“I can't think of anything comparable that offers as many advantages as the bicycle,” said Dirk Zedler. That’s why the trained and graduate automotive engineer was so desperate about doing something for the bicycle. With a lot of perseverance and endurance, nothing unusual for an athlete, he fulfilled his dream of his own company which with his bicycle testing systems has had a major effect on the industry worldwide since these days. In doing so the company has been operating sustainable from the very beginning and has always been keen to use as few resources as possible. Numerous awards, such as the recently obtained Award for the Environment of Baden-Wuerttemberg, show that the Zedler Institute is extremely successful. But the sustainable orientation also has internal effects. Dirk Zedler is convinced that employees can be recruited and held in the company. The staff counts more than 30 “bicycle nerds” as Dirk Zedler calls himself and his colleagues: “We live, work and breathe bicycle. Those who don’t think bicycles are cool won’t feel at home here. We are all infected with the bicycle virus.” The team with a percentage of women of almost 50 % is testing bicycles 24/7. This consumes, of course, a lot of electricity for the machines. But Dirk Zedler states that those who need a lot of electricity should produce a lot of electricity; and that’s exactly what the Ludwigsburg company does. With the west to east photovoltaic system on the roof of the climate-positive company building, which is designed for maximum electricity consumption of the company, a peak of 65 kWh can be achieved.
Dirk Zedler told the students to be sure to find an occupation that they really wanted to do. Motivation was all they needed: “The trick is to put your heart into it.” A very exciting field for one or the other would certainly be the intelligent connection and control of energy generation, storage and process heat recovery. Many more clever minds were needed here.
Author: Marit Gersen
