Since 2001, the company has been using direct room humidification in its production area, which guarantees a constant optimum humidity of 40 to 50% throughout the year. For production manager Roland Arndt, controlled humidity is an important prerequisite for process reliability: "Where small roll winders used to be operated manually, fully automated high-performance machines are now in use, enabling much higher capacity utilization and speed. At the same time, these processes and machines are much more sensitive to production conditions. Electrostatic charges can become a problem in production if the air is too dry." Electrostatic charges always occur when non-conductive or poorly conductive materials become charged due to rapid friction or sudden separation. In fast-rotating machines, this can lead to significant disruptions in material flow and even machine stoppages. Sufficiently high air humidity promotes the smooth dissipation of electrical charges. At optimum relative humidity, the conductivity of the air and material surfaces is increased to such an extent that electrical charges can be dissipated without any negative effects on the material or process.

The growing business success of the label specialist made it necessary to add a new office building in 2012. The new building is characterized by a striking metal and glass façade, bright and open office spaces with a color scheme tailored to the corporate design, and building technology geared towards the lowest possible energy consumption: “The building's coherence reflects our identity very well and is state-of-the-art in terms of building technology and automation,” emphasizes Karl Tochtermann. “However, the indoor climate did not fully meet our expectations at the beginning,” adds Tochtermann, “especially in winter, the air was too dry because the ventilation system brought cold, dry outside air into the interior rooms.” Heating the outside air to room temperature resulted in a drop in humidity, with values at times falling below 30% relative humidity. Complaints from employees about irritated eyes and dry mucous membranes in the respiratory tract ultimately led to the decision to install additional air humidification. Since humidification was not provided for in the ventilation system, the Condair NanoFog direct room system, specially designed for these applications, has been in use in the office building since 2015. Unlike in the production area, these humidifiers produce an even finer spray pattern with lower power consumption and are virtually silent. “This solution was our favorite for retrofitting right from the start. There is no better technology available today,” says Karl Tochtermann, assessing the flexibility and energy efficiency of the system. “With the optimal humidity, we have laid a double foundation for further growth,” adds Roland Arndt: “Less electrostatic charge with greater process reliability in production and better health protection with higher employee satisfaction in administration.”