F I R E – FA CT S A N D F I G U R E S City fires In history 64 AD The year the great fire of Rome destroys most of the city; the fire was allegedly set by the Emperor Nero 34,000 people were killed by an Allied air raid in Hamburg in 1943 1,000,000 years old is the approximate age of the first remains of a hearth, found in South Africa 20,000 lighters have been collected by the National Lighter Museum in Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA 240 sq mi of forest and the town of Paradise burned down in 2018 in California, USA 13,200 houses were destroyed in London in the fire of 1666 Records 118 torches extinguished in 60 seconds; Austrian Egon Rusch sets a fire-swallowing world record in 2012 10,000°F is the temperature of the hottest flame, caused by burning dicyanoacetylene and ozone under high pressure 2,200°F is the temperature of a forge fire 2,500°F is the temperature of a candle flame 27,000,000°F is the temperature at the sun’s core 1936 The year the Olympic torch relay was held for the first time; the fire was generated by a concave mirror in Olympia, Greece 1799 The year in which the first volunteer fire department was founded in Alzey, Germany Damage $1 billion The cost of fire damage each year in the private sector alone 400 fire deaths occur every year, of which die from fire gases, not from flames die while asleep 95 % 70 % 199 ft The height of the tallest bonfire in Lustenau, Austria in 2019 Causes of fire in 2020 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0 % 2 31 % 20 % 12 % 8 % 4 % 2 % 2 % 2 % 19 % Electricity Human error Arson Overheating Work involving fire hazards Naked flame Self-ignition Explosion Other and unknown UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine

The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine Fire Fire and heat from the Earth, space, the atmosphere, or as lightning from the laboratory – topics of edition 1, 2023. Climate change is the biggest threat and the most crucial challenge facing our planet 08 Global warming and climate change An interview with an environmental expert | 10 A transformation in progress Interview with CEO Frank Stührenberg – How sustainable is our commitment against the backdrop of the All-Electric Society? | 13 4 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine 3

Enjoy a cup of zero-waste Joe The Swiss company Migros recently launched CoffeeB, a single-serve coffee system that doesn’t rely on plastic or aluminum capsules. The ground coffee is formed into a ball and protected with a natural coating. The Coffee Balls are compostable and can decompose within a few weeks. Because the machine requires no plastic or aluminum capsules, it generates zero waste. Image used with permission. www.coffeeb.com Nord Stream 2 F R O M T H E I N D U S T RY A visitor to Bad Pyrmont: Spot The dog from a 3D printer Robotics from open-source 3D printing The triumphant advance of robotics has picked up speed. A four-legged cyber robot named Spot recently wandered through the Bad Pyrmont location, inspiring first contacts with the topic of smart buildings. And news has now come that there are brand-new robotics approaches. Solo 8 is an open- source doglike robot developed by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Tübingen and Stuttgart. The highlight: It consists almost exclusively of 3D-printed components for which design data is openly accessible. The 2,000-gram robot can already jump waist-high. If he falls over, he gets back on his feet on his own. And thanks to the open design data, he is inexpensive. Any robotics lab can easily develop their own applications and share them with the community. mpg.de/14983175/ vierbeiniger- roboter-open-source-open-source Harrisburg University aquaponics program STEM jobs (e.g., engineering, manufacturing, biotechnology, and more). Students are providing a sustainable food source to the university and the people of Harrisburg. They believe their research could be applied on a larger scale, helping to reduce hunger, prevent pollution, and conserve resources. Students from the Advanced Manufacturing and Biological Science departments at Harrisburg University have built an aquaponics system. Aquaponics is a sustainable agriculture system that incorporates both fish and plants. The fish eat plants, the water is recirculated to grow produce without soil, and the fish waste then fertilizes the produce. The goal is to harvest both the fish and the produce for food. An aquaponics system can: • Conserve water. • Prevent food waste and pollution. • Produce fresh food year- • Eliminate food deserts. round. The students have built a control and monitoring system using PLCnext controllers from Phoenix Contact. Students have access to real- world automation equipment that will prepare them for careers in high-demand 6 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine

