OEM&Lieferant Ausgabe 2/2018 / OEM&Supplier Edition 2/2018

111 Is a region like Saarland with its neighbour- ing regions of Luxembourg, Rhineland-Pa- latinate and the French region of Grand Est, which were shaped by coal and steel for decades, suitable as a location for auto- mobile future investments? Armin Gehl: For certain, a clear yes! Do those with political responsibility al- ways hope that this kind of bid will gener- ate more regional added value, higher tax revenues and, above all, more employ- ment? Is such hope justified? Armin Gehl: Here I can say that the region has very good specialists at its disposal providing an incentive for companies to invest here and thus generate business. When talking about the future viability of industries, terms such as Industry 4.0, ar- tificial intelligence, digitisation and ro- botics always come up. To what extent is the regional industry in your Greater Region permeated by these trends? Armin Gehl: To my knowledge, not deeply enough! The danger here is that the train will soon be on its way and some will be left be- hind. Robotics is obviously of particular impor- tance for the future-oriented further de- velopment of industrial structures, their application seems to promise particularly high gains in productivity. How important is robotics for companies in the Greater Region? Armin Gehl: I think that time is rolling on. The large companies have recognised the challenge of "robotics" and are already in active imple- mentation. Broadly speaking, the application of ro- botic principles often leads to the replace- ment of human work by the use of digitally controlled machines or robots. Do new em- ployment problems correspondingly arise here? Armin Gehl: Naturally, problems arise for com- panies with regard to the level of employment or training of employees. The "simple" job of unskilled worker will become unnecessary, but new employees will be needed as service per- sonnel for the robots. It is often argued that the use of robotic technology inevitably leads to job losses but that new jobs arise, e.g. in service and maintenance sectors. However, this requires an appropriate infrastructure of research and further education facilities. Are these structures in place in the Greater Region? Armin Gehl: There are very good training and further education facilities in the Greater Re- gion. Starting with the Festo Learning Centre, the TÜV academies or even privately run further training facilities. What can the autoregion e.V. cluster pro- vide to support its members in these ques- tions of the future? Armin Gehl: We ourselves offer companies ac- tive advice on financing. Training facilities are also represented in our network and the members are informed of their services. We also organise events on current topics to bring business people into direct dialogue with each other. Mr Gehl, thank you for the interview. The interview was conducted by Dr. Rudolf Müller, OEM&Supplier autoregion e.V. Questions on the future viability of a Greater Region OEM&Supplier spoke with Armin Gehl, Managing Director, autoregion e.V. Saarland has offered itself to the American electric car manufacturer Tesla as a location for a battery factory. In a per- sonal letter to the company owner Elon Musk, Prime Minister Tobias Hans and Economics Minister Anke Rehlinger praise the geographical location, the existing supplier industry, the leading research institutes, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, and the qualified workforce of the Saarland. The cross-border working association autoregion e.V. sees itself as an independently working, complementary body to the existing automotive networks of the French, Luxembourgish, German border region and is supported by companies, associations, research institutions and political institutions. Image: © autoregion e.V. autoregion e.V. www.autoregion.eu Websites Armin Gehl Termine www.autoregion.eu/de/termine