Whenever “Made is being touted in Germany”, is summoned to the German engineering mind. When is he born? What makes him so? He is unique in the world? Zhang Danhong is to address the questions.
In my last home leave, I met a Chinese businessman who wanted to know from me where the German Engineering comes in. Germany live from lack of raw materials from its innovations, and the world leaders are in rural areas so that the engineers work for lack of other activities throughout the long day. All this did not convince him. So I promised him to go in search of answers.
The symbiosis between art and science
Back in Germany, arrived, I called immediately the well-known economic historian Werner abelshauser. He knew all to answer my own questions. “The engineer is a product of the German research University. And the research University is an integral part of the Prussian educational reforms that have taken place in 1807 to 1820,” said Abelshauser. Was caused the German engineer then in the second half of the 19th century. Century as a symbiosis of economy and science. The 1865-founded company, BASF, was the prototype of this symbiosis. The innovation of the synthetic colours, which were born in a test tube of research of the University, were brought to be adopted by the engineers of BASF and to the market. New industries – industries of the intangible value creation – were created: chemistry, mechanical engineering or electronics. “It succeeded to the Germans, the First Industrial Nation the UK to come over, without the catch up,” said Abelshauser.
Werner Abelshauser, Professor Emeritus at the University of Bielefeld
Wise as the Prussians were, they had a few years after the unification of Germany in 1871, or more precisely in 1887, the company encouraged, training sites set up, so that the trainees could acquire, in addition to the General academic Knowledge of the company, technical Know-how. That was the birth of the dual education system, which was anchored in the 1930s and even legally.
“On the professional work culture, it has become possible that the engineer could take in the company of these new industries is the command to bring the test tube in the Dimension of the market needs,” said Abelshauser. From the test tube to the market – for the historian, this is the Definition from the engineering spirit.
The long Tradition of craftsmanship
The Interaction of the engineer and skilled workers would not be so fruitful had it not been for the long Tradition of craftsmanship, which, according to Abelshauser, the Hans of time in 11. Century back: “guilds made up of craftsmen and have a large economic area: From Flanders to Russia, from Scandinavia to Westphalia, with Lübeck as the spokesman of the city in the middle. This urban craft was an extremely successful form of economy, and in Germany, because there were many centres, very deep in the business culture dug in.”
This all sounds very conclusive. The theory I wanted to pull a practical test, and most of all, I wanted to finally get to know a true engineer. He grew up with Fischer Technik and decomposed, and then, in adolescence all the machines that come to him in the hands? He worked out only during work or at night when he can’t fall asleep?
Fischer technology, a still of the boys favorite toy
In the Land of the tinkerers and inventors
At the location I had to think for a long time: I’m going to Hohenlohe in Baden-Württemberg, the Region with the highest density of world market leaders. The only guile: for German standards, a wide range of around 350 miles I had to drive with the car. Because these beads in the German economy are hidden, such as snow white behind the seven mountains, since no aircraft flies, because the German train makes a Stop. I drove and drove, and as soon as I had left the highway, decreased the volume of traffic from hundred to zero. I found myself in the midst of a lush green mountain and hills, and had always the feeling to go directly into the Idyll.
Ralf Sturm, HR Director and partner at ebm-papst
In Mulfingen I first met Ralf Sturm, chief of staff at the fan manufacturer ebm-papst, and son of the company founder Gerhard Sturm. He can not confirm the Thesis of a research University without further notice. “My father was a machine fitter and has everything from a very in-depth training, as many top executives here in the house. The majority has not studied at the time (1960s). They were metal and electrical skilled workers.” Through his personal experience, he would have a different picture. “These medium-sized companies and global market leaders emerged from the craft. This century-old Foundation of the craft in width and in depth, has produced many inventors.” I was glad he was at least the second part of the theory of the historian with his history of the company under the walls.
But the craft has also struck in other countries in Europe and in other parts of the world roots. Why it bears in Germany, the most beautiful flowers, explains Ralf storm: “What has developed in this country, otherwise, is the preservation of the deep-infused, small-cell structure of the craft. That is until today. In Germany we have the most craft. In other countries, there are no more in this form.”
The symbiosis between nature and technology
In Baden-Württemberg, the country of tinkerers and inventors, in addition to a different symbiosis. “This is a great rural area, nature and landscape in connection with one of the strongest economic regions in Germany, this symbiosis of nature and technology, nature and the economy, which is Hohenlohe, the we live here”, says Ralf storm.
Headquarters of ebm-papst in Mulfingen
Nature stimulates the inventive spirit, at Thomas Heli, head of development at ebm-papst full consent. While Jogging in the Green, for example, he had the presence of mind: “So quite a lot of product ideas during the run emerged, I then bring in the company, and then with the Team, with colleagues develop and implement.” A dream for any Chef!
An engineer to the touch
Thomas Heli is exactly the kind of German engineering I’ve imagined, only more likeable. Like most engineers, he has tinkered as a child with fishing technique and played. Then he started with an apprenticeship as a toolmaker. “During this training, I have found that this is what I want to do. I would like to make things, such as in the fishing technique.” So he went to the training to Karlsruhe to study mechanical engineering – with a focus on design.
In other words: Thomas Heli itself is gone the dual educational system. “The dual System offers the possibility that, no matter what level of Training you start, the permeability and the can achieve what you want to achieve.” And that the operational and the scientific aspects are combined, enabling the engineers to think complex and to develop complex products. For Thomas Heli this way of thinking is what makes the German engineering mind.
Thomas Heli explained to me the intelligent fan
In the past 25 years, the chief engineer has developed for his company a number of fans and fans, and countless optimizations. When he tells of his products, you can feel almost a tenderness in his voice: “Additional Sensors, we have built a humidity – and temperature sensor so that the fan depending on the ambient humidity and temperature, adjusting its flow to meet the needs.” A smart fan so. If Thomas Heli not working on a smarter fan, he listens like AC/DC or shoots a bow – needless to say, he builds the forms.
Two worlds merge
On the return journey I think about the difference between the German and the Chinese business culture. While in China, some companies boast of bosses such as the Alibaba-founder Jack Ma, the 996-model for Working hours (From nine to nine, six days a week), dream of the chief of staff and partner Ralf storm by six hours of work a day. While it is important for German engineers there is, the whole of his working life to a single company to devote, the average duration of the young Chinese (below 30) to an employer in a single year. The German engineer waits until he finds the perfect solution; the Chinese to starts often with a work-in-progress solution, and adjusted. Therefore, my interlocutors are convinced that China, Germany, may obtain from the technical side, the German engineering mind is not but copy so.
The question of the German engineering mind introduced me to Ma Mingze, Chairman of the Board of the Blockchain Startups CRYSTO goes in July 2019 to the exchange. Good Luck!