A forest fire belt is forming around the globe – with fatal consequences 8

G LO B A L WA R M I N G Global warming and climate change: An expert’s view è Is there scientific consensus that people are causing today’s climate change? Yes. There are multiple different lines of evidence that a) the climate is changing, b) humans are responsible, and c) we can still do something about this. Example links: NASA: https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific- consensus/ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: https://www. ipcc.ch/ è Why be concerned about a degree or two change in the average global temperature? The difference of a degree or two Celsius is more in Fahrenheit (2 degrees C = 3.6 degrees in F), and the average global temperature masks more local changes. In places like the Arctic, recent studies indicate four times faster rates of change, leading more loss of sea ice and snow. Any additional amount of warming leads to a cascade of much worse impacts; any amount of mitigation (reductions of greenhouse gas emissions) helps. L ara B. Fowler, J.D., wears multiple hats: as Penn State’s interim chief sustainability officer, as the interim director of the Penn State Sustainability Institute, as a professor of teaching at Penn State Law, and as an affiliate faculty member of Penn State’s School of International Affairs. Prior to taking the sustainability leads in July 2022, she was the assistant director for outreach and engagement with Penn State’s Institutes of Energy and the Environment. Lara teaches water law, energy law, negotiation and dispute resolution design, and mediation of environmental and public conflicts. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Sweden from 2019- 2020, examining how people are finding solutions to complex water quality and quantity challenges. Professor Fowler’s research and expertise on environmental issues are known internationally, so we asked her to share some insight and resources about how climate change is impacting the U.S. è What is the difference between global warming and climate change? Global warming = “rise in global temperatures mainly due to concentrations of greenhouse gases in atmosphere.” Climate change = “increasing changes in the measures of climate over a long period of time, including precipitation, temperature, and wind patterns.” Lead scientist for the Nature Conservancy Katharine Hayhoe calls what we’re seeing “global weirding” – the patterns of what somewhat predictable weather patterns are being disrupted. Read more here: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what- difference-between-global-warming-and-climate-change Listen to a podcast interview with Katharine Hayhoe: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/961315153/global-weirding- with-katharine-hayhoe. 10 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine

Why we need to talk about climate change: https://www.hhh.umn.edu/research-centers/ center-science-technology-and-environmental- to electric vehicles. In 2022, L. Hunter Lovins of Natural Capital visited Penn State and shared what is happening on the climate front – she shared a policy/advancing-climate-solutions-now/speaker- breathtaking array of actions. katharine-hayhoe New York Times article on what individuals can do: https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year- of-living-better/how-to-reduce-your-carbon- footprint Fact sheet on individual emissions: https://css. umich.edu/publications/factsheets/sustainability- indicators/carbon-footprint-factsheet One source of info on clean energy tax credits: https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/clean-energy- tax-credits-get-a-boost-in-new-climate-law è Why don’t climate change advocates focus on the issue of carbon generated from sources other than electric power generation, since this accounts for only 27% of emissions? There are advocates addressing climate impacts See https://psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/ Colloquium+on+the+Environment+--+Hunter+Lov ins+Keynote/1_7t6bi139?st=8&ed=5552 è Is there anything else you’d like to address? The main point that I talk with students about is find something you love and are passionate about, and use that as a way to address concerns. Love cooking? Sports? Birds? All of these have ties to climate action. Working from a place of passion can be more inspiring that working from a place of fear or dread. Build a community, work together to raise awareness and demand that something is done, and identify actions that make a difference in your own community. Read books or articles that focus on solutions! Find inspiration from this story: https://www. on a whole range of issues – from helping those who are most vulnerable to the building sector connect4climate.org/article/you-can-help-fight- climate-change-through-your-passion.  Great books For those who would like to dig into the topic on a deeper level, Professor Fowler recommends the following books: Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Saving-Us/ Katharine-Hayhoe/9781982143848 All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katherine K. Wilkinson. https://www.allwecansave.earth/anthology Drawdown, The Book: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by Paul Hawken. https://drawdown.org/the-book 12 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine

