Avnet Opens Technology Campus in Southern Germany

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Avnet celebrates the opening of its new technology campus located 12 miles south of Freiburg in Eschbach, Germany.

The new facility offers design, manufacturing and integration of new purpose-built solutions, utilizing compute and display building blocks for customers serving IoT edge and data center markets. Products manufactured at the campus are typically for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) customers. Examples include cockpit controls for farming equipment, interfaces for medical diagnostic equipment, control panels for home automation systems, and servers for mission critical security applications.

“The new Freiburg campus represents our strategy to increase our presence in Europe and diversify the locations of electronics manufacturing around the world,” said Avnet EMEA President Mario Orlandi. “The addition and scale of this campus allows us to not only design and manufacture compute systems but to also deliver them worldwide through Avnet’s global logistics operations.”

The campus comprises 8,000 square meters (86,000 square feet) of manufacturing space to transform or fully customize compute-based solutions, such as medical equipment, infotainment systems, industrial control systems, and IT appliances. Solution complexity ranges from handheld appliances to full IT rack integration. It also includes design and engineering labs with 7,000 square meters (75,000 square feet) of logistics warehouse and 3,000 square meters (30,000 square feet) of offices and co-working space.

Bringing jobs to Freiburg area

While most Avnet employees will transfer from the company’s original facility in Freiburg, which was acquired through an acquisition of MSC Technologies in 2013, Avnet also anticipates hiring new employees in all areas from manufacturing to management. In addition, an apprenticeship program will be offered in conjunction with local educational establishments to help train the next generation of technology workers.

Focus on sustainability

The facility was built specifically to achieve carbon-neutral operations and Avnet will seek the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) gold standard. This standard is an internationally recognized benchmark for sustainability.