Of all German prizes for innovation, the ‘Top 100’ award plays a unique role: it’s the only competition to honour mid-sized businesses for their innovation management. BPW head of development Dr Markus Kliffken explains why he’d like to give the prize awarded by science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar straight back to the commercial vehicle specialists’ customers.
The BPW Group is driving innovation in transport and logistics with Industry 4.0, digitisation, e-mobility and networking. At the same time, the family-owned company is managing to gain customers, partners and employees for the transformation – and the brand strategy plays an important role, too.
This year, a visit to the transport logistic trade fair will be especially worthwhile – BPW and idem telematics (Hall A6, Booth 310) are offering special deals that are sure to be a big hit. Customers will benefit from attractive discounts on customised maintenance and telematics packages or a combination of telematics and the new BrakePadMonitor brake lining wear sensor system.
An unloaded container chassis is up to ten metres long and weighs up to 5,500 kilos. And yet despite their size, these chassis still frequently disappear without a trace. The Hamburg-based chassis leasing company UES is now using the ‘Internet of Transport’ to track them down and to assist hirers and drivers more effectively in the event of a breakdown.
There are not only employees with German passports behind the global success of German medium-sized companies. Over 1,600 employees from 26 countries work at BPW – a hidden champion of the commercial vehicle industry; the BPW Group is represented by around 7,200 employees in over 50 countries. On this basis, BPW has been committed to cosmopolitanism for years.
As one of the innovation leaders of the transport industry, BPW dovetails its know-how in IT and mechatronics closely with its vocational training. As a result, BPW was given the distinction of being one of the “Best Companies for vocational training in Germany” in March. Now the company is taking its vocational training and staff qualifications to the next level by adding a robotics branch.
In the Bavarian city of Vilshofen, the vehicle manufacturer Paul Nutzfahrzeuge is currently preparing for the standard conversion of municipal commercial vehicles on the production line to turn them into electric vehicles. The city of Wiehl is BPW's home town. It was there that Mayor Ulrich Stücker accepted the first Mercedes Benz Vario equipped with BPW’s electric motor axle eTransport.
No other type of vehicle is as highly individual as the trailer – every transport task requires a specific running gear. BPW, one of the market leaders for complete running gear systems for truck-trailers and semi-trailers, has now considerably simplified the configuration of running gears: by utilising a "digital DNA" for all components, running gears can be configured and ordered online.
With a new type plate, BPW has now simplified the process for workshops and vehicle operators to identify and order spare parts: As of now they are provided with a QR code, which makes the associated product information directly accessible on a smartphone or tablet. Spare parts lists, service handbooks and service documents are now available in a matter of seconds.
Minister-President Armin Laschet sees North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) as a leading centre of innovation in e-mobility and of Industry 4.0 in Germany. On the recommendation of the state parliamentary representative Bodo Löttgen of the CDU party, he visited BPW in Wiehl to familiarise himself with novel drive concepts and production methods, and the digitally interconnected world of logistics.
BPW belongs to an elite group of enterprises in Germany that are spearheading the digital transformation of products, applications and processes. The business magazine Focus Money and its research institute Deutschland Test have now recognised BPW as one of the leading Digital Champions: The Hamburg Institute of International Economics assessed around 10,000 companies for the ranking exercise.
Among German SMEs, no company can claim to have more loyal employees than BPW Bergische Achsen KG. In the latest round of the independent and anonymised TOP JOB survey, the family business’s employees give their employer top marks for communication, development and prospects. Compared with their counterparts in other companies, the employees of BPW are especially loyal.
About BPW Bergische Achsen Kommanditgesellschaft
BPW Bergische Achsen KG is the parent company of the BPW Group. With around 1,500 employees, including around 100 trainees, the family-run company has been developing and producing complete running gear systems for truck trailers and semi-trailers at its headquarters in Wiehl since 1898. BPW’s technologies include axle systems, brake technology, suspension and bearings. BPW’s trailer axles and running gear systems are in use in millions of vehicles around the world. An extensive range of services also provides vehicle manufacturers and vehicle operators with the opportunity to increase economic efficiency in their production and transport processes. www.bpw.de/en
About the BPW Group
The BPW Group researches, develops and manufactures everything needed to ensure that transport keeps moving and is safe, illuminated, intelligent and digitally connected. With its brands BPW, Ermax, HBN, HESTAL and idem telematics, the company group is a preferred system partner of the commercial vehicle industry around the globe for running gear, brakes, lighting, fasteners and superstructure technology, telematics and other key components for trucks, trailers and buses. The BPW Group offers comprehensive mobility services for transport businesses, ranging from a global service network to spare parts supply and intelligent networking of vehicles, drivers and freight. The owner-operated company group currently employs around 7,000 staff in 27 countries and achieved consolidated sales of 1.731 billion euros in 2022. www.bpw.de/en
