HARTING maps out past year success, key initiatives

German-based and global leader in the connector industry HARTING, delivered a positive business outlook, while underscoring several new key initiatives during its annual media event held recently at North Central College in Naperville IL.

This year’s event focused on a business update from the company and several key initiatives – including IIoT initiatives, a new industry-changing campaign, and a special announcement from HARTING and the college. Keeping the Momentum – Business Update The event began with a business update from HARTING Americas president & CEO, Jon DeSouza who spoke about the company’s success in the Americas in HARTING’s 2017 fiscal year, which ended in September. He began by stating some key figures for the company over the past year, including 20% growth in North America, 22.4% growth in the opportunity pipeline, 64.2% new product revenue growth, and 15.5% North American manufactured products overall revenue growth.

Fiscal year 2018 initiatives

DeSouza then stated HARTING’s fiscal year 2018 initiatives to continue that growth: The first is to capitalize on economic recovery and growth. Then to expand digital marketing initiatives. Third is to focus on South America development by enlarging the area HARTING serves. Next is the expansion of their IIoT footprint through smart connectivity and edge computing. Fifth is expanding manufacturing footprint and technology development. Finally, he stated the company expects continued growth throughout all major vertical markets. Next, HARTING’s Chairman of the Board, Philip Harting, spoke regarding global successes and initiatives. Over the past two years, the company has seen substantial successes, Harting recounted, from the winning of the Hermes award in 2016, to a 10% global growth in fiscal year 2017, to the expansion of new facilities in Mexico, Romania, and India.

Next, Harting announced the partnership with the Robotation Academy in Foshan as one of 21 partner companies in the fields of robotics, automation and Industry 4.0. The Robotation Academy provides trainings, conferences and presentations on future technology trends. Finally, Harting thanked the company’s strong partners in the US, including MIT, Texas Instruments, the Industrial Internet Consortium, IBM Watson, and Microsoft stating that HARTING’s key strategy for success is through partnerships. IIoT Discussion – Edge Devices and Cloud Computing Following the business update, HARTING’s Director of New Technology, Dr. Vivek Dave, and Business Development Executive at IBM, Peter Xu, gave a talk on edge devices and cloud computing.

Explosion of connected devices serves edge-computing

There was the explosion of connected devices that makes edge-computing necessary. There are three main drivers for edge-computing; The first is that sending all data from real-time devices to the cloud is not practical. By 2020, there will be an estimated 30-50 billion connected devices. Without edge-computing, all data, even unnecessary data, produced by those devices would go to the cloud resulting in a substantial need for data center storage. Instead, edge devices can ensure only important information would go to the cloud by sorting data directly on the device. Next, some data must be processed quickly and locally.

“Think about an autonomous car, “Dr. Vivek Dave said, “You don’t want to have to wait to connect to the cloud. You need that car to be able to make decisions right there. That is why devices at the edge, or device level, are necessary.”

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Ribbon cutting at HARTING Electronics Lab in North Central College

HARTING and North Central College in Naperville announced that they have opened a lab dedicated by HARTING to introduce basic electronic methods and applications to students of the College. In addition to naming the lab, HARTING has pledged to donate equipment and products for students.

This lab is very exciting for us, “says Jon DeSouza, President & CEO of HARTING Americas, “as it represents things that are very important to the company. The first is HARTING’s investment to education and shaping the minds of young engineers. In addition, it was important to select a college nearby our Elgin, IL North American headquarters so that we support our local community. “HARTING’S chairman of the board, Philip Harting, was on hand to help cut the ribbon. He called the ceremony a “milestone” and expressed his enthusiasm for furthering the partnership and connecting with students who may be “possible employees for our future.” President of North Central College Troy D. Hammond also noted HARTING’s global success and its ability to be responsive to the changing needs of its customers. “We intend to support HARTING’s success by generating talented graduates,” he said. “We’re proud to partner with HARTING to ensure we both have a brilliant future.”