In 2025, Rittal GmbH & Co KG is once more one of Germany’s most innovative SMEs. In the renowned “Top 100” competition, the company was awarded the coveted seal for the fourth consecutive year – a testament to the sustainable and innovative strength of the largest company in the Friedhelm Loh Group. Artificial intelligence remains a key driver of innovation, both now and in the future.
“Innovation means acting and not reacting. This means actively shaping the future instead of hoping that nothing will change,” explains innovation researcher Professor Nikolaus Franke. The Top 100 competition has now been held for the 32nd time under his scientific direction. The innovative performance of small and medium-sized enterprises was analysed for the third time, based on over 100 criteria in five different categories. Rittal was particularly convincing in the “Innovative Processes & Organisation” category.
Digital intelligence for tomorrow’s industry
For years, Rittal has demonstrated how innovative solutions can drive sustainable growth. Together with sister companies Eplan and Rittal Automation Systems (RAS), Rittal is accelerating industrial automation, promoting digitalisation and increasing efficiency, increasingly with AI as an additional innovation booster.
Since being founded in 1961, Rittal has stood for the courage to change. What began with the standardisation of enclosures is now a global systems enterprise with strong software expertise. The early investment in Eplan over 40 years ago was a milestone: It laid the foundation for consistent, data-driven processes in industry. Now, this data, supplemented by AI, represents the key to the next level of industrial automation.
How innovation is driving industry forward
In panel building and switchgear manufacturing, Rittal, Eplan and RAS are accelerating the entire process chain with consistent data – from planning and designing to production with equipment and systems, through to operation. With industry expertise and advanced technology, the companies are thus increasing their customers’ competitiveness.
This is how concrete solutions make the difference today: The energy-efficient Blue e+ cooling units cut energy consumption during operation by up to 75 per cent. The RiLineX modular power distribution platform also reduces assembly time by as much as 75 per cent, a genuine boost to productivity. Rittal has developed a new Coolant Distribution Unit for future high-performance data centres that enables liquid cooling at the chip level, with over 1 megawatt of power, making it essential and trend-setting for AI applications. In the ultra-modern Smart Factory in Haiger, Rittal is also demonstrating how its own digitalisation innovations are being productively implemented and setting standards for Industry 4.0.
“Our solutions speed up work processes, reduce resource consumption, and ensure the competitiveness of our customers worldwide,” says Ulrich Engenhardt, Chief Business Units Officer at Rittal. “The Top 100 seal confirms this once more: We are on the right track with courage, digital intelligence and customer proximity.”