Since the beginning of the company's history, Copa-Data has been one of the pacesetters of digitalization in manufacturing automation. "We started 20 years ago with the ambitious goal of anchoring the zenon brand in the manufacturing industry in Germany and worldwide. The main aim was to win over the major DAX companies," says Jürgen Schrödel, Managing Director of Copa-Data Germany. Today, 20 years later, many of the really big companies from the DAX and the EURO Stoxx are among the long-standing customers and in 2018 Copa-Data Germany was able to close its most successful financial year since the company was founded with sales growth of 30 percent.

Driven by solutions, with technology to success

While technology has developed rapidly over the last 20 years, Copa-Data Germany's strategic approach has remained the same. "We see a lean and device-independent solution for our customers as our driver. The selection of the most sensible methods and needs-based technology is subordinate to this approach," says Jürgen Schrödel. Today, Copa-Data is present in more than 50 countries with local sales and support.

"Germany is way ahead in terms of technological development. As the home of many global players and successful SMEs, it is a very important market for us. I am delighted that Copa-Data Germany has been supporting us for 20 years in our mission to make our customers' lives a little easier," says Thomas Punzenberger, founder and CEO of Copa-Data.

Successful as a team

Jürgen Schrödel sees the employees as an important success factor for business development. Numerous top performers have been with the company for many years. The demands placed on them have changed significantly since the company was founded. Increasing automation and digitalization require greater networking between the different domains of the production process. "Our employees must constantly engage with new tasks in order to cluster the crucial information from the process. This is the only way they can generate valuable knowledge from the collected data. This is precisely what sets our team at Copa-Data Germany apart," says Jürgen Schrödel.

Copa-Data was founded in Salzburg in 1987 by Thomas Punzenberger. Twelve years later, the German subsidiary was opened in Ottobrunn. Initially, the focus was on the automotive industry with its highly automated manufacturing processes. The non-cyclical pharmaceutical and food & beverage sectors were added. For some years now, the area of "non-factory" applications has also been gaining in importance. Today, Copa-Data offers interdisciplinary and integrated solutions for the smart factory and smart city. The company now has two additional offices in Ludwigshafen and Cologne. The comprehensive sales and support network guarantees individual customer care.