changes (english)

changes
The Mitsubishi Electric Magazine 

Optimism

There is every reason
to be optimistic.
Issue  01

€5 nominal charge

Optimism

2

  Yokoso irasshaimase –
Welcome.

We are delighted that you have
picked up the first issue of our new
Mitsubishi Electric customer
m­ agazine changes.

It is designed for your diversion and
enjoyment – like our products, which
are present in your everyday lives
s­ ometimes obviously, sometimes con­
cealed in a piece of technology, and
which make your life easier and more
pleasant.

In this issue we are dealing with the
subject of optimism, because there are
many reasons to go through life with
confidence. For example, because
­there are many people who want to
change things for the better. Or
­because expecting a positive outcome
can move mountains. Or because you
feel double the joy when you finally
achieve a long-standing goal.

Come with us now to the Land of
­Smiles, Japan, where positive thinking
is encountered at every turn. Experi­
ence the dedication and confidence of
the eMotorsport team of the Cologne
University of Applied Sciences, which
is hoping to drive to the winner’s
­podium with its electric sports car.
Find out what it is like to overnight
in a capsule hotel, why the Sustainia
initiative has nominated our environ­
mentally friendly ecodan heat pumps
for the Sustainia Award, and much
more.

We hope you enjoy your read!
Your changes editorial team

Editorial Optimism

3

“O f course the
world is not
­perfect. But I
am optimistic –
­after all, I still
want to make
a difference!”

  Jan-Philipp Liersch
Product Manager  
Automation Systems – Robots

Optimism

4

06 Join us on a visit to the Land of Smiles and
experience Japan from a completely new
perspective.

i 14 eMotorsports is in the ascent.
Join us at the track.

publisher Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V., Gothaer Straße 8, 40880 Ratingen, +49 (0) 21 02 4 86-0, www.mitsubishielectric.de, pr@meg.mee.com
responsible Georg Jennen   concept and realisation KW43 BRANDDESIGN, Düsseldorf larsheyne.com, Düsseldorf   creative director Jürgen Adolph
art direction Eleny Teffera   copy and editing Lars Heyne   project management Claudine Bosshammer   translation Emi Kurihara-Roehnert
Emi Suzuki-Rosner Niels Meinke   printing P. Clasen Satz & Druck OHG, Spielberger Weg 58, 40474 Düsseldorf   picture credits Lars Heyne
(p. 1, 5, 14 – 15, 18, 21, 32) Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. (p. 3, 5, 8, 23 – 26, 29, 31) Niels Meinke (p. 2, 4, 6 – 11, 21) iStockfoto (p. 12, 31) Fotolia (p. 20)
Shotshop (p. 31) Shutterstock (p. 28) eMotorsports Cologne (p. 4, 16 – 19) sustainia.me (p. 5, 22) Stage Theater Neue Flora Produktionsgesellschaft mbH (p. 30)

Contents Imprint

5

Dung beetles and
other lucky
charms: find out
more about the
beckoning cat & co.

20

The Sustainia SUSTAINIA
initiative is not
24 about dreaming
but about believing
How can you save energy, CO2 and in a very real vision.
money with a heat pump? It’s simple!
22

Further
content

02 Editorial
26 wakaru [understanding]
28 Big in Japan
28 Sudoku
29 Electric People
30 Electric Planet

Optimism

6

 Faces in places – everyday objects that smile.

the many
faces of the
land of smiles.

  In Japan it’s not only the
people that smile.
If you travel through the
c­ ountry with your eyes open,
you will see things that greet
you with a friendly smile
wherever you go – things with
faces, such as this drain cover.

Land of Smiles Optimism

7

Optimism

8

  Mute S­ ervants.
“Excuse me, can we
take that off your
hands?” these dutiful
bins seem to be asking.

  Niels Meinke.
An intern at Mitsubishi Electric in Ratin­gen since
the beginning of 2012. Mr Meinke is studying
German and frequently travels in Japan, a country
he loves. He took the following series of photos
during his most recent trip in 2012.

