S tephan Frigge is a fully fledged sales professional. He has been General Manager of Phoenix Contact Deutschland GmbH since 2016. Prior to this he was a sales segment manager and responsible for key account management. The personable 43-year-old knows exactly how influential the Highlights brochure is, because as soon as the printed edition is in the hands of field staff and customers, he and his team are in demand – the most innovative and exciting products are also traditionally hot sellers in the Phoenix Contact range. è Mr. Frigge, what do the legendary Highlights mean for Phoenix Contact? For us, the Highlights are real door openers. They are the em- bodiment of our innovative strength. With these particular products, we will deal with the growth in the coming years. And they enable our customers to become more efficient, more innovative, and even more reliable for their own customers. as ever, the Hannover Messe, with everything that we bring to market there, and the SPS IPC Drives has become more and more important for the automation industry. è How many products are in the Phoenix Contact range in total? More than 60,000 standard products and countless custom- er-specific special solutions. è Back to the Highlights: How does a product or a service become a Highlight? There is a structured internal application process for this. The respective applications are submitted and then selected by the team supporting our CTO, Roland Bent. This exciting process begins well before the turn of the year. What can become a Highlight? All of our units are called upon to put forward their most innovative solutions respectively, and only the best, most è Highlights and the Hannover Messe – what is the con- nection between these expressions/events? The significance of the Hannover Messe is, as ever, very high. In the past, all new products were actually launched there – in an atmosphere of high expectations with a familiar, palpable tension. When will the first samples be available, how are the customers receiving the new products? è How important are the Highlights, also on the inter- national front? Enormously important. Just think about the many visitor groups at our booth, our customers and also employees from all over the world at the Hannover Messe. The trade fair is in- ternational. We reach a global target audience here. It is the start of the year, the kickoff – that's when everything really gets going. Inspiring innovations – we live and breathe this motto, and we demonstrate this at the trade fair with our Highlights. Over the last few years, though, other trade fairs have also become important to us. This has simply become a necessity, due to the variety of our products and the number of industries that we serve. Today, we have two classic main events. One is, innovative, and most outstanding new products have the hon- or of appearing in the brochure. è And what triggers nomination by the respective teams? The selection itself is made by a small committee. And it is truly a secret – nothing is revealed. Only the very closest colleagues who actually work on the product and the associated marketing are aware of it. For everyone else, including sales, the informa- tion is only revealed at the large Global Kick-Off Meeting at the beginning of the year. When the products are nominated, an exciting marketing and sales project begins to ensure that the initial spark is also given the appropriate setting. As you can see, our Highlights are also real organizational highlights. è Personally, what is your favorite thing about the Highlights brochure 2019? … that, despite the omnipresent digitalization, it is still available in the analog world in print format. Lean back, flick through, make notes. That still feels really good, even today. phoe.co/highlights The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine UPDATE 1/19 39