On the Earth … After a journey of 92 million miles, short-wave solar rays hit the Earth at 342 W/m² T he Earth is getting warmer; that is now a recognized fact. And this warming does not have any natural causes, but is instead man-made. It is happening much faster and with even more serious consequences than predicted just a few years ago. We show you the effects of global warming here in a graphic. Humans have been using the energy stored millions of years ago in coal, gas, and oil from primeval forests that have long since vanished, releasing the energy stored in them on a large scale. As a result, the average temperature curve of our planet is on an upswing. This effect is accompanied by a growing world population that is accessing resources ever more rapidly in the desire for increasing prosperity. Ultimately, only technology can help to slow down and stop this disastrous cycle. Our path is clear: The fossil energy age must end. And the world must become an All Electric Society. (lo)  14

F I R E A N D S PA R K S 16

F I R E A N D S PA R K S C ynics would say that BU System Protection Technologies is one of the beneficiaries of climate change. After all, what is making our planet warmer in terms of increased temperature ends up in our atmosphere in the form of water vapor and energy, among other things. And those are the building blocks that create thunderstorms. Their intensity is steadily increasing. Arno Kiefer is not entirely comfortable with this bold assessment, however. The director of market development is the sales voice of the lightning makers. As he points out, “Actually, it’s not the number of thunderstorms that is increasing. What is increasing is the combination of renewable energy sources, volatile energy grids, and all kinds of control electronics. And all of that wants and needs to be protected from overvoltages.” It’s a focus of attention that not everyone shares. Arno Kiefer sighs. “First of all, every electrical system works without lightning protection. People don’t usually recognize the necessity for it until after damage has occurred. So they really don’t need us until it’s already too late. Even more so when you know that not every country has the legal requirements that exist in Germany.” Thunderbolt Lightning is a particularly impressive form of energy discharge. In a thunderstorm, it can let voltage of up to 1.3 billion volts loose (the current record holder in India) or have an enormous length of over 400 miles (measured by satellite over Brazil). Lightning occurs most frequently over Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo (up to 240 nights per year). And the longest- lasting single flash lit up the sky for 16.73 seconds (spotted in Argentina in 2019). In comparison, a “normal” summer thunderstorm seems almost like a mild breeze. Its lightning bolts rage among the clouds or race toward the ground with an average strength of around 100,000 amperes and a voltage of around 100 million volts. This is also possible in Blomberg: When all reserves are mobilized in the Phoenix Contact lightning protection laboratory, lightning intensities of up to 100,000 amperes can occur. “As a rule, however, we work with much less energy,” explained Arno Kiefer. “A natural lightning bolt will only enter the building with half its force: The other half is dissipated through the ground. And in the feed-in, the remainder is divided once again.” Tip to everyone present: Do not look directly into the light! Lightning is glaringly bright 18 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine

F I R E A N D S PA R K S large Phoenix Contact company premises. Plant 3 was the first home of the surge current laboratory for many years. Numerous ideas were created there, and people thought, tinkered, tried things out, and registered several patents. It was a small laboratory with big successes, as Arno Kiefer noted with pride. But at some point, the space was simply no longer adequate – planning for a new building began. And why not think big while you’re at it? The business unit’s new home included a laboratory, was designed to take on representative tasks and housed the associated offices as well. In 2014, the building was ceremoniously inaugurated. In Blomberg in particular, the capabilities of the Phoenix Contact laboratories are spoken of with reverence. The lightning laboratory is located directly on one of the two power supply lines of the small city. Due to a system fault, the lights in half the city actually went out briefly in the early days. “This is technically impossible today, but of course it was pretty exciting back then,” Arno Kiefer recalled. A reputation as being one of the most exciting research laboratories of Phoenix Contact precedes the lords of lightning: Particularly in the electrical trade, visitor tours with expert guides are highly coveted. A place for destruction Et voilà; today we are standing behind a large glass pane that separates us from the manufactured lightning and watching how Arno Kiefer and deputy laboratory manager Frank Schäfer try to push clamped-in safety modules to the limits of their load-bearing capacity. “And preferably a bit beyond that,” said Schäfer, who has worked with overvoltages for 14 years, with a grin. “Our laboratory is unique because we not only have extensive technical capabilities here. Instead, we can do all the testing required for any conceivable approval in the electrical field. Our accredited laboratory is independent, so it also tests products that are not manufactured by Phoenix Contact.” Competitors’ products, too? “Yes, we have a special role here, and we are also bound by confidentiality as part of this activity,” he added. New tasks The work there does not always involve conventional protection in the familiar AC power grids. The DC grids are increasingly coming into focus in the context of the increased expansion of renewable energies. Photovoltaics in particular typically produce direct current, which is not only fed into grids but also adapted via converters or stored in battery systems. “These different sources and their properties are still uncharted territory in terms of overvoltages and malfunction. We are researching at full speed in this area in order to develop tailor-made products for a wide range of plants in the future,” said Kiefer, who has few worries about his future prospects. (lo)  www.phoenixcontact.com It gets warm in here: 30 kV resistors with insulators In the “back office” of the test room: 30 kV coils in front, 30 kV resistors with insulators (left), low-voltage resistors (right) 20 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine

