Mr. Zürn, customers are hesi­tant to modernize their building systems. Why is that?

Every facility manager knows the poten­tial that lies in upgrading older existing systems. Espe­cially with high energy prices, a retrofit is a powerful tool for saving money. But compa­nies struggle to approve such measures because they involve an upfront cost. If a facility manager wants to convince their CFO to make an invest­ment, they need very concrete figures on costs and bene­fits. After all, from a decision-maker’s perspec­tive, if the old systems are suppos­edly running reli­ably, why replace them? Making this deci­sion requires more than just a savings and payback period fore­cast.

And how does ebm-papst help with this problem?

With our energy effi­ciency guar­antee. This allows our customers to secure the projected savings, further reducing invest­ment risk and providing the neces­sary guar­antee for making informed deci­sions.

You’ll have to explain that.

Every customer who carries out a retrofit with NEXAIRA.Fit can take out a guar­antee through us for the energy savings we project. The guar­antee is under­written by Great Lakes Insur­ance SE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Munich Re. If, after one year and despite proper oper­ating condi­tions, the savings have not mate­ri­al­ized as calcu­lated, the guar­antee takes effect and the costs are compen­sated. You’ll only find this with us.

How do you calcu­late that?

The foun­da­tion for every retrofit with NEXAIRA.Fit  is an analysis of the old system. Based on this, our experts deter­mine the optimal selec­tion and sizing of the new, highly effi­cient EC fans. During oper­a­tion, these fans transmit oper­a­tional data—such as airflow, speed, and more—via a MODBUS inter­face. As part of the NEXAIRA digital ecosystem, NEXAIRA.Fit uses this oper­a­tional and fan data to iden­tify opti­miza­tion poten­tial and contin­u­ously improve system perfor­mance.

It enables demand­based oper­a­tion, predic­tive main­te­nance, AI-driven opti­miza­tion, and much more. The trans­parent visu­al­iza­tion and moni­toring provided by NEXAIRA thus form the basis for cost savings. This means our fore­cast for the effi­ciency gains achieved through the retrofit is reli­able. Great Lakes Insur­ance SE shares this view and offers this solu­tion in part­ner­ship with us.

What types of retro­fits can be covered by this?

All types.

Tell us why ebm-papst is launching a new strategic busi­ness segment in October 2026 called “Solu­tions & Services.

This is a logical progres­sion from what we’ve long been offering our customers—for example, with NEXAIRA—namely, that we don’t just supply a compo­nent, but help move air effi­ciently, safely, and cost-effec­tively. That’s why we’re bringing together the areas of retrofit, digi­tal­iza­tion, NEXAIRA, and—in the future—circularity under one new strategic busi­ness segment.

What does that mean in concrete terms?

The new “Services & Solu­tions” team is avail­able as a spar­ring partner for our customers world­wide. The goal is to jointly unlock energy-saving poten­tial, whether through tradi­tional fan retro­fits or NEXAIRA.Fit with digital services—but also through refur­bish­ment and circu­larity.