For decades, the Federal Republic of Germany has been Switzerland’s most important trading partner. According to the resolution of Securiton’s Executive Board, a second strong export pillar was to be created in Germany in addition to that in Italy. On 6 December 1979, a contract for sales representation was signed with Mr Artur Schmidt, who later headed up the sales office. Ten years later, the staff magazine “Sensor” takes a look back at the first ten years of Securiton Germany.
For Securiton, the beginning of its export activities in Germany was not easy. Securiton was unknown, even among experts. We needed one of our solutions to open the door and arouse interest. In other words, a solution that the major competitors were unable to offer. The RAS and TRANSAFE line-type fire detectors for special applications were our way in.
For Artur Schmidt, the sales promotion strategy was a hard slog. Untiringly and with a great deal of dedication, the first few years saw pilgrimages to the big hitters in the field in Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg, to insurance companies and to the VdS in Cologne. People needed a lot of convincing about the benefits of these innovative solutions. We were confronted with some challenging problems. Early fire detection was desired in the huge maintenance hall at Frankfurt Airport, in Porsche’s paint shop, at the Würgassen nuclear power plant and in BMW’s EMC room. These were our opportunities to put our products to the test, and led to our breakthrough and eventual success. Today, 600 RAS and 200 ADW 53 units are installed annually, mainly in industry. This is in addition to 50 PSS systems for personal protection. Our customers include renowned companies such as Lufthansa, Ford, Nixdorf, Mercedes and Bayer. We work with VdS-approved installer companies for sales and installation. These include major players such as Siemens, Zettler and Telenorma. We also enjoy a successful cooperation with our sister company Hekatron in Sulzburg. Artur Schmidt, his wife and three employees form the successful team. The offices are located in Mr Schmidt’s newly built business and residential building in Seebach, which is located between Freiburg and Karlsruhe. Securiton is now well known among experts. We are a leader in the field of line-type fire detection systems in West Germany. This is primarily due to Artur Schmidt’s competence and expertise. We would like to thank Mr Schmidt and wish him and his team every success in the future.