G E OT H E R M A L E N E R G Y Recycled through Earth’s heat Lithium is the gold of the 21st century. This is because the modern world requires massive amounts for use in large-volume batteries, among other things. How nice it would be if the crumbly metal could be extracted from domestic deposits using environmentally friendly methods. Could this vision become reality? Lithium is extracted in industrial quantities in a flow-through process 1. Lithium ions from the thermal water accumulate on adsorbent manganese oxide 2. In the second step, the adsorbent material is separated from the lithium ions with a desorbent and can be reused 3. The desorption solution is refined to obtain a high-purity lithium salt The thermal water extracted in Bruchsal has a temperature of around 160°C and contains large quantities of dissolved substances from the Earth’s interior 22

G E OT H E R M A L E N E R G Y Nowadays, there is less demand for a warm footbath. Instead, the focus is on tapping deep layers of rock for geothermal power plants. In Bruchsal, the wells extend down to a depth of 2,700 yards, and in neighboring Alsace, they are easily twice as deep. There are geothermal power plants in Bruchsal, Landau, Insheim, and in Soultz-sous-Forêts, Rittershoffen, and La Wantzenau on the French side. The 160-degree hot water from the depths is tapped by means of two boreholes. In the first borehole, the hot water is pumped up, and then it is injected back down through the second borehole at a pressure of up to 50 bar. The loop is almost closed in the ideal case because the hot water releases its energy through a system of heat exchangers. The energy is either fed directly into a district heating network or used to drive turbines that generate electricity. “However, that only makes sense when temperatures are very high, like they are in Iceland,” said Jochen Kolb. Extracting with filters Kolb and his team are at their best when it comes to what the hot water transports from the depths. There is a considerable concentration of lithium in the hot brine, enough to produce about 20,000 batteries for Tesla each year from just one borehole, for example. This makes interested parties sit up and take notice: In partnership with EnBW, there is the UnLimited project, which is financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and will run for four years. Professor Kolb is an expert on deposits. Before taking up his professorship in Karlsruhe in October 2016, he spent 10 years working on raw materials geology in Greenland. In Karlsruhe, his team of around 40 employees conducts research on topics related to the extraction of gold, copper, cobalt, rare earths, and lithium. “We are an applied branch of science. We are developing models that industry can use to search for and extract raw materials,” Kolb said. In neighboring Bruchsal, he and his colleagues are on the trail of lithium in thermal water. But how do you get the raw material of the energy revolution out of the ground? Using a bypass system, the geologists want to tap into the circuit of the thermal power plant in Bruchsal. About 30 liters per second flow through the plant from the depths. The water is briny and carries about 150 grams of dissolved substances per liter, or about four and a half times more particles than in seawater. Of the 150 grams, about 160 milligrams are lithium. This is admittedly much less than in the saline formations of the Andes, where up to 1,000 milligrams are present. But the high flow rates in 24 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine Heat exchangers make the heat of the Earth usable

