Our 18th general meeting took place on November 14, 2024 at OBO Bettermann in Menden. Around 70 participants attended and learned more about our member company OBO and its product portfolio, as well as achievements and plans in our network. November has cloudy days in store, but the fresh OBO orange bathed our 18th General Meeting in the OBO Forum in a friendly autumnal light. After a brief welcome by our 1st Deputy Chairman of the Board Josef Mertens, OBO Managing Director Christoph Palausch welcomed the guests and, together with Torsten Schönhaus, Managing Director of OBO Bettermann Produktion Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, presented the OBO company, including an impressive film about production and logistics in Menden and the plant in Bugyi, Hungary. OBO Bettermann was founded in Menden in 1911 and the headquarters of the internationally active company is still located there today. With around 4,200 employees, OBO is represented in over 60 countries and currently has 40 subsidiaries. OBO started out in 1911 as a small company concentrating on the manufacture of brass goods, shoe hooks and eyelets. Since its foundation, the company has continued to develop and today stands for innovative solutions for electrical installations and cable protection worldwide. OBO’s high-quality products can be bundled into innovative systems and, as networked solutions, create a safe electrical infrastructure for buildings in a wide variety of projects all over the world. Highest quality and a focus on sustainability are integral parts of the OBO principle (without drilling). OBO is constantly working on making its products easier to handle and therefore more effective to install. After the company presentation, Markus Mende, Head of Product Management/R&D at OBO Bettermann Produktion Deutschland GmbH & Co KG, guided the guests through the extensive exhibition in the OBO Forum. There were numerous opportunities to get to know and try out OBO products in all their diversity. 
At the OBO Forum, participants were given an impression of the wide range of OBO products. Photo: NIRO e. V. Our new member companies At the beginning of our 18th members’ meeting, NIRO Managing Director Ingrid Lange welcomed all participants and presented the topics and focal points of our network work this year. First, our new members were welcomed to the association and presented with their membership certificates. In 2024, a total of five new companies became members of NIRO. Magontec GmbH from Bottrop specializes in high-quality magnesium alloys, for example for the European automotive industry and for lightweight die-cast parts, and is an internationally recognized innovator in the field of cathodic corrosion protection for water-bearing systems and hot water tanks. BURG Lüling GmbH & Co KG, based in Hagen, Germany, is known for innovative mechanical and electronic locking system solutions for metal products, office furniture, fittings and switch cabinets as well as property security for sports and office facilities using apps, numerical codes, RFID and energy-efficient wireless technology. With over 120 international brands, some of which are exclusively distributed, and more than 6,200 articles from the leisure, promotional and professional sectors, our new member company L-SHOP-TEAM GmbH from Unna serves the textile B2B market in Europe with textiles, accessories and suitable finishing materials. C.O. Weise GmbH & Co. KG is based in Dortmund. The company specializes in residential buildings, façade, work, protective and church scaffolding, façade supports, steel construction and shoring. The product range also includes special scaffolding and special constructions, such as the construction for the Dortmund Christmas tree, which has been erected every year since 1996 by C.O. Weise GmbH & Co. KG has been erecting it every year since 1996. Another new member is Chemikalien-Gesellschaft Hans Lungmuß mbH & CO. KG, also from Dortmund. The specialist for innovative refractory products has a modern, computer-aided production facility in which products for blast furnaces, steelworks and foundries are manufactured. To all new member companies: Welcome to our network! Our topics and focal points in 2024 NIRO Managing Director Ingrid Lange gave an insight into our network work and presented some highlights. NIRO hosted a total of 98 (online) events in which we opened up various opportunities. A new addition is our harbor room in Dortmund, where many of our face-to-face events took place. Several events were consistently implemented in which we worked on interface topics. This was the case, for example, in workshops on the topic of Health, Safety, Security, Environment (HSSE) with a focus on health and appreciation, in a workshop on the topic of apps for employees and in events as part of the Dortmund Digital Week. We successfully completed our proWeiterbildung PLUS project and achieved a great deal for the further development of our continuing education network. A brochure on the results is available here. Artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability were and remain key topics in our network. In the second round, the sustainability working group produced a results brochure, which can be downloaded here. The two project groups on sustainability reporting and management systems remain active. The first events for both focus areas are already being planned for 2025. A new feature is the opportunity to take part in co-working with us. There have already been three events this year and the Hafenraum will also be open for independent work on one Friday a month in 2025. One highlight in 2024 was certainly our summer networking event in the new Hafenquartier, where we welcomed around 100 members, partners and friends of NIRO. The NIRO Academy picked up speed in 2024 and once again offered the “NIRO Talents” training program. With a very practice-oriented approach, the aim is to successfully implement internal company improvement projects. Our Academy’s further program for 2025 already includes seminars on key topics such as sustainability, digital transformation and leadership as well as recurring qualifications and basic training courses. Our activities in the area of purchasing There were also numerous successful moments in the area of purchasing with meetings of the purchasing working group, negotiating groups and regular other events. Three new agreements were concluded in 2024: the 2025 electricity pool has been secured with E.ON Energie Deutschland GmbH, the 2025 natural gas pool with enercity AG and we have found the Hoffmann Group as a new partner for operating materials and occupational health and safety/ PPE. There are three new special agreements with MION Solutions GmbH, which offers a software solution for precise CO₂ balancing, SparePartsNow GmbH, an online marketplace for machine spare parts, and the e-procurement platform simple system GmbH. Other topics are currently being tendered or prepared, including the 2026-2027 electricity pool, the 2026-2027 natural gas pool and FedEx. The new digital services We have reorganized our digital infrastructure in the areas of communication and document storage for the Purchasing division. This led to a relaunch of our website to make our new structure visible here too. The organization of our old website into areas of activity did not reflect this. In addition, the usability of the document repository for the purchasing area was to be improved. Third point: the provision of more intuitive communication based on modern tools. From February 2025, the new NIRO app will be responsible for managing our events, announcing our activities, providing information and, as befits an app, enabling members to communicate with each other. The NIRO app thus replaces our previous intranet NIRO Knowledge and becomes the central digital interface of our network. Resolutions and election of our new Executive Board The annual resolutions were passed at this General Meeting, including the discharge of the Executive Board, the approval of last year’s minutes, the annual financial statements for 2023, the association’s business plan for 2024/25 and the amendment to Article 1, paragraph 2 of the Articles of Association regarding the relocation of our association’s headquarters to Dortmund. The new election of the Executive Board was on the agenda. As is traditional at NIRO, the Board is elected as a team and, thanks to many years of good cooperation, the entire Board was re-elected with the exception of one member. There is one change: Dr. Mahmud Al-Haj Mustafa from WILO SE is leaving the Executive Board. He took with him the great thanks of the 1st Deputy Chairman of the Board Josef Mertens, who thanked him warmly for his commitment and dedication to the network. As his successor, Branko Calusic, Vice President Operations, Plant Manager Smart Factory Dortmund, WILO SE, will become a new member of the NIRO Executive Board. Congratulations to all board members! Afterwards there was time for intensive discussions and exchanges over a snack. NIRO would like to thank the OBO host team for their support and the all-round carefree package for our members’ meeting. And we would be delighted to welcome the OBO man as a member of the network…
Impressions from the 2024 general meeting
