Conference report by Hartmut Bühl, Brussels Life Support Solutions – Field Camp Services International workshop at Kärcher Futuretech

CONFERENCE REPORT International Workshop at Kärcher Futuretech

Life Support Solutions – Field Camp Services

(Hartmut Bühl, Brussels/Paris) An international workshop on the initiative of the Association of the German Army (FKH) and organised by Kärcher Futuretech, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG, took place on 26 th

and 27 th

June 2019 at the company’s headquarters in Schwaikheim, near Stuttgart, Germany. The workshop brought together major players in the political, public, business and industrial sectors, including scientific research, to focus on the deployment of land forces in joint and combined operations in humanitarian, peacekeeping and peace enforcing missions. The primary aim of the FKH is to put forward, for the benefit of the German parliament and German government, solid arguments about how to equip German land forces in the most modern and efficient way.

The General Manager of the Association of the German Army (FKH), Major General (ret) Wolfgang Köpke welcomed more than 100 representatives from 21 nations to this two-day workshop, comprising an exhibition of equipment, presentations and round table discussions. He asked the participants to exchange ideas and experiences and said, “I hope that at the end of our discussions, we will have found the appropriate answers to the key challenges of future conflict scenarios.”

View into the exhibition space of companies and organisations

Thomas Popp, the Managing Director of Kärcher Futuretech and organiser of the workshop, emphasised that all presentations and speeches would be open for wide-ranging discussion. “The speeches of officials”, he said, “and the different companies present at the workshop, will provide insight into the issues and offer solutions to be discussed in a most constructive way.” In handing over to the master of ceremonies, Dr Patrick Marcus, Executive Head of Development, Testing & Technical Communication, who led the discussions and managed the event to participants’ great satisfaction, Thomas Popp said wisely: “There is never only one solution, but each solution generates ideas.” Presentations were given by partner armies and international companies. The insightful presentations on life solutions for camps by Austria, Canada and Sweden clearly showed that there is no standardisation and that each army has its own views on the issue. The company presentations by GOFA Gocher Fahrzeugbau GmbH on vehicles for transport and water storage and Drehtainer GmbH on the properties and use of containers in operations demonstrated different customer-approved solutions. The Danish Dantherm Group showcased solutions for mobile heating and cooling in camps. Stefan Monig, Managing Director of M. Schall GmbH, presented the