Every year again: FLS invites you to a Christmas party

Christmas is just around the corner and like every year our Christmas party took place last weekend. With a delicious buffet and in a cosy, Christmassy atmosphere we toasted with a glass or two the successes of the last year. Our location was the beautifully restored Old Mill in the middle of the green Wurmtal. Also some traditions could not be missing. So beautiful speeches were swung and thought-provoking stories were told. A special highlight of the evening was the dessert, which was generally very popular. It is always nice when all employees come together and just leave the work out of it. We were also very pleased that the two former managing directors, Dr. Ing. Peter Geisbüsch and Dr. Hanns Jürgen Hüttner, accepted our invitation and spent a convivial evening together with their wives and us. In summary, one can say that this year’s Christmas party was the crowning conclusion of a successful year and that we are looking forward to further promising years.

Founders Award NRW 2018 – We belong to the best!

A few weeks ago, when the nomination for the NRW 2018 Founder’s Prize fluttered into the house, we were all completely over the moon! We had prevailed against 120 competitors and made it into the Top 10! This was accompanied by the chance to win one of the coveted prizes at this year’s awards ceremony on 19 November 2018.

In icy cold we arrived at the impressive location of the K21 Ständehaus in Düsseldorf, which literally presented itself in the best light – through coloured light spots. This wonderful scenery gave the evening a worthy setting! On site a personal presentation area awaited us, where we could show our production software and answer questions during the evening. We quickly got in touch with other nominees, but also with the press, politicians and other interested parties. Many interesting companies and personalities were on site, so that the conversations were more than exciting.

The official part of the event started with a presentation of all 10 nominees from different fields. From grass paper, to welding robots, screw dealers, care brokers, to school digitization, the field was broadly diversified. We were especially pleased to see for the first time the information spot about the FLS that a camera team had recorded with us in the past weeks.

After a short round of questions, during which our nominated Managing Director Janina Keuters also had to answer, the 10 were honoured with their nomination certificate by the Minister of Economics and Digital Affairs, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, and the Chairman of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK, Eckhard Forst. The three winners were then announced. These were unveiled by the winners of the previous year in a laudation. This special way of proclaiming the winners provided a few wonderful moments. Afterwards, the evening ended with a flying buffet with many entertaining and interesting conversations.

We are very pleased to have made it into the Top 10 of the 7th Founders Award NRW and thank you for this award and recognition of our work.

O`zapft is: Many good reasons to celebrate!

This year GRP and FLS had a lot to celebrate – like the award Top100 Innovator, or the nomination for the founder award NRW 2018 – and we celebrated this with our internal Oktoberfest! With Weißwürsten, Brezeln and Oktoberfestbier we were able to toast one or the other time. It is good to see that the employees of both companies are growing ever closer together. In this context, there was another reason to celebrate. Because GRP and FLS have been working under one roof for 2 years now. Of course we are very happy about the good cooperation and we are looking forward to many more years together, which we celebrated with a common photo. Many good reasons to celebrate!

FOUNDER PRICE NRW 2018: FLS GmbH & Co. KG from Aachen nominated among the 10 Best

Family-friendly, innovation-promoting and continuously looking ahead: these values have been the basis of our success since the takeover of FLS GmbH & Co. KG in 2016 by Janina Keuters. The Aachen-based production planning company has been nominated for the GRÜNDERPREIS NRW 2018 for its philosophy and innovative business idea.

Ten successful founders have been nominated for the GRÜNDERPREIS NRW 2018. They can now all hope for prize money totalling 60,000 euros.

Economics and Digital Affairs Minister Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart is enthusiastic about the wealth of ideas of the young entrepreneurs: “The start-up scene in our state is lively and creative. With the GRÜNDERPREIS NRW we want to recognise their achievements and inspire others to put their own ideas into practice.

“This year, more women entrepreneurs applied than in the previous year, which is also reflected in the nominees: four of the ten finalists are women,” says Eckhard Forst, Chairman of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. “As a development bank for NRW, we provide the founders with the appropriate financing and advice. With the GRÜNDERPREIS NRW we support our state as an innovative business location”.

“My aim is to create a working environment for my employees that offers family flexibility and compatibility. At the same time, I create systems and structures that allow me to combine my vision of career and family – without making any compromises,” says Janina Keuters, explaining her motivation to take over the company.

The company has been developing IT systems for customers in the mechanical engineering, automotive and plastics sectors since 1979.

A valuable wealth of experience, which is used to permanently further develop the existing systems. In addition to cost efficiency, the digital and flexible planning solutions guarantee the important connection to industry 4.0. In the future, the company will increasingly rely on female developers who bring new ideas and approaches to the team. In order to promote innovative ideas more strongly, a special internal ticket system was developed: If an employee has an idea, he can easily send it directly to the management and colleagues involved via ticket. “This, together with flat hierarchies, increases the individual’s room for manoeuvre and puts team spirit in the foreground.

This year, the jury chaired by Prof. Dr. Christine Volkmann showed a particularly diverse landscape of applicants: technology start-ups, companies from the social sector but also from the clothing and education sectors as well as food producers and medical technology companies entered the race for the NRW GRÜNDERPREIS. The jury, consisting of representatives of the initiators, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia and NRW.BANK, as well as business start-up and economic experts from North Rhine-Westphalia, selected the ten best business ideas from around 120 submissions. Those who win the prize, worth a total of 60,000 euros in prize money (1st place: 30,000 euros, 2nd place: 20,000 euros, 3rd place: 10,000 euros), will be presented at the award ceremony on 19 November 2018 in the K21 STÄNDEHAUS in Düsseldorf.

