Civic involvement

As a technology leader in the automation field, we work every day to help society advance to a better future. Thanks to PC-based control, our customers can produce all kinds of goods more efficiently and with fewer resources to better serve the needs of Earth’s growing population. In addition, our products are used in critical infrastructure such as power generation and water/wastewater systems. PC-based control technology also makes sure that pharmaceutical companies can produce life-saving medications, vaccines and diagnostic tests safely and reliably. In the medical technology field, Beckhoff products aid in the production of a wide range of devices that are used to diagnose illnesses and make people healthy again.

As a family-owned business, our actions are characterized by personal closeness, a down-to-earth attitude and a friendly way of dealing with each other. We want these properties to also be reflected in our social responsibilities and extended beyond our company, which is why we support selected projects with which we share views and ideas.

Beckhoff is characterized by its deep roots in Eastern Westphalia, which is why we support many recreational, social and cultural institutions along with various projects, associations and organizations in our region. They ensure a colorful and diverse social fabric, promote a sense of community, provide education, and enrich our everyday lives and the region in general. Examples include schools and daycare centers, sports clubs, theaters, concerts, and a whole lot more.

Our subsidiaries all over the world take the same approach in their respective regions to support projects and organizations that are especially important to them because they strengthen the local community.

For Beckhoff, the promotion of young talent is an integral part of our company philosophy. A good education opens up opportunities and possibilities for young people to shape their own future. It is a key to the personal success of each individual – and, viewed holistically, to a society worth living in. As a globally active company, we offer young people a wide range of training opportunities in a dynamic working environment with a variety of exciting future prospects.

Beckhoff provides training in nine different apprenticed professions at our HQ in Verl. In cooperation with Hochschule Bielefeld – University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSBI) at its Gütersloh Campus, we also offer practice-integrated engineering training in four different degree courses. Young people can choose one of these training paths, depending on their interests. For us it is important that young people receive practical training. In this way they are involved in projects from the very beginning and can put their theoretical knowledge into practice. After successfully completing their training, junior employees at Beckhoff are offered long-term and interesting career prospects.

As a globally active company, Beckhoff is exposed to a wide range of technological and political changes that influence our technologies and our business activities. We therefore remain in continuous dialog with political representatives, associations and organizations. We reflect on their suggestions and take them into account in our actions. The focus is always on successful and goal-oriented dialog for all sides.

From the perspective of developing technologies for the benefit of society, we discuss the topics of automation technology, microsystems technology, information and communication technology, including crucial wider issues such as sustainability, climate protection and energy as well as health, mobility, and safety. Site-specific issues are also important to us, not to mention training and human resources policy. In an interdisciplinary exchange with associations and federations such as Acatech, Stifterverband, ZVEI, VDMA, VDI, VDE, IEC, and IEEE, we help shape technological, socio-political, economic, and scientific conditions and drive innovation forward.

Tanzania in East Africa is considered one of the world’s poorest countries. As of 2022, it is home to 61.5 million people in an area that is 2.6 times as large as Germany. Since the population is growing rapidly, it will reach 120 million people by 2040, according to a United Nations estimate. Currently, 43% of Tanzanians are under 15 years old. Most (64%) live in rural regions where fewer than 25% of households have access to electricity. More than 65% of the population work in agriculture. Based on the World Bank’s criteria, 25% of Tanzanians are considered poor because they must live on less than US$1.90 per day.

We want to provide young people in Tanzania with access to education for a successful future – a sentiment that was shared by Father Walter Lükewille (1930–2015). Since he was from Verl, he knew Elisabeth Beckhoff (1924 – 2013), who founded Elektro Beckhoff together with her husband Arnold in 1953. When he returned to Germany after having spent 45 years in Tanzania as a missionary, he became involved in projects for Western Tanzania. One of them was the construction of the St. John Paul II Junior Seminary for Boys, a Catholic secondary school in Mpanda Ndogo.

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a landlocked country surrounded by South Africa. Because of its high altitude, the small country of about two million people is also called the “Kingdom in the Sky.” On the Human Development Index, Lesotho occupies the 168^th place of 191 countries (as of 2021/2022). The unemployment rate is high. Most people depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

In Semonkong in Maseru Province, we support several agricultural projects to enable people to live more independent, happier lives. These projects focus on teaching important basics in farming and soil cultivation to the local community. With the cooperation of volunteers, the work involves field irrigation projects as well as new methods of planting and harvesting. A veterinary service helps to keep the villagers’ livestock healthy and provides valuable tips on the species-appropriate handling of cattle, horses, sheep, goats, donkeys and chickens. Our support helps to provide inoculations for the animals and finance veterinary treatments.

We also support the local orphanage and the school in Semonkong, in which children of various age groups are taught. Our funding enables the institutions to supply the children with daily meals, procure teaching materials and maintain the buildings.

For a long time, Verl has been as closely related to football (or ‘soccer’ for our American readers) as to automation technology. The ‘Sportclub Verl von 1924 e.V.’ has an almost 100-year history, and the Beckhoff family has been among its most active supporters since the early 1970s. The main team of SC Verl has played on a semi-professional level in the West Regional League without interruption since 2008. In the qualifying games for the 2020/2021 season, the team managed to advance to the 3rd Bundesliga division.

Together with other local mid-sized companies, Beckhoff supports the SC Verl as a sponsor, which enables the club to offer a wide range of sports besides semi-professional football. Since the club and its supporters want to ensure that every child from the region has an opportunity to play football, it has teams ranging from ‘minis’ to the A-Youth in which boys and girls can play performance-oriented as well as more recreational football. Besides the first team, less performance-oriented teams for adults are also available. We support these activities to promote a cooperative spirit in Verl through sports.

For more information about the SC Verl, visit: Learn more

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 in the USA by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. As a volunteer-driven organization, FIRST is built on partnerships with individuals, as well as educational institutions, businesses, and the government.

FIRST provides four programs:

• FIRST^® Tech Challenge (FTC^®) for grades 7 to 12, ages 12 to 18 year-olds
• FIRST^® Robotics Competition (FRC^®) for grades 9 to12, ages 14 to 18 year-olds
• FIRST^® LEGO^® League (FLL^®) for 9 to 14 year-olds
• Junior FIRST^® LEGO^® League (Jr. FLL^®) for 6 to 9 year-olds

FIRST^® Tech Challenge (FTC) students learn to think like engineers. The teams design, build, and code robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Beckhoff South Africa has partnered with FTC to assist these young minds develop and have had the privilege of sponsoring the Creepy Crawlies FTC team over the past 4 years. The dedication and innovation of this young team has resulted in them becoming one of the top teams at the FIRST Robotics Competition.