3. Spherea Forum and
anniversary celebration

We offer our partner organizations, customers and suppliers the opportunity to hold meetings in the forefront of our Spherea Forum. We support you with conference rooms and logistics. This saves you effort and travelling time.

After your conference, we provide a shuttle service so that you can all get to the Spherea Forum on time.

We warmly welcome you to our Spherea Forum 2024. Here you already have the first opportunity to exchange ideas with other participants over snacks and drinks.

Look forward to a journey with Spherea through the best of the last 10 years, the best of today and the best of tomorrow; the best of our common world.

Martin Kugelmann, Managing Director of Spherea GmbH

Be inspired by two exciting keynotes from our ecosystems:

Hans-Christoph Atzpodien, Managing Director of Bundesverband der Deutschen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungsindustrie e.V. (Federal Association of the German Security and Defense Industry),

Axel Schuppe, Managing Director of Verband der Bahnindustrie e.V. (German Railway Industry Association)

At first glance, the ecosystems of the Spherea do not seem to have much in common. At second glance, however, they have one important touchpoint: both ecosystems use increasingly complex systems whose safety and availability are of crucial importance.

The rail industry has to deal with ensuring the safety of passengers and freight as well as the availability of rail transportation systems.

The core task of the Bundeswehr (and its NATO partners) is to ensure national and alliance defense. Military systems must also be available for this purpose.

The security and defense industry has the task of supporting the Bundeswehr and its NATO partners.

Let us discuss together the extent to which automation, digitalization and artificial intelligence can contribute to the security and availability of the necessary systems. The implementation of automation, digitalization and artificial intelligence offers both opportunities and risks.

Even if the ecosystems seem to have nothing to do with each other at first glance, we believe that we can learn from each other.

Axel Hahn, Institute Director of the German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Wolfgang Rösch, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Rösch Consult Group

Dan Bauer, Managing Partner of Wingo Consulting

Dr. Miroslav Obrenovic, Head of Digitalization & Maintenance, Projects and Portfolio Management Deutsche Bahn AG (requested)

Take advantage of the coffee break to refresh yourself and network with people from different areas.

Europe must continue to grow together. There are already numerous Europe-wide projects that show that Europe-wide cooperation is necessary, but not always easy.

The panel will focus on current developments and a look into the future in France, the UK, Germany and their neighbors, with particular attention being paid to the specific national circumstances and challenges. In addition, the situation will be examined from the perspective of the Spherea Group.

By identifying common challenges, a vision emerges as to which topics are or will become relevant within Europe in the future and where cooperation, even on a “small scale”, could be worthwhile.

Patrice Bélie, Managing Director Spherea Group

Max Stover, Managing Director Spherea Test & Services Ltd. UK

Martin Kugelmann, Managing Director Spherea GmbH

Employees are a company’s most important resource. As an SME, it is not easy to attract and retain employees. Get an insight into “our” employer branding. Management, employees and an external expert will report from their perspective on how the Talent Register, the Employee Radar, the “M.E.E.T.” employee appraisals and the employee breakfast contribute to employee retention and why jointly defined corporate values are important.

Hopefully you will be able to take some inspiration home with you.

Susanne Sperrhake, Managing Director of Stärken-Werkstatt

Martin Kugelmann, Managing Director of Spherea GmbH

Employees of Spherea GmbH

Summary of the first day and outlook for day 2.

Take the opportunity to visit our site and let our employees explain our products to you. We look forward to your questions, ideas and comments.

We cordially invite you to celebrate our 10th anniversary with us. In addition to music and a BBQ, you will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with all Spherea Forum participants and expand your network.

We won’t bore you, but we would be delighted to hear a short greeting or two.

The evening event will also take place at Magirus-Deutz-Straße 13, 89077 Ulm.

We welcome you to our second day of the Spherea Forum. Here you will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with other participants over snacks and drinks.

Get a brief insight into the topics of the second day of the Spherea Forum.

We are living in exciting times. The world is stumbling from one crisis to the next. The Covid pandemic has changed the world in ways we could never have imagined before. Current armed conflicts in Europe and the Middle East are leaving their mark on the entire world. Climate change is already having a significant effect. As a result, mobility is undergoing a major transformation.

These crises are having a lasting impact on society, the economy and politics, among other things. But if we see ourselves as an ecosystem, where we all work together on the challenges and develop solutions, then we can shape the future together. To do this, we must learn to deal with these volatile, complex and uncertain times and keep constantly adapting.

In this panel discussion, various players from our ecosystem will describe the challenges from their perspective, whether SMEs or large companies, manufacturers or operators, industry or politics. Together they will discuss how the ecosystems can support each other in dealing with the challenges. We will also discuss what prerequisites need to be created for this.

Florian Lobitz, Senior Manager Naval Systems / Program Organization Defence der Rheinmetall AG

Martin Süß, Head of workshops for light rail and buses at Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG

In various sessions, we will give you the opportunity to discuss individual topics or focal points in smaller groups and explore them in greater depth. The respective speakers and panellists will be available for this purpose.

Please register for a Deep Dive:

• – The world 10 years ago, today and in 10 years’ time
• – Automation, digitalisation and artificial intelligence
• – Opportunities and challenges in the railway and defence sectors in an international context
• – Importance and possibilities of employer branding
• – Changing ecosystems and how we (should) deal with them
• – SMEs and corporations – how can collaboration succeed
• – Operational excellence – what does this mean?

Our partners are an important part of our Spherea world. We want to give our partners the opportunity to introduce themselves. Perhaps you will discover something in common that makes sense for you to work with one of our partners. Find out for yourself.

Use the time for refreshments and to talk to our partners.

You can look forward to gaining an insight into how Spherea implements the topic of operational excellence and strives for continuous improvement within the company. You can expect interesting facts about the EFQM model, lean principles and the Layered Process Audit (LPA).

We will also introduce the new Exzellenz Cluster Deutschland e.V., which we co-founded. Representatives of the EFQM will be there, as well as partners who have accompanied us on our path to operational excellence.

Thorsten Gerberich, Managing Director of Quantum Gesellschaft für berufliche Bildung mbH

Let’s bring the Spherea Forum and our 10th anniversary to a close together.

Take another opportunity to build up business contacts.

If you have not yet departed, you are welcome to take the opportunity to hold B2B meetings with Spherea or other partners. Let us know and we will be happy to provide meeting rooms and contact persons as required.