S O L A R P O W E R Icarus’ Chariot 26

Simon Quinker almost reverently demonstrates the details of the 2019 Sonnenwagen chariot “We were voted the best newcomer team in Australia in 2019.” Simon Quinker, Co-Team Manager of Sonnenwagen e.V. 28 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine I n 2015, a wild time began for a group of students in the city of Aachen, Germany. The backstory wasn’t about illegal substances or raucous nocturnal leisure activities. Instead, they wanted to take part in what is probably one of the most unusual races on the planet – the World Solar Challenge in Australia. Every two years, teams from all over the world meet to cover a distance of 3,022 kilometers across the Outback using only the power of the sun. Back then, there was no German team in the Challenger class, which was the wildest class. The troupe changed that in a very assertive way, as Simon Quinker recounted with a grin. The Sonnenwagen e.V. team was founded very quickly. With energy and a lot of improvisation, the community that initially consisted of 20 and later up to 45 students managed to find sponsors and build a vehicle from scratch. It also made the trip to faraway Australia a reality. “We didn’t just finish the race, which is something that only about half of all starting teams manage; we were even voted best newcomer team,” reported Quinker. The 24-year-old future industrial engineer specializing in machine building is currently in his fourth year as a member of the team as both the co-team manager and the person responsible for marketing. “We are an all-student team. And the six years that the Sonnenwagen project has been in existence is a long time:

S O L A R P O W E R towards the end. We were far ahead, but then we went off the road and rolled over. All the safety systems worked; no one was hurt. The vehicle was damaged, but we were able to repair the car on site and then continue driving. In the end, we actually finished sixth because we had such a big lead. In addition, we were able to pick up two other awards, namely the Event Safety Award due to our behavior during the accident and the 500 is the number of kilometers a full battery can manage – with 5 KW/h! Spirit of the Event Award because, despite the accident and with our young team in only their second race, we kept going and arrived in Adelaide.” He pointed to the car. “Our drivers are students, but because of the size of the cockpit, we select ‘suitable’ statures.” 180 centimeters in height and 80 kilos in weight are the upper limits. Driving the car is a tough job; in Australia, you drive 300 to 400 kilometers at a time, with no windows and no air conditioning. Just one tiny air intake in the wheel arch provides a minimum of fresh air. Technological frontiers The 2019 solar vehicle relied on an arrow shape – elongated and narrow. For the first solar vehicle, the Aachen-based company used a catamaran design. “Aerodynamics produces about 70 to 80% of the losses we have at speeds of around 100 km/h,“ Quinker explained. “In the 2019 solar vehicle, there was one steering system for the front and one for the rear, allowing the pilot to trim the vehicle perfectly into the wind. The orientation of the solar cells toward the sun is also extremely important. In fact, it would be ideal if they were vertical. We always have to make corrections and compare them to the simulations that are needed for a race distance. Every change we make is converted into race minutes.” The drive is provided exclusively by solar cells, which are specially manufactured for solar cars. The gallium arsenide cells feed their energy into the battery via interconnected modules and maximum power point trackers (MPPT). These ensure that different energy outputs of the modules do not lead to losses in the available total power. “In Australia, we start with a full 5 kW/h battery, which would get us about 500 kilometers without sun,” Quinker said.. 30

L I Q U I D M E TA L 32

L I Q U I D M E TA L T ime is the crucial factor.” These wise words do not come from the Analects of Confucius, but instead directly from Cord Starke. And they do not describe a basic philosophical attitude. Instead, they describe the technological trick behind Advanced Shielding Technology. Starke has a degree in mechanical engineering with a specialization in energy technology. And when he talks about “his” development for shielding, the sparks start flying. After all, the engineer and his team realized a great idea with their special shielding for actuator and sensor cables. A terrible process Before we move into the facility where the first automated production line of Advanced Shielding Technology is set up, Starke described the development’s history: “Our business unit management challenged us with a mission: Rethink shielded male connectors! Cable production with conventionally manufactured M12 males is inflexible and, due to the large number of individual parts required, relatively inefficient. For every shielded cable in every dimension, we constantly require new connectors with all their component parts.” In addition to the sheer number of parts, producing the shielded male connectors in high-wage Germany is also a problem. Starke shook his head: “As any engineer will tell you, this is a terrible process – the things flop back and forth, the sleeve goes wherever it wants to ... The manual processing that has been necessary up to now is very, very time-consuming. Our goal was to increase the quality of the cabling, to automate it, and thus also make it faster and more economical. Simple, right?” Starke was smiling when looked back at how the challenge began. The team he is responsible for was interdisciplinary right from the start. “We started with colleagues from Production, the test lab, Development, and Marketing, and tried out various things in a hands-on way. In the process, we directly encountered various problems, such as the design of angled connections or the shielding’s contacting, which is classically crimped directly onto the cable sheath. Or where the shield is pressed between two sleeves. “During one of our many brainstorming sessions, I actually came up with the idea of shielding with metal. We have been working with fully automated plastic overmolding “As any engineer will tell you, the manual processing of shielding is a terrible process.” Cord Starke, Phoenix Contact       34

