TE Connectivity held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, February 27, to open its expanded site in Waiblingen, Germany, furthering its investments in its energy business with a focus on smarter, more reliable grid networks.
The expanded innovation, engineering, and production facility enables TE to better serve utilities, OEMs, industrials, data centers, and renewable energy operators in Germany and around the world. The grid monitoring solutions made here enhance network visibility and help reduce costly power outages, enabling the transition to a smarter, more sustainable energy infrastructure.
“The growing electricity demand is putting additional strain on an aging infrastructure, prompting utilities around the world to accelerate investments to modernize the grid. Our investment in this smart-grid production facility positions us to keep pace with our customers’ needs and continue to develop innovative solutions for a more sustainable and connected future,” said Shad Kroeger, president of TE’s Industrial Solutions segment.
TE’s smart grid solutions add transparency to new energy networks and can also retrofit existing ones — helping utilities find and fix faults faster. This is important for aging grids — in the U.S., approximately 70% of transmission lines are over 25 years old, and in Europe, more than 40% of the grid is over 40.
The Waiblingen site became part of TE in 2023 when TE acquired Kries, a leading German producer of smart grid technologies founded in 1994. Since the acquisition, TE investment has seen product lines expand, production capacity double thanks to the addition of a second automated production line, and employee headcount rising to 120. This new campus increases the size of this hub from 1,800 square meters to 5,000 square meters.
“Our expanded presence here demonstrates our commitment to moving in step with our customers as their needs evolve. We support them with engineering expertise and the production capacity to match. This strategic investment is an important moment as we pursue our mission to help customers keep the power on,” said Bart Otten, senior vice president and general manager of TE’s Energy business unit.
The facility’s automated production line features automated guided vehicles, automated warehouse systems, intelligent sensor technology, and testing robots.
“This is a knowledge hub for advanced production serving customers in Europe and around the world. Our in-house hardware and software development capabilities harness our 30-plus years of expertise as we partner with global customers to innovate further, growing the business into new markets,” said Dominik Gluba, senior director and general manager of TE’s Kries Energietechnik company. “With this enhanced capacity and automation, TE is reinforcing its commitment to powering a safer, more resilient, sustainable global energy network.”