Land of Smiles Optimism

9

Optimism

10

  Postboxes.

Nothing but advertising,
advertising, advertising!
Why doesn’t anybody
write to me?

  Welcome,
take a seat.

This wall at the
entrance to a park
invites passers-by
to take a seat.
They even provide
a newspaper!

Land of Smiles Optimism

11

  Menu.

This menu whets the
appetite for more: in
this restaurant the
dish of the day is
served with a smile.

  Environmental
activist.

Sustainability is taken
seriously in Japan too.
This recycling container
is waiting for recyclable
materials: tins on the
left, PET on the right.

Optimism

12

  Keep smiling.

The people in Japan
don't laugh anymore
than anywhere else.
But with smiling its
different. Even when
the laughter fades,
tradition demands that
you keep smiling.

Common Question Optimism

13

a common question:  
why is japan  
the land of smiles?

The fact is, the Japanese laugh and enjoy themselves just
like all other people all over the world. It is impossible to say
whether they are actually happier than others. The sobriquet
Land of Smiles is actually based on a cultural misunderstan-
ding, and has its roots deep in Japanese tradition.

In Japan, negative feelings like rage and disappointment,
­anger or misery, are not shown openly, because you do not
want to embarrass the person or people you are talking to.
After all, they might also feel empathy and pain based on
their own situation, which should be avoided at all costs. So
even when you are feeling great sorrow it is normal to smile
in order to hide the pain that you actually feel.

In ignorance of this, the first European thought that the
J­apanese were always happy and contented. On returning
home, they told people of this distant land with its ever-­
smiling, happy people. This is how Japan came by its nick­
name, Land of Smiles, which to this day is inseparable from
its identity.  

Optimism

14

eMotorsports Optimism

15

   Pitstop: a visit to the university project eMotorsports Cologne.

the road to the
winners’ podium
is steep.

Optimism

16

success is a question
of perseverance.

  FSE – Formula Hockenheimring, 5 august 2012. The eMC12, the electric
Student Electric. racing car produced by the student group eMotorsports
C­ ologne, purrs to the starting line. Then the lights go out and
The international nothing more happens. The race is over before it has even
­student construction ­begun.
competition has been
organised by the   Little short circuit, major
F­ ormula Student ­disappointment.
­Germany e.V. under
the patronage of the A few days later, back in Cologne-Deutz, the vehicle is jacked
VDI since 2010. up in a testing workshop at the university. On a table next
door are the four battery packs that normally supply the
eMC12 with electricity. The analysis of the black box , which
records all important vehicle data, has revealed that a short
circuit destroyed 17 of the 100 battery cells. Two fuses that
should have protected the sensitive battery were triggered far
too late. “A chain of unlucky circumstances,” says Christoph
Schulte, who is the team member responsible for energy
­distribution, “there’s nothing you can do.” Jessica Imhäuser,
CEO of the racing team, concurs: “Of course it was disappoin-
ting when the car conked out at the start. It was baffling and
annoying – not least because of our high expectations after
our success at Silverstone. But something like that can
h­ appen. And we can still be proud of what we have achieved.”
The small team has already achieved a great deal since it
was established in 2010 on the initiative of Prof. Dr.-Ing.
­Ulf-Marko Gundlach. Currently there are 32 students

eMotorsports Optimism

17

­involved in eMotorsports Cologne. Their dedication is   Weaknesses
­inspiring. According to the rules of the Formula Student ­become strengths.
Electric competition, the teams have to compete each year
with a new vehicle. And so there is a great deal of work to do The eMC11 still had a
following the design and construction phase. “During the belt drive and weighed
crucial phase, from May up to the race in Silverstone, you 280 kg. The learning
would always find someone in the workshop, whether at ten curve at the FSE is
at night or four in the morning,” says Christoph Schulte. steep, weak spots are
I­ mhäuser says she invests about twenty hours a week in the immediately analysed
project. The students do not get credit points towards their and improvements
degree for this work, although nowhere is teaching and i­ntegrated in the next
practice more closely related than here in Room HO-2-117. generation of racing
cars.
  2012: The team has to slim
things down.

