Gigaset Cordless Telephone Production I: Soundscape of Production Hall 50

Since 1941 Siemens has been producing telephones in the small town of Bocholt, Germany. Today there are still 550 workers making cordless telephones for Gigaset, which separated from Siemens in 2010.
In hall 50 Gigaset produces 8.000.000 cordless telephones per year, checks their quality and packages them until they are ready to be send to retailers: At the design centre they form the plastic cases of the phones. At the SMD-department (SMD means surface-mount-device) large machines populate printed circuit boards (the telephone’s electronic core) and at the quality inspection all buttons and functions of the finished phones are being checked.
In this recording you can hear the entire soundscape of hall 50 with its busy production circuit. You can hear the cacophony of big machines, transport vehicles (e.g. forklifts) driving by, the rushing of fans and air conditioning as well as the voices of the workers.

Sound Recordist: Kathinka Engels
Photographer: Inke Pickhardt