Starke is certain that Advanced Shielding Technology is a quantum leap 90 degrees are no problem at all when shielding with the liquid metal, unlike in manual production “Then came tests with high current. We ran two kiloamps (kA) across it, then three, five, eight, 12 – again, nothing happened. With these results, we ventured out of our cover and presented the technology here to our business unit first, so we could get an order to continue working on it on a larger scale. Because although we knew that it would make technical sense to shield with liquid metal, we needed to map that into production and develop manufacturing methods.” Starke grabbed his jacket, and we changed locations from the office to one of the production halls, where the first fully automated production line for the hottest male connectors is being set up. From product to production It quickly became clear that the technology had enormous potential. It was worthy of being presented in the design meeting that is legendary at Phoenix Contact. In the weekly round attended by the leading heads of development, in which Klaus Eisert is still almost always present, the technological future of Phoenix Contact is discussed, and significant new developments are presented. And the grand seigneur of Phoenix Contact was also impressed. Starke was noticeably proud: “We got the input that our tool shop had already tried its hand at a similar development. At that time, they attempted to cast current bars for terminal blocks. The idea was based on a project at RWTH Aachen University, where experiments had been carried out with low- melting metal alloys for conductive tracks. They tried out heated ski goggles there, for example.” Some of the experts working there at the time now work at Phoenix Contact. That has paid off: By discussing that project with the experts, Starke and his team were able to track down important equipment. “In the basement of our machine shop, the melting crucible and the melting pump were still set up,” he explained. “We dragged them over to our area and got started. From the very beginning, the team from the in- house tool shop, internal machine building, Production, and Development had their eye on the various expansion stages Shielded around the corner 1. Prepare the cable 2. Pre-mold 3. Metal-mold 4. Ready for use 36 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine   

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I NT E R V I E W è Mr. Leidecker, you have been with Phoenix Contact for 27 years, head of the Industrial Management Automation IMA BU since 2016, and a member of the new Executive Board since August 2020. To what extent do you still have your finger on the pulse of Phoenix Contact’s development? Far too little. Far too much. On the one hand, far too little, because I started as a sales engineer in this company, and that is still one of my passions. I still program today, but privately, for my own home automation. And of course not on the level of our software development professionals at Phoenix Contact. But I basically understand what our engineers are developing. And that’s why I answered “Far too much,” because I like to question the effort and benefit of current projects once in a while. Of course, the colleagues roll their eyes in response: My skills can’t stand up to any standardization or industrial requirement. è You are one of the most prominent advocates of issues such as PLCnext, openness, and new knowledge. Is that also how you describe yourself? Absolutely! I am a big believer in open source. It results in systems that are independent and open. Sharing, not keeping things secret, is what protects our work. Collaborative work also adds an important social aspect, because knowledge connects people. I’m a big fan of Wikipedia, for example. That’s where the whole Wikipedia community edits, creating better systems for all of humanity. I see the advantage of our PLCnext Technology in a similar way. Even if there are voices that talk about the “consumerization” of industrial automation, to me, it is a main element and one of the cores of the brand. We are putting automation on a much broader footing and taking away its exclusive expert role. That makes it better in the long run. è Sort of the democratization of industrial automation? Would you please share an example? Take artificial intelligence, for example. We will certainly not build up additional AI expertise, as we have done for industrial communications, for example. Let the AI experts of the world do that. But the products and solutions that the specialists realize for industrial automation can run on the PLCnext Technology platform. We test such solutions for compatibility and security, and then publish them in the PLCnext Store. And in the end, the customer who needs AI elements selects one of the AI apps presented there. Our expertise ultimately extends to creating platforms. In this way, we ensure that as many companies as possible benefit. è Platform thinking, software products, services – how easy or difficult is it to establish this mindset in a company that historically developed as a hardware manufacturer? I see myself as a driver. And it’s true: A “product” like PLCnext or the sale of apps in the PLCnext Store is clearly different than dealing with our terminal blocks. In all respects. Combined with the basic idea of openness to all market participants – including competitors! Openness is always a bit of a gamble. Many people are not used to this, as we normally jealously guard our knowledge and products against prying eyes. However, our Vertical Market Management organization implemented in 2016 also demonstrates that we have evolved from a pure components business. Of course, this does not happen without friction against conventional patterns of thinking and success. Particularly in large-scale projects, such as the current battery storage system projects overseas, we are represented by so many individual technologies that we must not think small-small here. Instead, we need to understand things on the overarching level. We contribute much more 40 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine

