Fritzmeier Systems GmbH is part of a strong cooperation that focuses on making its customers‘ products more efficient, safer and more economical. “Our strength is to recognize the needs of our customers,” says Alexandra Herrmann, responsible for marketing and press. “We really listen to our clients, trying to understand what their demands are. After defining their requirements, we use our experience and development skills to provide them with the right solutions.”
Fritzmeier was founded by Georg Fritzmeier in 1926 as a saddlery. Over the course of the years, the product range changed and the company started manufacturing tractor seats as an OEM supplier. Fritzmeier Systems was established as a spin-off in the 1990s, and Fritzmeier has become the worldwide market leader for cabs for construction machines and fork-lift trucks.
Today, the Fritzmeier group divides its activities across four separate divisions, each of which is completely independent, but benefits from synergy effects as well as the transfer of know-how and experience. In addition to cabs, Fritzmeier produces complete construction groups made from plastics in its Plastics division.
The Technology division is responsible for devices, tools and special machines while the Environment division provides systems for soil analysis, fertilizer management, water treatment and decontamination. In the Cabs division, Fritzmeier Systems is one of the most innovative suppliers in the industry. It produces complete driver’s cabs in various forms for construction machines, fork-lift trucks and agricultural machines.
With its safety cabs, which are equipped with a complex safety frame, Fritzmeier offers special safety solutions for different application areas, such as the Roll-Over-Protection-System (ROPS), which protects drivers in the event that their vehicle rolls over.
The interior fittings, for instance, digital driver assistance systems or electrical control units, are also produced by the cabin expert. Fritzmeier shows exactly how innovative it can be with the CAB Concept Cluster. In 2014, experienced OEM suppliers, the Technical University of Dresden as well as different practice partners and associations came together to establish the CAB Concept Cluster.
“The idea was to provide a platform for the sectors of construction machinery, agricultural machinery, and industrial trucks, where innovative solutions and current topics such as digitalization, the potential of efficient system integration and new functions in the cabin can be presented,” explains Ms. Herrmann.
The first result of the collaboration within the CAB Concept Cluster was the Genius GAB, which received the innovation award “bauma Innovationspreis 2016”. “Human Centered Design” is the guiding theme of the design, ensuring maximum ergonomic comfort in the workplace and excellent vision thanks to the glass cockpit with faceted window surfaces.
Among other things, a central touchscreen panel is part of the interior as well as a body computer, which constitutes the control center based on a complex, modular CAN matrix and processes all incoming and outgoing signals. At the last Agritechnica, another innovation from the CAB Concept Cluster was presented: the Smart CAB.
“With the Smart CAB, we transfer major trends such as serial-tested modularity, x2x-usability and smart farming into real added value for our customers,” illustrates Ms. Herrmann. “Flexibility, future reliability, and profitability are the key features of this new development, which shows that working together is a great way to shape the future together.”
Smart CAB is a multifunctional cab for self-propelled vehicles such as harvesters and field sprayers, based on a serial product from the Fritzmeier product range. At Agritechnica 2017, Fritzmeier Cabs has successfully presented the Smart CAB, impressing the visitors with what is already possible and will become reality in the near future.
As co-founder and project manager of the CAB Concept Cluster, Fritzmeier will keep on playing an important role as innovation leader. The continuous know-how exchange with the cluster partners will ensure that new trends and developments in the industry will be implemented in the cabs in the best possible way.
Implementing state-of-the-art technology in cab production for achieving added customer value has always been the focus for Fritzmeier, which also has resulted in higher safety and improved driver comfort. Fritzmeier is still a family business that is now managed by the third generation. Even if the number of employees has increased to more than 2,300, the group has remained true to its roots and traditions and also maintained its flexibility to be able to react quickly to the changes in the market.
“We also have a very open corporate culture,” states Ms. Herrmann. “Everybody is encouraged to contribute their own ideas. We all have the same goal and work closely together, both within our own division, but also with the other companies in the group.”
In the future, all signs point towards further growth. With the demands of the customers as the focus, Fritzmeier will keep on working on new strategies, products and technologies to be able to fulfill their needs and help them improve their own products. “We will never claim to be good enough,” says Ms. Herrmann. “For this reason we will always strive to become even better.”