Danfoss: Offenbach Headquarters in the CO2-neutral LEIQ Building

Offenbach – The red lettering “Danfoss” is well known – but few people know that the Danish company has its German headquarters in Bieber-Waldhof. Stefan König, Managing Director and President of the Central Europe region, spoke to our editorial team about future-oriented technologies and the move of the headquarters to the LEIQ building on the Kaiserlei.

Why did Danfoss choose Offenbach as their headquarters?

At that time, a company from the field of air conditioning technology that was active in the Frankfurt area was acquired. And to stay close to where the know-how is, they moved to this location.

You will soon be moving your headquarters to the Kaiserlei – has a move from Offenbach also been discussed?

It was clear that we would not keep the location in Waldhof, the buildings are no longer attractive. We want to keep our core workforce, so it was never really a question of leaving Offenbach. We decided to go to the Kaiserlei, right on the city limits of Frankfurt. We’re growing incredibly as a company, in the last five years we’ve almost doubled in size worldwide. We make ten billion euros in sales worldwide, and in the Central Europe region we will achieve sales of 1.5 billion euros this year. With this growth you need people – you don’t get them if you’re in an unattractive location. We go to the LEIQ building, which is really chic, right on the Main.

The move was planned for last year…

There are delays in all construction projects, which is also due to the disrupted supply chains. But now the date has been set, the opening ceremony will take place at the beginning of September.

The LEIQ building is very innovative and should be CO2-neutral. What convinced you of the location?

It is very centrally located, at the interface between Offenbach and Frankfurt, and it is very easy to get to by public transport. Proximity to the airport is very important to us, especially for global meetings. This makes it easier for our international employees: They fly there and are at the meeting location 20 minutes later instead of flying on to Munich or Hamburg. The CO2 neutrality also fits the company philosophy: As a company, it is important to us to offer energy-efficient solutions for our customers; Solutions to increase machine productivity. What we do is about energy efficiency – and not just in the last two years, since everyone was talking about it. Our global main set is in Denmark, in Nordborg – and the location there has been completely climate-neutral since last year.

How did that happen?

We proceed according to the principles of “reduce, reuse and renew”: First of all, we save energy and then we try to recover energy. Waste heat is the largest unused source of energy on our planet. Computer centers generate a lot of waste heat through the cooling technology – this can be collected and amplified by a heat pump and then fed back into the district heating network. And you have to see that you buy renewable energy, especially from wind power. That’s where we come from, energy efficiency solutions are in our DNA.

Nordborg is the role model for Offenbach?

For the relocation, everything is designed in the same way as we did in Denmark – installing energy-efficient solutions and reusing waste heat. In the new building, among other things, a polyvalent heat pump ensures CO2 neutrality. And we obtain CO2-neutral district heating from EVO. There is a huge data center at EVO whose waste heat is to be used. What is still missing to be completely green is that the energy we buy comes from wind power in Denmark. We are carbon neutral from day one.

Are there other special features?

At the new location we will not only be energy-efficient, but also offer modern work. There are no longer individual offices, and nobody has a permanent desk. That goes through all areas, even I no longer have my own office.

That is very consistent, elsewhere water is preached, but wine is drunk on the executive floor…

As the saying goes: The fish stinks from the head – you have to live up to what you ask for. I’ve been in an office with an antechamber for 20 years – that’s nonsense, nobody dares to go in, you don’t get to know anyone. We haven’t had our own offices in Hamburg for four years. You also get to know a lot of people that way. You sit here, sometimes there; the inhibition threshold to be spoken to is gone. That was good for us.

You say that energy efficient solutions are in the DNA at Danfoss, in recent years this has accelerated – please explain.

We have grown strongly, not only because of climate solutions, electrification is also a huge growth sector. We develop and manufacture the so-called power modules for e-mobility, the heart of the vehicle drive. That’s a huge area for the future.

Please introduce the parts of the company.

There are three segments. The first is called, with us everything is in English, Climate Solutions. It’s about solutions for cooling and heating technology. We are primarily suppliers: we supply solutions for industrial refrigeration systems, but also for all the refrigerated counters and the boxes in the supermarkets – we are behind all this refrigeration technology. Then there is the whole control: the cold chains for the supermarkets must not be broken, we have software solutions for that. We also supply our components to companies that manufacture heat pumps. Heat pumps that are used in domestic and large areas. In addition, district heating transfer stations to direct the hot air into the houses.

Also at the LEIQ?

Yes, the district heating transfer station and the transfer of the waste heat control can be supplied by us – so far there is still a coal-fired power plant at EVO for energy production, but that is to be switched off in the future. Elsewhere things are already further: In Esbjerg, Denmark, the energy was previously supplied by a coal-fired power plant, which was replaced by a huge heat pump that draws the temperature from the seawater. This heats the whole city.

Back to the company: what would be the second segment?

We call the second sector Power Electronics and Drives. These are primarily frequency converters that can be used to convert electricity into motion. Imagine a fan that provides hot or cold air – a frequency converter would ensure that it works as required. For example, the fan would notice when it was too cold and provide warmer air. And imagine a large air conditioning system on an office building: it used to run at full speed all the time, now our components ensure that it runs as needed.

Intelligent components, so to speak.

Exactly. That means huge savings. This is also the case in power electronics, for example power modules for electric drive systems in the automotive industry: Like a human heart, it pumps energy to supply a system. It distributes the direct current from the electric vehicle battery and converts it into alternating current, which in turn reaches the vehicle’s propulsion system. We’re also doing a lot in the marine sector, where there’s a lot of electrification. There are also many hybrid solutions. The Norwegians started and said that only those who use hybrid drives can enter our fjords. The ships go there with the ship’s diesel, but in order to go into the fjord, they have to switch to electronic. On a smaller scale, there are also more and more ferries that are electric. Our frequency converters are used there.

And the third area?

That would be Power Solutions, which are drive systems for construction machinery. Imagine harvesting machines, such as combine harvesters, they have a lot of hydraulic units, and we make them too. This also includes the electronics, the control, which comes from us. We offer many energy-efficient solutions. Because fuel has become expensive: A farmer who buys a machine that uses ten percent less diesel makes a difference. He talks about ten thousand liters that he fills up every year. With our intelligent pumps and controls, he consumes less, which pays off for him. Then there are electrically powered construction machines, which are also in high demand.

Danfoss is very broad – what does the future hold?

We’re talking about mega trends, and we’re very relevant to them. For example in agriculture: Mankind is growing, but arable land is limited. So we have to develop solutions to produce more efficiently. A mega trend is to produce more with the same resources. We have to offer our customers appropriate solutions. Then electrification continues, and Climate Solutions is going in a similar direction – to offer more energy-efficient, CO2-neutral, improved solutions. We are very relevant as a company. Relevance is very common in our annual report, and that’s not marketing talk. In fact, we offer solutions to these current issues.

Now everyone is complaining about a shortage of skilled workers.

That’s a huge problem. What helps against this would be a reduction in bureaucracy. In addition, it is all about immigration, open borders and a modern welcoming culture. That we make it easier to recognize training and study programs and reduce bureaucracy a bit. We make it really difficult for people – even within Germany it’s a problem: If you go to Bavaria with a Hamburg Abitur, they say there that it’s not an Abitur. There are many levers to remedy the shortage of skilled workers. It is only possible through immigration and easier integration as well as more language courses.

The interview was conducted by Frank Sommer and Veronika Schade