During the construction of the eMC12, the main focus
was on weight optimisation. Its predecessors eMC10 and
eMC11 still weighed 310 kg and 280 kg respectively. With
lighter battery cells and through the use of carbon, the
weight of the eMC12 could be reduced by almost 20% to
231.5 kg. The decision was made to use lithium-iron
­phosphate batteries (LiFePo) because of the weight to
e­ nergy density ratio, and for reasons of safety, because
u­ nlike lithium-ion batteries they cannot burn in case of
a crash.

Optimism   Small details,
strong perfor-
18 mance.

123 1 Robust and light:

the monocoque is
made out of carbon.

2 100 LiFePo cells

store energy for a
25-km drive.

3 The eMC12 is the

only vehicle in the
FSE to brake with
ABS.

eMotorsports Optimism

19

next stop: circuit de
catalunya, barcelona.

Creating the Monocoque out of carbon ensures mesh frame at the rear forms the skeleton – and   The eMC 12.
an additional reduction in weight and maximum which together with all other vehicle components Technical Data.
safety. The robust vehicle front with the bucket results in an impressive little racing car.
seat for the driver was constructed and completed • Hybrid chassis
in a number of working steps by two students Next year, the team is planning to build an electric o­ utside a carbon
from the group and turned out to be considerably sports car with alternating current drive. In terms m­ onocoque and
more complicated in practice than in theory. of weight it is heavier and more difficult to build, steel tube frame
but it offers greater low-down torque and faster
  High-tech comes out ­acceleration. As one of the main sponsors, Mitsubi- • B attery 100 LiFeP04
of the oven. shi Electric will be backing the development of the flat cells with 6.48
eMC13 like it did its predecessor, and supporting kWh capacity
For safety reasons, extremely demanding pull-out the committed work of the students.
tests are necessary, during which the stability of • W eight: 231.5 kg
the carbon-fibre shell is tested under Formula 1   Approaching the final race • Vmax: 103 km/h,
conditions. The actual construction of the mono- with confidence.
coque – which involves placing pieces of super-light l­imited by trans­
carbon-fibre matting in a form and soaking them The students’ enthusiasm for new challenges and mission ratio
in resin – has to be carried out extremely precisely good team work has already brought eMotor- • m ax. range: 25 km
to prevent the formation of air bubbles in the sports Cologne far this season. At Silverstone they
m­ aterial. The process is also very time consuming, came 5th out of 19 of the teams in their class. www.em-cologne.de
because following each working step, the pieces And despite the fact that their vehicle had to drop
have to be baked for four hours in an air-tight oven out, which cost the Cologne students 425 out of
at 80 – 120 °C. Eight layers are then slowly lamin­ 1,000 points, they still came in 20th out of 32 in
ated to the shell, before being baked a final time Hockenheim. Expectations for Barcelona are
for eight hours at 140 °C. The result is a 13-kilo- c­ onsequently high: they want to be among the top
light vehicle front, which together with a steel-tube five. We’ve got our fingers crossed – good luck!  

Optimism

20

a stroke of luck.

  Lucky charms – the main thing is you believe in them.

  Scarabaeus. Sometimes even optimistic people need a little assurance that a wish
that they really believe in will come true, that things will stay as perfect
Even the ancient as they are, or that everything will work out well in the end. That’s why
Egyptians had lucky many people have a talisman or lucky charm, which accompanies them
charms. wherever they go, or which in a particular place promises them
happiness and health, wealth or a long life.

  Since ancient times people have believed
in lucky symbols.

During archaeological excavations in Egypt, for example, huge numbers
of amulets have been found in the form of the holy scarab beetle or
scarabaeus, an approximately three-centimetre-long dung beetle
prevalent in the Mediterranean. These so-called beetle stones are
mostly carved out of soapstone or ornately created out of alabaster,
glass or even gold and represented “resurrection and life”.

