Warsteiner, Warstein, Germany
The privately held Warsteiner brewery from Warstein in northern Germany has recently modernized its conference room technology, which also included the installation of high definition video conferencing technology.
The two plants in Warstein and König Ludwig GmbH, of Schlossbrauerei Kaltenberg in Bavaria, communicate across the 600 km distance between them via a LifeSize Room 200 video conferencing system. An additional system at the Warstein production plant now makes long and stressful business travel to customers and suppliers obsolete.
After test runs, the Warsteiner brewery has opted in favor of the LifeSize system. The company uses the LifeSize Room 200 with full HD resolution (1080p) and 30 fps frame rate. “The large screen mounted to the wall makes conference delegates believe the other person is actually in the same room," say Steffen Weberruß of ViDOFON, the LifeSize partner who supports the roll-out of the video conferencing system at Warsteiner. “The reasons we opted for this system were the excellent quality of the images, and the good value for money provided by the HD pioneer from Texas." For bandwidth and security reasons, Warsteiner decided not to integrate the video conferencing system into the network, but rather to use dedicated lines and ports.
The capacity of the video conferencing rooms is used a lot: for the board meetings at management level between Warstein and Kaltenberg, and for the weekly production planning alignment between the two plants. Video conferencing is by now also used for communicating with suppliers and customers. The open codec of the LifeSize device makes it compatible to almost every other video conferencing system, providing a meeting place even for people who use other hardware platforms.
“Warsteiner is very satisfied with the LifeSize-Systems. In no time, video conferencing has become a routine task for the production department, and the staff is now also familiar with the system thanks to its user-friendly operation”, says Burkhard Breker, who is responsible at Warsteiner for introducing the system. “In addition to the three locations that already use it, we are thinking about deploying video conferencing for connecting locations abroad. We are already testing the overseas connection quality with our partner ViDOFON.“
Based on the good acceptance of the system, Warsteiner believes the purchasing costs to amortize within 2-3 years already. The key points for the brewery were the savings in travel expenses and the time gained for the management. The company also has a strong standing in sustainability by using railroad transport in logistics to implement a low-resource supply chain.
Today, video conferencing systems are a key element of good corporate governance. They should be part of every cost optimization strategy as well as of a company’s green public image. Costs savings and a reduction in fossil resources are tremendous; they are a key financial planning factor at companies of every size. This will lead to higher profitability and greater long-term added value for everybody involved.
“The quality and functionality of the LifeSize conferencing systems leave nothing to wish for. Communication quality is almost like an actual face-to-face meeting, including facial expressions, gestures and intonation,” says Andreas Wienold, Vice President Sales, EMEA at LifeSize Communications. “Less traveling not only means a better work-life-balance for the staff, but it also protects the environment. Traveling 600 km between Warstein and König Ludwig brewery in an average car will burn approximately 50 liters of fuel, with 116 kilograms of CO2 emissions." (Source for calculation: Bavarian Environmental Authority website).
“Continuous innovation and investments have been the cornerstones of Warsteiner’s success since 1753. Therefore, the use of video conferencing technology is a logical consequence of the brewery’s continuous quest for innovation. The partnership with video communication specialist ViDOFON lets Warsteiner use extensive know-how to adapt their corporate communication to modern times”, says Arwed Plate, Key Account Manager at ViDOFON AG.
Click here to download the PDF of this case study.