Politics Meets High Tech

As part of the annual visit by the Espelkamp City Council’s Main Committee to a company based in Espelkamp, ONgineer GmbH on Hindenburgring was selected this year.

In mid-September, Mayor Dr Henning Vieker visited the company alongside the town’s main committee and Daniela Beihl, a politician active at both state and local levels, to gain an insight into the work of „ONgineers“. During a guided tour of the company’s headquarters, Managing Director Claus-Martin Mündel explained the latest developments, products and services that ONgineer (formerly part of HÜCO electronic – a Harting spin-off) has launched.

ONgineer, too, has had to cope with the upheavals caused by the recent crises, and there have been – and continue to be – extreme challenges, particularly in the area of supply chains. Long-term planning is difficult in such turbulent times – flexibility and ingenuity are required to turn every crisis into an opportunity. ONgineer has managed this quite well by focusing on the micro-e-mobility market and, in this area, with universal Wall boxes for e-bikes and inductive charging infrastructure for e-scooters has taken the market by storm.

Daniela Beihl was amazed at what a high-tech enterprise ONgineer had turned out to be and asked the managing director how ONgineer defended itself against product piracy from the Far East. Claus-Martin Mündel, who himself worked in the chip industry for two decades, referred not only to the patents but also to the company’s own integrated chip, which, as the heart of the solution, contains the know-how and secures the company’s lead through innovative encryption technology.

With regard to a pilot project for a local charging infrastructure, the mayor offered practical, direct support to help bring this to fruition in Espelkamp.