarf GmbH in Neubulach. Birgit Fiedler, authorized signatory and responsible for human resources, is happy with and for the newcomers: “We all never stop learning - everyone knows this saying. For our three new trainees it is now “everything new” and that means keeping your eyes and ears open and showing commitment, because we have a lot of exciting content to learn every day and a variety of tasks to master. Our entire team wishes the three of them much success and a good start.” The Neubulach-based company has been consciously relying on its own young talent and therefore on the expertise of its own ranks for many years. In this way, the company takes into account both its social requirements and future market requirements.

FiMAB currently employs 25 people and a total of six trainees in various training occupations. The new trainees Anastasia Samochwalow (industrial clerk), Wadim Ritscher (technical product designer) and Marcel Ehring (construction mechanic, specializing in thin sheet metal technology) will experience a variety of impressions and exciting training over the next three years.

Quarter of the requirement from the sun

Veröffentlicht in Schwarzwälder-Bote, 14.07.2012

FiMAB relies on the use of renewable energies and reduces CO2 emissions Neubulach, July 11, 2012 - With the installation of a large-scale photovoltaic system, FiMAB Fiedler Maschinenbau Blechbedarf GmbH is relying on the sustainable use of renewable energies. The system, consisting of a total of 268 modules, supplies around 60,000 kilowatt hours of electrical power per year. FiMAB is therefore able to achieve savings of almost a quarter of its annual electricity requirements by feeding it directly into the company.

During the installation, the entire, ideally usable roof area of ​​the company was equipped with photovoltaic modules. In addition to the annual energy savings, the new photovoltaic system also significantly improves the environmental balance of the industrial company. Over 54 tons of CO2, which is harmful to the environment, are now avoided every year.

Birgit Fiedler is visibly enthusiastic about the system: “The commissioning of the photovoltaic system is an important step into the future for us. In addition to improving economic efficiency, the system also makes a significant contribution to improving our environmental balance. In addition, we hereby underline our philosophy of always being one step ahead and show that economy and ecology are not a contradiction.”

20 years of passion for technology

Published in BLECH Magazine, 03/2009

Passion for technology

Published in ECONOMY, 12/2008

FiMAB Fiedler Maschinenbau Blecharbeit GmbH, Neubulach “20 years of passion for technology”, with this slogan the company celebrated its anniversary in October with numerous guests. With the founding of the company in 1988 by Eberhard Fiedler in Neubulach, a traditional generation of entrepreneurs, linked to the idea for sophisticated special machine construction, continued. What began as a small business quickly developed into a successful manufacturing company specializing in the design and manufacture of perfectly shaped, precise industrial products made of steel, stainless steel and aluminum through consistent investments in technologically state-of-the-art facilities, 16 excellently trained employees and six trainees. Using intelligent production technology and innovative developments, numerous automated sheet metal processing processes such as laser cutting, bending, folding, shearing, welding, painting and assembly, customer-specific sheet metal constructions are manufactured in small series and series production. The company supports its customers, who come from all industrial sectors, from the idea, hand sketch, dimension specification to series production, assembly and punctual logistics. Today the company stands for flexibility, a wide range of services and individual complete solutions at the best price-performance ratio.

Visitors hear a success story

Published in Schwarzwälder Bote, October 15, 2008

Success through innovative ideas…

Published in Schwarzwälder Bote, October 10, 2008

Semi-finished products always become whole

Published in Schwarzwälder Bote, October 9, 2008

We give your ideas a leg up

Published in FOCUS 35/2007, August 20, 2007

Innovative ideas lead to success

Published in Schwarzwälder Bote, September 19, 2006

If there are problems, the laser sends an SMS

Published in IHK Northern Black Forest Magazine, April 27, 2007