Leading the way in every respect – Designa Verkehrsleittechnik Gmbh

When Heinz Bula and Gerard Vogel founded DESIGNA, the Deutsche Signal- und Werbemittelgesellschaft, in 1952, they could hardly have foreseen the impressive path the company would one day take. At that time, together with three employees, the company still specialised in the production of traffic and advertising signs. The decisive turning point came a little over 30 years ago. With the introduction of its first proprietary parking system, the company not only expanded its own portfolio but also created the basis for an entrepreneurial success story. Today, DESIGNA is an absolute specialist in the field of parking management systems and supplies tailor-made solutions which are used and appreciated throughout the world. ‘What began a few years ago with simple barriers, ticket machines and pay-on-foot machines is now far more complex and encompasses a wide range of hardware and software components,’ says CEO Oliver Suter.

The figures show how the company's strategic direction has paid off. The initial team of five has now grown to over 550 employees, with around 150 still working at the headquarters in Kiel. ‘DESIGNA is active in more than 60 different national markets and in turn has subsidiaries in countries such as Australia, France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Mexico, Hungary and the USA. This year our turnover will exceed the 100 million euro mark,’ continued Suter. In the meantime, more than 17,000 DESIGNA systems are in use throughout the world.

The references provided by the Kiel-based company also speak for themselves: from airports in New York, Denver, Sydney, Frankfurt and Hamburg to the gigantic Mall of the Emirates in the United Arab Emirates, shopping centres in Australia and Malaysia. From hospitals in metropolises such as Philadelphia and Seattle to the complete parking concept of the city of Grand Rapids in the US state of Michigan. This is also noticeable in their daily work. ‘There are definitely weeks when you speak more English than German,’ says Chief Marketing Officer Phillip Veldten, referring to the company's global sales activities. 'However, this applies not only to video calls, phone calls or e-mails, but also to the many international trade fairs at which we are active. It's just part of the job and it's also quite fun, to be honest. We are proud to show our presence in such moments – as a global player in the industry, but also as a traditional company from Schleswig-Holstein,‘ Veldten continues.

Ticketless, seamless, effortless: the digital car park

‘Smarter Solutions for a Digital Planet’ – this is not only the company slogan, but also an expression of the next step that has long since been taken at DESIGNA. The future requires new, flexible and innovative approaches. This also applies to the car park concept. In an interview with Florian Leiber, Technical Managing Director, it becomes clear why this is the case. ‘Digitalisation, the mobility turnaround, the changes in urban working and living environments – all these buzzwords of our current awakening as a society are closely linked to what our products will be in the future,’ says Leiber. This includes, for example, the integration of charging stations for electric cars or e-bikes, but it goes much further than that. ‘Fully automatic, cashless parking systems with number plate recognition but without barriers have long been a reality for us,‘ says Leiber. Payment is made either at the state-of-the-art checkout systems or online. This can be done before entering the car park, after leaving, spontaneously or by subscription. ’This enables our customers to offer even more flexibility. The elimination of paper tickets on this scale is also a not inconsiderable factor for the environment.'

Another step into the future is the development of cloud-based systems. DESIGNA's cloud enables the company's customers to conveniently outsource their entire IT; live access to system data, protection against cyber attacks. In the event of a malfunction, the support team is alerted immediately. With so much innovative strength, it is clear that DESIGNA's journey is far from over.