The fact that a little beetle became a lucky charm is apparently due to
the creatures’ ability to predict the coming of the fertilising floodwaters
of the Nile. Because shortly before the tide came in, the insects
migrated in masses away from the river in the direction of the people’s
houses.

Today people believe in all sorts of talismans. Rabbits’ feet and
horseshoes (with the opening facing upwards, so that luck can only fall
in and not out) are becoming less common – good for the rabbits. What
a lucky charm is and what makes it a lucky charm in the first place is
based on personal experience and attitudes. It might be a little gift with
good wishes from a close friend, Grandpa’s fountain pen with which
you passed your final university exams; or simply a little souvenir from
holiday which reminds you of a great time in your life that you never
want to forget.  

L u c k y C h a r m s  Optimism

21

  Guardian    Horse, 
angel,  Petra Uebbing.
Marlies Radtke.
“Thelittlehorsestands
“Thisguardianangel onmydeskandisa
hangsinmycaronthe farewellgift froma
rear-viewmirror.Itisa colleague.Uptonowit
gift frommysisterand hasalwaysbroughtme
shouldprotectme.” luck.”

  Bracelet,     Daruma,    Daruma, 
Emi Suzuki-Rosner. Niels Meinke. Katja Ebert.

“Thethreebigstones “Ihadthisdaruma “Thisfi ercelit t le
showJapaneseand withmeduringthe creatureisadaruma,a
Chinesesignsofthe greatearthquakeof thank-yougift froma
zodiac–mine,my 2011,anditisstilla Japanesecolleagueto
father’sandmy goodfriendofmine bringmegoodfortune
mother’s.” today.” andsuccess.”

  Maneki-neko, 
the beckoning cat.

Withitsraisedpawitbeckonsgood
luckandkeepsevilatbay.Legendsof
catsbringingluckhavebeenpassed
downsincetheEdoperiod(1603–1867).
AccordingtoJapaneselore,the
Maneki-nekoistheresurrectionof
Kannon,theJapaneseGoddessof
Mercy.

Optimism

22

SUSTAINIA

  The Sustainia initiative is fighting for a sustainable world.

a very real vision.

By 2030 the current global population M­ orning, has an optimistic vision for would be a different approach to resour-
of 7.1 billion will rise to around 8.3 the future. Comprising of experts, ces – which people urgently need, like
billion. It will require 50% more food, c­ ompanies and communications food and clothing. At the same time,
45% more energy and 30% more p­ rofessionals from various industries, ­there would be a stronger focus on the
drinking water. According to the regions and d­ isciplines, Sustainia’s rights and health of employees. There
Danish EU climate commissioner c­ onsortium of partners have outlined a would be a different approach to educa-
Connie Hedegaard, these figures show realistic, implementable vision for a tion, to how and what we teach. And
that to continue as we are now is not an s­ ustainable society that conserves its i­nformation technology would also play
option for the future – the costs for ­resources and distributes them fairly. an important role in improving quality
humanity, the environment and the of life as well as protecting the environ-
economy would simply be too high. Sustainia is envisioned as a place where ment and the climate.
quality of life is key; a place where you
  Forget the doomsday would choose to live, if only you knew it   The future without
scenario. existed. In Sustainia, people would live s­ cience fiction – now.
in “thinking” houses and eat more
Instead of forecasting doom and gloom, healthily. Cities would no longer be built The Sustainia initiative is a platform for
the Sustainia initiative, established by for cars but for people, and everyone the global collaboration of experts, ins-
the Danish think tank Monday would have access to clean water and titutions and companies who are uni-
fresh air to breathe. In Sustainia, there

Sustainia-Initiative Optimism

23

2010 Percentage of global Percentage of renewable Percentage of city dwellers Electric and hybrid  
2020 ­energy production from energies in the EU vehicles worldwide
wind 50.6%
Percentage of rural 7% 1 mill.
dwellers 1.9% 54.9%
20% 8 mill.
49.4% 49.1%
Global CO2 emissions
45.1% in bill. tons

30.6 bill. t Size of world population

32 bill. t 6.8 bill.

CO2 7.5 bill.

