New HARTING Quality and Technology Center

The new HARTING Quality and Technology Center (HQT Center) will be constructed on a site of historical importance to the family company where Wilhelm Harting, the company’s founder, once built the first production hall in Espelkamp. The ground-breaking ceremony for this major construction project on the company site was carried out as part of an employee event.

HARTING’s decision to build the new HQT Center, which is to be used as a test laboratory in future and represents a further investment in the Espelkamp site, was made in light of the vision of shaping the future for people with technologies, a further increase in headcount and the increasingly rigorous requirements made of the company’s own products. Covering an area of 3,500 m2, the building will accommodate around 60 employees, as well as state-of-the-art inspection technology and equipment.

The extensively equipped laboratory will have DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, ensuring the quality and independence of all test results. The HARTING Quality and Technology Center will enable the conducting of certified electrical, mechanical and climatic inspections, and environmental testing, such as resistance measurements, vibration inspections and harmful gas testing, to name but a few. The laboratory’s range of tests will be continually expanded and adapted to new technologies, markets and products. The testing capabilities for ultraviolet radiation, solar simulation and ozone tests have also been upgraded in line with more rigorous requirements for products deployed externally.

The further development of test and inspection procedures will also be undertaken. Thanks to computer tomography, 3D measurements will be carried out at the laboratory as a further development of conventional optical 2D measurement. The project is scheduled to be completed by December 2012 with the level of investment totalling over 8 million Euros.