B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S Outstanding employer Phoenix Contact named among “Best Places to Work in PA” and a WELCOA Gold winner Two organizations recently recognized Phoenix Contact as an outstanding employer. Central Penn Business Journal named Phoenix Contact as one of the “Best Places to Work in PA.” The Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) also named the company as a 2022 WELCOA Well Workplace Gold recipient in recognition of its innovative wellness programs. honors the best places of employment in Pennsylvania in three categories: small companies (15-99 employees), medium companies (100-249), and large companies (250 or more). Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process, analyzed the data, and used their expertise to determine the final rankings. Two parts were used to Best Places to Work in PA identifies, recognizes, and determine the rankings, with combined scores determining the top companies and the final rankings. The first consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, and demographics, worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience, which consisted of 75% of the total. WELCOA strives to improve the health and well-being of working Americans by helping businesses build healthy workplaces. Companies selected for the award must demonstrate that they meet WELCOA’s seven benchmarks of success. Phoenix Contact acquires iS5 Communications Solutions for infrastructure networks to be developed further The Phoenix Contact Group has acquired Canadian company iS5 Communications Inc., based in Mississauga, Ontario. The provider of industrial network products specializes in services and solutions for critical infrastructure networks. Martin Müller, vice president of Phoenix Contact, says, “The expertise of iS5 Communications Inc. enables Phoenix Contact to take a leading position in the market for critical infrastructure networks and to further expand the business together.” Cybersecurity and data analysis play a strategically vital role in this field. iS5 Communications was established in 2012 and currently employs more than 40 people who specialize in bringing IIoT and IT together and who have significant engineering expertise. Phoenix Contact invested in the company in 2018 through its venture capital company, Phoenix Contact Innovation Ventures, as part of its round of financing at the time. Building on this, product development and joint sales activities have already been initiated through the participation of Phoenix Contact USA Inc. www.is5com.com 42 UPDATE 1/23 The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine New leadership at Phoenix Contact Development and Manufacturing Phoenix Contact promotes Davis Mathews and Heath Scoggin Phoenix Contact announces the promotion of Davis Mathews (top) and Heath Scoggin (bottom) as the new leadership team for Phoenix Contact Development and Manufacturing, Inc. Mathews and Scoggin will lead the Industry Management and Automation (IMA) and Industrial Components and Electronics (ICE) business areas, respectively. In addition, Mathews will lead the company’s overall development efforts, and Scoggin will lead the company’s overall manufacturing efforts. The promotions follow the retirement of David Skelton, who served as vice president of the Development and Manufacturing company since it was founded in 2005. “We are extremely grateful for Dave Skelton’s 24-year leadership at Phoenix Contact. His inspiration and contributions to our Development and Manufacturing efforts in the U.S. will be sorely missed,” said Jack Nehlig, president of Phoenix Contact USA. “However, we are also extremely fortunate to have both Davis and Heath step in and take on expanded responsibilities and seamlessly transition Dave’s leadership departure.” Mathews, a 28-year veteran at Phoenix Contact, will serve as senior vice president, Development and IMA. In this role, he will form and manage the overall development environment, capitalizing on cross-business unit opportunities. Scoggin will Davis Mathews Heath Scoggin serve as senior vice president, Manufacturing and ICE. In addition to leading the ICE business units, Scoggin will oversee all production areas. He and his leadership team will create a new function-oriented production structure.

“Benef’cent is the might of flame, When o’er it man doth watch, doth tame” Friedrich Schiller, German poet, playwright, and philosopher www.phoenixcontact.com