2020 will definitely go down in history as the “corona year”. And it is precisely this circumstance of the pandemic with lockdowns and contact restrictions that has presented the industry with completely new challenges to which it has been necessary to respond intelligently: How can customer contacts be maintained away from visits and trade fairs?

MB Maschinenbau, a company based in Herford, Germany, has addressed this issue in a very special way. As a specialist for brush grinding technology and customers all over the world, as well as a know-how of meanwhile 30 years on the market, the Westphalians wanted to bring their novelties closer to all interested parties also in this special situation. For example, the “Roba Fusion double-end tenoner”, which was launched on the market last year.

Right at the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, Ronald Busch, founder and owner of MB Maschinenbau, made the decision to invest in multimedia capabilities for a virtual demonstration center. His main requirement for the special showroom was to be able to perform live grinding and milling demonstrations and communicate them to the customer in real time. To this end, nearly the entire range of machines – from grinding to structuring to milling solutions – was placed in a separate area of a new annex that will be completed in 2020.

30 high-resolution cameras, operated by a control center, show the presenter of the live broadcast, the presented machine in overview and in detail. This allows the customer to precisely assess the technology involved and authentically follow the processes and quality. And in the best case, even with parts that the potential user has sent in advance. Modern image processing and streaming services make it possible to ask questions and make suggestions in real time, thus creating a real trade show feeling.

This investment by MB Maschinenbau was well received and has already been used frequently. And it has subsequently proven its worth in yet another way: The technology can be used to rectify any problems following the delivery of machines. This is because the models installed at the customer’s site are connected remotely via the Internet to the MB Maschinenbau service department. This means that technical problems as well as operating and application issues can be discussed live directly from the virtual showroom. This is an option that hardly any other machine manufacturer offers in this form, and MB Maschinenbau customers are consistently enthusiastic about this service.