A changing world

Developments from 2010 – 2020
Source: Guide to Sustainia

ted in their mission to create the sustai-   A hundred good ideas – c­ ollection of one hundred solutions
nable society of the future. What sets and one of them comes that already exist to create a sustainable
the Sustainia ideas apart from the from us. society.
vague promises and reports by govern-
ments and their organisations are a By means of an online campaign, the The ideas were presented to the public
concrete set of recommendations. Sustainia initiative took the first step at the UN Climate Conference in Rio de
Companies and individuals can already and gathered suggestions that fulfil Janeiro in June 2012. Among them was
implement these to actively contribute ­these requirements. The feedback was the ecodan heat pump from Mitsubishi
to quality of life, climate and environ- overwhelming: students, international Electric, which can produce up to 4kWh
mental protection, because the Sus­ corporations, small companies, scien- of domestic space heating out of 1kWh
tainia approach is based on tried-and- tists and experts sent in solutions from of electricity. You can find out more
tested methods, proven expertise and all over the world, from Canada to about this intelligent, environmentally
technologies that already exist today. K­ enya. In a second step, a jury selected friendly and cost-efficient way of hea-
According to the initiators, a more the 100 most promising suggestions ting on the following page.  
s­ ustainable future could be easily from the glut of ideas. These were in­
achieved, if humanity would only corporated into the Sustainia 100, a www.sustainia.me
u­ tilise the means that we already have
at our disposal.

Optimism   ecodan heat pumps,
always the right solution.
24
With a heating performance of 4 to
a pleasant 20 kW, the heat pump solutions from
climate for the Mitsubishi Electric adapt perfectly
home and the to your requirements – optionally as
environment. a complete package with 200 litres
of drinking water storage for family
The ecodan heat pump system from Mitsubishi Electric. ­homes or in combination with the
Hydrobox for larger private or busi-
Rising energy consumption worldwide is having an increasing ness properties.
impact on the environment and the climate. At the same time, decli-
ning resources are leading to a steady rise in oil and gas prices. As an TM
environmentally friendly and regenerative answer to this trend, the
Sustainia initiative has heaped praise on the ecodan heat pumps from
Mitsubishi Electric, included it in the Sustainia 100 and nominated it
for the Sustainia Award.

  Free geothermal heat from the air.

The air that surrounds us provides us with unlimited thermal energy,
which can be used for heating, even in winter. With this free energy
s­ ource, the highly efficient ecodan air/water heat pumps reduce heating
costs and CO2 emissions by up to 50% compared to conventional heating
systems. They are ideal for new buildings or energy-efficient modern­
isations and can also be easily integrated into existing heating systems.

  Zubadan – comfort guarantee up to –25 °C.

Thanks to the innovative Zubadan technology, the new heat pumps
from Mitsubishi Electric are almost unsurpassable in terms of efficiency:
no other air/water heat pump achieves the efficiency of our Zubadan
o­ utside systems on cold winter days. They work monovalently even at
–15 °C w­ ithout the need for additional heating unit and ensure a cosily
heated home and warm water even when outside temperatures are as
low as –25 °C.  

www.ecodan.de

Heat pumps Optimism

25

compression 1 H eat exchanger
(vaporiser).  
2
Heat energy is ab­
air sorbed and the refri-
gerant evaporates.
water earth
2 C ompressor.
evaporation condensation
The refrigerant is
13 condensed in the
compressor.
expansion
3 H eat exchanger
  Heat pump (condenser). 

The refrigerant
­becomes liquid again
and emits thermal
energy.

how does a heat
pump work?

