Interview 14 April 2020
Five Questions for ...

Hans-Georg Rethmann, Technical Director of Elektro Herkenhoff GmbH & Co. KG

Hans-Georg Rethmann has worked in the electrical industry for over 40 years, so he’s supervised quite a few projects. However, the technical director entered uncharted territory with the electrical installation for two new day care centers in Dissen am Teutoburger Wald in Lower Saxony: They were the first buildings for which he and his team used pluggable connections for the entire electrical installation. In an interview with WAGO, he recounts how the work with the WINSTA® Pluggable Connection System went.

From your perspective, what advantages does WINSTA® offer over conventional electrical installation?

WINSTA® saves an enormous amount of time, since WINSTA® is a pre-assembled system and just needs to be plugged in. All the components are pre-wired. All that remains is to connect the supply lines to the distribution boxes and plug in the corresponding system cables for lighting, cabinets and sockets – and the whole system is ready.

What exactly must electrical installers be prepared for the first time they use it?

Careful inspection of the entire system before commissioning is important in any case. To ensure that all protective measures work to properly switch off the equipment, a precise E-CHECK per VDE 0100 is very important.

What is different for you as a planner?

The planners must consider all the details thoroughly and work very precisely. They need to measure all the cables and record the correct lengths. This requires significant foresight and great care.

WINSTA® is [...] ideal for use in all buildings with cavity walls.

Hans-Georg Rethmann, Technical Director of Elektro Herkenhoff GmbH & Co. KG

What is the ideal application of WINSTA®?

In my opinion, WINSTA® is ideal for use in all buildings with cavity walls. We’ve had very good experience in wood-frame buildings.

Has WINSTA® rendered conventional installation obsolete?

WINSTA® offers a new form of electrical installation. Our focus is on conventional industrial construction. The focus there is on machine installation, among other things. I continue to see conventional installation in this sector.

DALI Lights with Connecting Cable

  • Lighting can be controlled via DALI bus.
  • Time-consuming through-wiring light installation is eliminated.
  • Quick replacement of defective lights in the operating phase is possible.
  • The use of connectable lights makes it possible to select from a wide range of standard luminaires.

Read Customer Application Report

Efficient Construction with Pluggable Electrical Installation

At the beginning of 2019, Dissen am Teutoburger Wald commissioned the construction of a day care center and kindergarten. The challenge: The first two groups were already scheduled to start in early summer. For the construction period of only 12 weeks, the electrical engineers relied on the time-efficient WINSTA® Pluggable Connection System from WAGO.