Rittal has won the “German Idea Management Award 2026” for an improvement suggested by its employee Samet Önlü. The idea for sustainably optimising a cutting process in the Initial Production department at Rittal’s Herborn plant was a stand-out in the Production and Technology category. It now saves €120,000 a year and sets the bar far beyond the factory gates.
“Leave every place in better condition than you found it,” was the appeal made by award winner Samet Önlü to the audience at the presentation of the “German Idea Management Award 2026” in Stuttgart. No other phrase could better justify the award that he won for his idea for Rittal than his own personal motto. It was this attitude that inspired the production worker at the Herborn plant to submit his suggestion for improvement.
“There has to be a better and more sustainable way of doing this”
Önlü developed a lubrication unit for the profiling machine, which cuts to size around 1,000 base/plinth trim panels for Rittal enclosures every day, extending the service life of the blades by a factor of ten. He explained the previous problem, saying that “after only a few days, the constant metal contraction blunted the blade and it had to be replaced in a time-consuming process.” To do this, the machine had to be completely dismantled every time, a process that took around 2.5 hours and also incurred additional costs for the company.
“There has to be a better and more sustainable way of doing this,” thought Samet Önlü. This line of thinking led him to a pragmatic solution: he set about regularly cleaning the blade using a brush, lubricating oil, and a compressed-air gun – a method as simple as it was effective. It soon became clear that cleaning and oiling enabled the unit to perform ten times the number of cycles as before.
Machine manufacturer adopts the idea
Working closely with the machine manufacturer, the idea was professionally implemented, resulting in an integrated lubrication unit that now cleans and lubricates automatically. The result is impressive: 200,000 cycles and just one blade change per month. This also means less waste, hardly any rework along with savings of around €120,000 per year. Samet Önlü’s idea is so convincing that it is being adopted not only at other Rittal sites but even by the machine manufacturer as a standard feature for new machines.
The jury of the “German Idea Management Award 2026” was also impressed by this success story and its appeal. Samet Önlü and Rittal took home the award in the “Best Idea in Production & Technology” category. This great example proves that Samet Önlü’s philosophy of leaving a place in better condition than you found it can make a huge difference.