Made in Europe: Complete Solutions from A Single Source

Electrical Connection Technology Made in Europe: Complete Solutions from a Single Source

2025-12-19 From Kristin Rinortner | Translated by AI 4 min Reading Time

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High innovative strength, resilience, and sustainability characterize the family-run and globally operating connector manufacturer ept. A glimpse behind the scenes was offered at the TechDay. More than 100 participants followed the invitation to Peiting.

ept TechDay 2025: More than 100 participants followed the invitation to Peiting, Bavaria.(Image: Kristin Rinortner) — ept TechDay 2025: More than 100 participants followed the invitation to Peiting, Bavaria.
(Image: Kristin Rinortner)

Germany has a disproportionately large number of unknown global market leaders in a global comparison. These "Hidden Champions" are at the forefront of technology in niche markets, work extremely closely with customers, and are characterized by a high level of manufacturing depth.

One of these companies is ept; the acronym stands for "electronic precision technology." The family-owned company, originating from the Allgäu region (Germany), designs and manufactures everything itself— from the initial design, development, and conception to the construction of its own production machines and the finished connector. A significant pillar is the automotive industry, with the manufacturer's press-fit connectors featured in almost every car. However, many applications are also found in the industrial sector.

Gallery

ept TechDays 2025: More than 100 participants followed the invitation to Peiting, Bavaria.(Image: Kristin Rinortner)

Expert lectures, factory tour, and professional exchange at the TechDays.(Image: Kristin Rinortner)

The speakers at the TechDays with Managing Director Thomas Guglhör (2nd from right) 2025.(Image: Kristin Rinortner)

Hermann Eicher and Florian Guglhör.(Image: Kristin Rinortner)

Gallery with 13 images

The surface technology for the specific connectors was developed with and for the customers and is implemented on state-of-the-art electroplating systems. This allows optimal coordination of technical parameters and processes while ensuring delivery capability, quality, and responsiveness. Thanks to a high level of automation, production in Germany remains competitive.

A resilient supply chain and the extremely high-quality standards are also appreciated by the numerous customers of the company based in Peiting, Bavaria. Thus, on September 24, 2025, more than 100 participants from a wide variety of industries followed the company's invitation to its first "TechDay."

The program included, in addition to expert lectures by renowned speakers, an exclusive factory tour with Daniel Wladar as well as the managing directors Philipp Hoßfeld and Thomas Guglhör. The fact that the scheduled time for the tour was exceeded did not bother the participants. During the tours, visitors experienced what makes the company so special: the complete value chain from a single source—from in-house tool manufacturing and connector production to the assembly of contact and insulating bodies.

There is No Mass; there Are Only Reference Potentials

After the welcome address by Thomas Guglhör, who took over the operational management of the family business from its founder Bernhard Guglhör in 2005, Dr. Helmut Katzier opened the expert lectures with the highly topical subject "EMC and Signal Integrity." There are many EMC interference sources in connectors. Katzier summarized the ten most important basic rules of EMC and signal integrity. His conclusion: everything is a compromise; a purely rules-based EMC design is not possible.

As advice, he emphasizes that shielding is not only for suppressing radiation fields but also for conducting useful and interference currents. Users should always keep this in mind.

Generative AI Has Arrived in the Industry

Christian Dörner from Siemens then addressed the question: "How is AI made ready for the industry?" After an excursion into machine learning approaches, the functionality of a (multimodal) Large Language Model (LLM), and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), Dörner presented ideas for using generative AI along the value chain. This included, among other things, GenAI on the shop floor, a pilot project in the Siemens Electronics Factory Erlangen, as well as the future of AI agents with the company's Industrial Copilots.

The Connector As An Everlasting Compromise

Markus Schmölz (ept), in his lecture "Transparency in the Connector Industry," addressed the questions of what a connector must endure and what it may cost. What influences the costs, when is there truly a defect on the contact surface, and when is the fault due to non-specification-compliant operation? Many customers are unaware of this.

Christoph Schnatz, surface expert at ept, finally explained some aspects of the basics of contact surfaces: "Not everything that glitters is gold, and not everything gold glitters." The reliability of a connector strongly depends on the contact material and the contact layer structure. The effects of the various coating options on the CO_2e value of the connector were also interesting.

Additionally, there was an overview of the in-house electroplating: More than 8 billion contacts are coated on nine lines. The process speeds are 49 ft/min. Surfaces include nickel, tin, nickel-phosphorus, palladium-nickel, gold, silver, tin-lead, silver-tin, and indium.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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Personal Exchange And Social Gathering

In the afternoon, many guests took the opportunity for personal exchanges. In the showroom, both the speakers and ept experts from sales, product management, and development were available for individual technical discussions.

The TechDay concluded with a joint visit to Neuschwanstein Castle and a convivial evening at the traditional restaurant "Zum Alten Wirt" in Buching (Germany)—the place where the company "Bernhard Guglhör Präzisionsteile" was founded by Bernhard Guglhör in 1973 and where the founding plant is still located today.

"The response to our TechDay has overwhelmed us. We are very pleased with the great interest and the numerous, exciting conversations with our guests," summarizes Alexander Geiger, Head of Sales Global Commodities and moderator of the event. "This shows us that our path of innovation, quality, and customer proximity hits the spirit of the times." (kr)