A heat pump works like a refrigerator, minus 270 °C). The stored warmth is to a heat exchanger (like the way the
only the other way round. If you have sufficient to bring a fluid refrigerant in piston of an air pump heats up with the
ever touched the back of your refrige­ the refrigerant circuit of the heat pump pressure of being pumped up).
rator you will know that it is warm, to boiling point. It extracts the energy
because a refrigerator transfers warmth from the air and turns to gas through Water flows on the other side of the
from the inside to the outside. The heat evaporation (in the same way that when heat exchanger, which is heated to up
pump works the other way round – it you add heat to water during cooking, it to 60 °C flow temperature and can be
takes the warmth from outside and boils at 100 °C and subsequently used for domestic heating or hot water.
transfers it inside. Which works like evaporates). And as the refrigerant cycle begins
this: again, you can feel warm and cosy at
The gaseous refrigerant is subsequently home.  
The air stores the sun’s energy as compressed. Under the high pressure of
thermal energy, even in sub-zero a compressor the gas condenses and
temperatures (without the sun, the turns back into liquid form. In the pro-­
temperature on Earth would be a frosty cesses the stored warmth is transferred

Optimism

26

〒 The sign of 7-figure postcode [2-7-3 Marunouchi,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo]
the Japanese
東京都 Prefecture
postcode Tokyo-to

usually co- 千代田区 C ity district
Chiyoda-ku
mes first
丸 の内 N eighbour-
hood
Marunouchi

2 Number of the
neighbourhood
segment

7 N umber of the
block of houses
or plot of land

3 Number of the
building or plot
section

三 菱電機  M itsubishi
Electric
Corporation

株式会社 Corporation

Recipient Tokyo Building
Mr Taro Yamada,
the Japanese
Sam Sample

wakaru [understanding] Optimism

27

address  
unknown?

D3, 12

When a german postman delivers at the other end of the street – a two,   Little Tokyo
a letter, he can normally rely on the and so on. Sometimes plots of land Grid city Mannheim.
­following system: postcode and town, were simply given a kind of running
street and house number. The house conscription number, so that all the D3,12? The addresses in
numbers normally ascend in an out- buildings on this plot had the same Mannheim have a touch
bound direction, the even numbers on address. of the Japanese, because
one side of the road, the odd numbers on the Old Town is divided
the other side. For a Japanese postman In 1962 the system changed, and blocks into grids A1 to L7.
it is considerably more complicated. of buildings were subdivided into The house numbers,
s­ egments of 10 – 15 metres starting howe­ ver, move in an
  No streets, from one corner. These segments are anti­clockwise direction.
no house numbers. then numbered sequentially in a clock-
wise direction. The house number is
In Japan there are no real house numbers. a­ ssigned according to the segment
And not only that: apart from a few where the front entrance is. If the
exceptions, there are not even any street e­ ntrances of two houses happen to be
names. in the same segment, both houses have
the same number. Despite this im­
So how does the postman manage to provement, orientation is not always
find the right Yubin-uke, the right post easy, even for the Japanese. If you are
box? In Japan, an address does not ever a tourist in Japan and ask some­
c­ onsist of a town or village, street and body for directions, you have to really
house number; it is based on a system watch out that you are not sent off in
of plots of land and blocks of buildings, the wrong direction – because to
for which there are a variety of types of answer “I don’t know” is considered
“house numbers”. In the past these to be rude.  
were not assigned sequentially along
the street, but on the basis of when the
building was erected. The first building
was given a one, the second – perhaps

Optimism Big in Japan

28

++ big in japan:  
the capsule hotels ++

In response to the high demand for cheap
accommodation options, the first capsule hotel
opened in Osaka in 1979. Today this category of
hotel is widespread throughout Japan. The small,
vertically stacked plastic cabins don’t offer much
more than a mattress to sleep on and a TV. You
leave your luggage at reception. And instead of a
breakfast buffet, vending machines provide hotel
guests with coffee, cold drinks and diverse snacks.
Showers and toilets are communal and shared
with other guests.  

sudoku. 62

Fill in the grid with the numbers 1 to 9, so 537
that each number only appears one single time
in each column, each row and each block. 41 8

Have fun! 795

9

381

2 34

596

78

Electric People Optimism

29

summit meeting   One of us,
in plimsolls. Silvia von Dahlen.

