Mr. Charisiadis, first of all, congratulations on 75 years of Jumo! Looking back: What was your company's most significant technological development?

In 2010, we introduced the first measurement, control and automation system 'mTron T' and opened up the large market of the PLC world, as the supplementary option of Codesys Runtime was already available. Over the course of the following ten years, we gained a lot of experience and realized that we also wanted to gain market share in this area. That's why in 2020 - starting with 'Varitron 500' - we launched a fully-fledged PLC family on the market that doesn't have to shy away from comparison with well-known manufacturers. The 'Varitron 500' is the flagship, followed a year later by its little brother, the 'Varitron 300'. And now, two years later, the 'Varitron 500 touch' has been introduced, which combines the central processing unit and touch panel in one device.

Characteristic of our PLC family are the central use of Codesys Runtime and the modular design. This gives us an architecture that is comparable to that of smartphones. In other words, we supply a basic firmware and have various 'apps' - in the world of Jumo, these are add-ons that extend the range of functions.

Jumo covers the entire automation pyramid with a broad range of industries and products,

© Jumo

What does the Jumo roadmap look like for the next ten to 15 years?

Over the next few years, we want to position ourselves clearly as a systems and solutions provider and deliver added value to customers through new business models. From a global perspective, we see good opportunities in the USA and Asia in particular. In Germany and Europe, we will continue to expand our good market position by extending our range of systems and services. In general, we want to increase our market share in the company's focus sectors; to put it clearly: we want to achieve double market growth in our focus sectors.

What technological trends do you see that are or will become important for Jumo?

In addition to other topics, we are focusing on digital interfaces: Single Pair Ethernet technology in particular will continue to gain in importance with a view to the automated factory of the future. We are also driving forward the digitalization of sensors and the development of multi-sensors and will expand this area.

What do you think will be the biggest challenge over the next few years, in terms of business and/or technology?

The development of AI is incredibly dynamic. We have anchored AI as a strategic element of our corporate goals. Among other things, we use AI to optimize our internal workflows and processes. We can also find solutions for our customers for previous technical challenges and thus generate a competitive advantage for Jumo, as our systems will be able to manage the high volumes of data and complexity more easily thanks to AI.

Your website refers to a wide variety of events planned for 2023 that are related to the anniversary - do you have a particular favorite?

Yes, there is one. We want to create the Jumo forest at the beginning of November. We will then plant a total of 2023 oak trees in the Rhön with our employees. As a family business, we are aware of our responsibility for future generations.