PROFINET stalwart Phoenix Contact’s Middletown, Pa., plant was named Plant Engineering magazine’s Top Plant of 2015. HARTING announces “The HARTING Knowledge Center” app, a content hub of all of HARTING’s educational materials, including white papers, FAQs, videos, brochures, and more.
Plant Engineering names Phoenix Contact 2015 Top Plant
Phoenix Contact, a leader in industrial connectivity and automation, has been named the Top Plant of 2015 by Plant Engineering magazine. The Top Plant program, established in 2004, honors outstanding manufacturing facilities in North America.
Phoenix Contact is a German-based company that established its U.S. headquarters in 1981. In its first two decades, Phoenix Contact’s U.S. operations acted as a sales subsidiary, while gradually increasing its value-added manufacturing services. In 2005, the company launched a Development and Manufacturing (D&M) company at its Middletown, Pa., headquarters, to design and manufacture products based on American standards and customer needs.
“At Phoenix Contact, we believe we have proven that with the right strategy and the right focus on our people, we can successfully manufacture in the U.S. and compete globally,” said Jack Nehlig, president of Phoenix Contact USA. “It was decisive investment, a focus on the long term, the pursuit of excellence while you do it, and really treating our people right that made the difference. We are honored to receive the 2015 Top Plant Award, which is a testimony to the success of those decisions.”
As demand for Phoenix Contact’s locally designed and manufactured products has grown, so has the company. In 2014, Phoenix Contact completed construction of a 125,000-square-foot addition to its U.S. facility. The expansion included 50,000 square feet of production and support space, and 50,000 square feet of office and lab space.
The D&M company went from no exports a decade ago to exporting around 30 percent of its manufacturing dollar volume in 2015. “The development and manufacturing investments were founded on the principle that being close to our customers would bring significant benefits in speed and flexibility. Our growth is recognition that these high-quality facilities and people are delivering that value,” said Dave Skelton, vice president and general manager, Phoenix Contact D&M.
“Even as a subsidiary of a $2 billion global company, Phoenix Contact USA has built a formidable reputation as a manufacturer in its own right,” said Bob Vavra, content manager, Plant Engineering.
“It now employs more than 500 people in Middletown and continues to look for new ways to deliver customer value—and to continue its phenomenal growth.”
Phoenix Contact joins an elite group of manufacturers who have been named Top Plant in the past. Previous winners include Mother Parkers RealCup, Victaulic, Lincoln Electric Co., Pfizer Global Supply, Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing, Siemens Industry Inc., Square D, SEW Eurodrive, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, and Hewlett-Packard.
HARTING Knowledge Center App Educates Engineering Community
HARTING North America announced that it has released a new app for Apple and Android devices – the HARTING Knowledge Center. The HARTING Knowledge Center app is a content hub of all of HARTING’s educational materials, including white papers, 
FAQs, videos, brochures, and more. The app also allows users the ability to make custom playlists and send them to any email address.
“We want to make it easy for our customers to find the information in order to make educated buying decisions. Engineers need the right tools to better inform themselves when choosing a connector solution. That is why we created the Knowledge Center app.” said Christina Chatfield, Director of Marketing at HARTING, Inc. of North America, “Our customers have different applications, so the app allows a customized experience depending on each individual’s needs.”
Users can sort through content by market, product or content type so they only have to see the information that’s relevant to them. The playlist feature also makes it easy to share information with colleagues or anyone else who might need it.
The HARTING Knowledge Center app is available on the iTunes and Google Play store for Apple and Android phones and tablets.