Cybersecurity, E-Mobility, Industry 4.0 - technologies are developing rapidly, become more and more networked and complex. This also changes the requirements for standardization. In order to make early changes, the standards organization DKE Deutsche Kommission Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik in DIN and VDE has completely redirected itself.
"In standardization, it is crucial to always be ahead of the latest technologies," says DKE Managing Director Michael Teigeler. "That's why we have fundamentally reorganized the structure of the DKE: From now on, we are strongly focusing on the needs of our customers for the technologies of the" digital ecosystem "that are relevant to the future." Teigeler, who has been a member of the DKE management since 2012, has taken over the role of a sole managing director by his predecessor Bernhard Thies in early 2017. Michael Teigeler has accompanied the redesign of the standardization work in the DKE as change manager for a long time. With the orientation of the IEC General Assembly 2016 in Frankfurt with more than 3,000 standardization experts from all over the world, he has become internationally recognized in the field of standardization.
Agile by realignment
In order to adequately address the diverse challenges of the future in terms of content and organization, the DKE, which is supported by the VDE, is now divided into four complementary business units: Division Manager Kevin Behnisch is responsible for the Technology division. Johannes Stein is in charge of Production and Klaus-Wolfgang Klingner is responsible for Finance & Controlling. The management of the External Relations & Support division has been provisionally taken over by managing director Michael Teigeler. In the field of technology, experts from industry, science, trade business and politics, under the leadership of the DKE, work on current and future topics of standardization.
"So far, the sole focus on individual products is no longer quite up-to-date in standardization. That's why we've clustered our division into departments that consistently focus on the core themes of our digital future, such as energy, health or mobility. This expands our focus on our work and makes it more accessible to our experts and customers, "says Kevin Behnisch. This serves the goal of continuing to strongly represent Germany in the global network of standardization, thereby securing its position as one of the leading economies. "The ever-increasing convergence of technology requires new thinking. In addition to classic product standards, we are increasingly focusing on system aspects and are taking up innovative topics with new flexible and agile approaches and structures. At the same time, we are ensuring better networking among experts, "explains Behnisch.
"The close networking of the worldwide standardization community is highly relevant for our economy," adds Michael Teigeler. For this reason, the External Relations & Support division is expanding the already well-established national and international networks of the DKE and, among other things, addressing strategic issues of the entire standardization policy. This area supports the management committees of IEC and CENELEC and observes the standardization-relevant developments in more than 70 nations worldwide for the 3,500 internationally active German experts.
The two divisions Production and Finance & Controlling, for example, are responsible for the implementation of standardization projects and the IT support of the bodies as internal services of the DKE. "The rapid technical development has caused the demand for standards to skyrocket. Accordingly, we have completely restructured our standard production area including translation services. The result is something to be proud of: our output of standardization texts has never been higher ", emphasizes Johannes Stein, responsible for Production. And Klaus-Wolfgang Klingner, Head of Finance & Controlling, explains: "Even under the ever-changing conditions, we ensure that the DKE stands on sound financial footing and can act independently of third parties. So that electrotechnical standardization can continue to reliably accompany the digitization of our world. "
Through its restructuring, the DKE makes it even more attractive for companies to use standardization as a strategic tool. In future, the important work in the standardization bodies will be supplemented in many ways: through development projects, thematically relevant events such as workshops and webinars as well as through numerous other offers for the application and development of technical rules. For example, development and support projects are more closely linked with standardization work, in order to gain synergies for rapid and application-oriented implementation of innovative topics in new standards or specifications on the one hand and real product development on the other.