Silvia von dahlen is responsible for Marketing and Communications at From trainee positions
M­ itsu­bishi Electric – and she has something in common with Joachim Löw, and to managerial roles –
with Bill and Hillary Clinton: she sponsors a child at the other end of the world. ­exciting jobs and friendly
It all began in 1998 with a trip to Nepal, where she was immediately overwhelmed colleagues await you at
by the friend­liness of the people. Back in Germany she felt that she wanted to give Mitsubishi Electric.
them some­thing in return.
Find out more at
“Suddenly you see the world with completely different eyes,” says the Düsseldorfer, www.mitsubishielectric.de
“particularly coming straight from the stress of everyday life.”

In 2004 she sponsors a child, little Saru, through Plan International, and later gets
to know her in person. A Plan employee brings her to Kulekhani, a village in
central Nepal. A drive along bumpy dirt roads is followed by a half-hour hike uphill –
and in (luckily comfortable) plimsolls, because she didn’t know that the village
was not connected by road.

The news of the arrival of the first European woman in the village makes the
rounds at lightning speed, because with blonde hair you immediately stand out
here. Saru and her family give her a warm welcome. They hang garlands of flowers
and a Katak – a traditional silk scarf – around her neck. Soon the whole village has
gathered and Silvia von Dahlen has to answer not only Saru’s many questions but
also those of her neighbours. The Kulekhanis stare and giggle. Afterwards there is
also lots of giggling in the village school, which is also supported by Plan Inter­
national: the organisation helps not only Saru but the whole village, by providing
aid for them to help themselves. So besides simple things like latrines, medical
provision is also being established. A further project is the women’s initiative, in
which many women from the region come together, for example, to learn about
early childhood education or to run sewing courses.

After so much hospitality, Silvia von Dahlen finds it hard to leave at the end of the
day. On the trip back she gazes thoughtfully out of the car window and smiles.
The day has shown her how little people need to be happy, if only they receive a bit
of support. And like her first trip to the Himalayas, these encounters once again
clarified how trivial many of our everyday cares are and how important it is to
concentrate on the really important things in life – even back at the office at
Mitsubishi Electric in Ratingen. That’s why she supports Saru and Plan Inter­
national to this day.  

Make a difference with just 25 euros a month: www.plan-deutschland.de

Optimism

30

electric planet.

When Tarzan and Jane swing across the stage and the 1
audience at break-neck speed in the musical theatre Neue
Flora in Hamburg, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) 5
from Mitsubishi Electric ensure maximum safety.

  Mitsubishi Electric enables even
the most ambitious theatrical ideas
to be realised.

In 1987 the engineering office
Fülling & Partner had the idea
of also using our tried-and-
tested standard components
for industry for stage control
systems, and set new bench-
marks in the process. It all
began with the spectacular controlling of the 9-ton, move­
able bridge in the musical Starlight Express in Bochum.
Today, 25 years later, the technology still functions as reliably
as it did at the premiere. That’s why our PLC systems have
since been implemented for extremely high-tech purposes
in many theatres. Controlling the stage movements of the
performers in Tarzan requires more than 300,000 pro-
grammed steps or control commands, without which the
breath-taking choreography for the musical would not even
be p­ ossible. The complex system is also safeguarded with
diverse redundancy, because even with high-class entertain-
ment, safety is key, so that during an evening’s journey into
the jungle, neither man nor monkey comes to harm.  

www.fup-automation.de

Electric Planet Optimism

31

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3

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1 Since 1968 we have been supplying Volvo, among 4 At the Narita Airport in Japan, a giant display
others, with reliable automotive electronics, car system now provides flight information for
radios, navigation and information systems. passengers. The absolute highlight: our 385"
display “Panorama Vision” (9.6 x 1.9 m).
2 Covering 85,000 km, Russia has the longest rail
network in the world. We have an entire factory 5 Special control chips from Mitsubishi Electric
in Magnitogorsk for providing optimal mainte­ ensure the safe running and maximum
nance of the trains. efficiency of many wind energy plants.

3 Because we equipped most European Football
Championship stadiums with efficient air-condi­
tioning, things only got heated on the pitch.

Optimism

c