All sitting in the same boat – with full power ahead in the dragon boat

A team from GRP and FLS took part in this year’s dragon boat race at the Rursee in Woffelsbach!

Since 13 years a dragon boat race takes place at the picturesque Rursee in the Eifel. Organized and held by the association “Wassersportfreunde Aachen (WSA)” it always takes place in June. Four years ago the GRP decided to combine their summer party with the dragon boat race and for two years now the FLS has been part of it. Together the employees of both companies paddle as one team.

For success at the dragon boat race you only need motivation and commitment besides water and the boat. All this the colourful mixed team put in its three rounds against three opponents each and was able to secure a good 16th place in the overall standings of the day. With 32 teams we were in the golden mean this year.

The day was marked by healthy ambition, but above all by fun. And also the weather – after threatening clouds in the morning – was good for us. Until late in the evening it remained mild and dry, so that one could end the day comfortably at the Aftershow-Party.

But for next year our ambition is awakened: With a secret training plan we will start the preparation and then we will paddle into the top 10!

FLS is one of the Top100 innovation leaders 2018

Aachen-based company is honoured by Ranga Yogeshwar at the Mittelstands Summit as one of the most innovative companies of the German Mittelstand.

The FLS GmbH & Co. KG will be awarded the TOP 100 seal for the first time this year. Since 1979, the medium-sized company from Aachen has been developing IT systems that help its customers from the mechanical engineering, automotive and plastics sectors with production planning.

“The flat hierarchies and the informal atmosphere increase the scope of the individual and place initiative and team spirit in the foreground,” says Managing Director Janina Keuters, who has headed the company since October 2016. For her it is clear: A good climate for innovation is a central building block for FLS’s success. For this reason, Keuters has created an electronic ticket system. If an employee has an idea, he can send it directly to the management and involved colleagues via ticket. The ticket system also facilitates the documentation of various innovation projects.

The top innovator also works closely with his customers. Pilot customers from different industries support FLS in the development of new products and services. “We have many customers who have been working with our production planning systems for more than 20 years,” explains Keuters – a valuable wealth of experience that the company uses to permanently further develop its systems.

Read more: FLS GmbH & Co. KG at Top 100

With bow and arrow to the next round

Successful network event for decision-makers in industry

Also in this year FLS GmbH & Co. KG together with its partner GRP GmbH & Co. KG to the ins-schwarze-treffen networking event. Numerous decision makers from the manufacturing industry came together last week near Stuttgart. The location chosen this time was Haigerloch Castle, which offered a special backdrop for archery with its vaulted cellar.

After a short welcoming round, the participants went straight on to sporting activities and competed with bows and arrows. In an exuberant atmosphere one or the other took the motto of the evening to heart and shot into the black!

The following lectures of the speakers gave again numerous impulses and insights: The lecture series was opened by Roman Nowack, from EU-Con BeraterForum GmbH. He shed light on the current data protection chaos and was able to calm things down in some places and point out possible dangers in others. The current omnipresent topic was of great interest. Manfred Keuters – Managing Director of GRP GmbH & Co. KG and member of the EU Economic Senate – asked himself how to make a production sexy. His customers frequently ask him this question. Because the funny title illustrates as important the attractiveness of a production for enterprises can be. Herbert Maierhofer concluded the varied lectures. The pensioner reported on 30 years of MES experience gained in the production of the market leader Geberit. He took the participants on an interesting journey through everyday production life and its possibilities.

The evening ended comfortably and the inspiring conversations and discussions continued. The third round of the event was also a complete success and we are looking forward to the continuation soon, where we will hit the bull’s eye again.

http://ins-schwarze-treffen.grp.de/

It’s time again: our ins-schwarze-treffen event goes into the next round!

On June 14th, true to our motto, we will again reach for bows and arrows and hit the “black” one!

As already at the last successful events, the event attracts with a mixture of networking, lectures and archery.

This year, Roman Nowack – a passionate data protector – explains everything we need to know about the new data protection agreement. Manfred Keuters also asks himself how to make production sexy and Herbert Maierhofer talks about his 30 years of MES experience in the production of a global corporation.

This year, Haigerloch Castle near Stuttgart offers us the perfect setting for this exciting evening.

More information can be found at www.ins-schwarze-treffen.grp.de

B2Run run in Aachen: On your marks – Ready? – Go!

A team of seven employees successfully represented the companies GRP and FLS at this year’s B2Run Company Run in Aachen.
More than 3600 runners started the B2Run company run on April 26th at the Soers in Aachen. Among them was a team of 7 GRP and FLS runners including the management. The 5.2 km long course started on the CHIO grounds, led through the Soers valley and a round, under full cheers, through the Aachen Tivoli. The race ended in the jumping stadium of the Aachen Laurensberger Rennverein. Also Petrus was gracious and allowed everyone a dry run and even gave – despite threatening dark clouds – some sunbeams. We all had a lot of fun and felt well prepared for our summer party at the dragon boat race at the Rursee in June.

For us it’s clear: Next time we’ll be there again – then with a bigger team!

FLS distribution now from one source

The FLS returns to its old roots to achieve new goals. In order to provide our customers with the best possible service, we will in future only be there for you from our headquarters in Aachen. So all your contacts are always under one roof and can be reached quickly. Mr. Ralph Brubach takes over new tasks and continues to work in the industry 4.0 context. Please call us if you have any further questions. We are looking forward to a further successful cooperation.

FLS

Phone: +49 241 88 93 0 – 70

info@fls.de FLS