 So, hello, my name is Stefan Wangerow, I'm here today representing two organizations. You can see it down on the presentation, on the right side, the Rundertisch-Rebratur, which is a German organization for repairing interested organizations or companies. For example, the consumer organizations, but also the science and German watch Anstiftungen. I Fix It is a member of the Waste Management Associations and many more also hand crafters. The other organization is the Wangerow GmbH, which is a family company in Reutlingen, Stuttgart, where we are a network for professional hand crafters, workshops all over Germany, around about 1,000 professional hand crafters. Yeah, and I would like to talk to you about what went wrong in the past, in the last decades, what lead us to get to a throwaway society. And before I start, I want to tell you a little story. This is a picture of my grandfather in the 60s. He was a, I don't know the English word, he was like, yeah, hobby morcing, and he was also a radio and television technology technician. And it was a time when repairing was completely normal. If your TV was broken or your radio or something, it was normal to go to the next workshop or maybe repair on your own. But this was completely normal. Everyone was, if he was having a broken device, he was always thinking about repairing. But what happened, and yeah, what happened to us? Which one of you has still a workshop in his town or in his city or whatever? Okay, I think so the situation is even worse. In 10% of the areas in Germany, we have no technician for washing machines already. So what happened? What are the mortal sins to repair in the past? First, there's a problem with spare parts. I think we heard a lot of this today. The low new device prices. Today, we can sometimes only change complete assemblies, spare part incompatibility, missing documents, kinematics, software and support, training only for selected ones. So the blue part is, which is by the industry or by the manufacturer, misleading eco labels and extension of warranty, which is pretty controversial, but I will talk about this later. This is the politics and the lack of young technicians and turning away from the specialized rates, which is part of the community maybe. We asked independent smartphone repair shops in Germany, what risk do you see for the future? And only 1% said non. 94% said spare parts availability, 88% software, 83% dependence on Apple and then dependence on other manufacturers and Michelinas. So the spare part is the big thing for us if we want to repair professional. If we don't get a spare part, we cannot repair, but also software is getting more and more problematic. So this is smartphone repair, but what is with other devices? So we asked what are the three most common reasons why these devices cannot be repaired? So it's asked for washing machines, vacuum cleaners and coffee machines, which are pretty popular for repairing in Germany. So the green and the blue, the blue one is spare parts are too expensive and or the queen one is no spare parts are available. And for all of these three devices, it's over 50% is the spare part. So it's washing machine, it's nearly 80% the problem is the spare part or vacuum cleaner is 64 and coffee machines is 78. So the spare part is a problem. Why is that? Because new equipment is too cheap, which is another big problem. So repairing must be economic. So we can't only repair for them who repair by their heart because they want to save the nature. We must be cheaper than a new device. If we're not, the consumer will not repair. So 74% of consumers have already decided against the repair because it was too expensive compared to the new price. So you can see it here 239 euro and 95 cent for a washing machine, which is not the cheapest one. And the average repair cost is 170 euro for washing machines in Germany. This is a problem why 170 euro is a lot of money? Why is it? It's only 80 euros for the working time. The rest is the spare part. So we're always talking about high loan in Germany, but it's not not the high high loan level. It's also the two expensive spare parts. So I talk about missing documents, schematics, software and support. If we don't have a circuit plan, we can't repair the electronics. If we don't have exploded fuse, we have to search for spare parts. We have to find them. We have to put the spare part out of the device and then we can see which number is on it if there's someone written. So it makes more work for us. It's making repairing more expensive. We need the error codes. F15, what does it mean? What is broken? We don't know. We need these codes and we need spare parts lists. Which spare part? Which pump is built in this washing machine? Which backlight is built in this television? And we need the software. If we don't have the software, it's getting more and more that it's impossible to change parts without the software, that it's more expensive if I need a pre-programmed electronics, for example, or can I program it on my own? Sometimes it's only the half of the price. So software is important. All these things have one together. The manufacturer, they have it, everything. They have it. They don't give it to us. They don't want to give it to us. This is the only reason. Yeah, another problem for us is the professional training by the manufacturer is only for selected ones. So they can tell you, you are not allowed to repair and you are allowed because I like your nose and I don't like your nose. And this is what is already happening. For example, we have the AISP, the Apple authorized, I don't know the full name, or the IRP, the independent repair, independent repair program, which are pretty famous. But we have these kind of systems like for a lot of manufacturers. Normally, not especially for these Apple examples, but normally it's connected to a trade volume. So if, for example, a big German manufacturer for washing machines, if I want to get their training, I need to have an amount of trade every year, like for example, 100,000 euro, to get the possibility to send my technician to them. So this is a little bit, yeah, it's a problem because if I only want to repair, I will not get the training. So I can't repair it maybe or I will not get the documents, the information, the software. So the other problem is, if I send my technician to them, they can say, hey, you want to work at our company? So this is really happening today. So we have another problem, the politics. I'm a handcrafter, as I told, so I'm always a little bit sceptic about legislation and regulation. Why is it? Because if something is meant good, it's not made good. That's not the same. And we have this in the past, for example, the eco labels. The idea is, you buy a device which is saving energy, so this is good. So there you can't say anything against it. But the problem is, it says nothing about the lifetime of this device. So if I buy a washing machine, for example, for 199 Euro with an eco label, maybe B, and it's broken three times in the warranty, and it's changed two times. And after three years, it's thrown away because it's the third, fourth time broken. This can't be good for our environment, I'm sure. And there's a lot of examples. So another problem is the standardization is not that it's fake. The amount of energy that is used is like in the car. It's my new car, I have a smart for four. It takes two liters less gasoline like the old one, which I also have on the paper. In reality, it's taking one more. So it's not the truth. And not only the car manufacturers, but also the electronics manufacturers, they are faking it. They have programs like a 30 degrees eco wool washing program. I had this case. Really, I get like a really big letter of a customer of, I think, Electrolux. He was sitting five hours next to his machine because this program is going five hours. And he was holding every five minutes his hand on the class. And he called the service, it's not getting warm. It went to the one side, to the other side, and so on. The technician came, he didn't find any failure. So he left and then he touched again, he said it's broken, okay, we'll send a technician again, but you have to pay it if it's not broken. And then he said, okay, I will pay it. I tested it. It's cold. And then the service manager, he called him or he sent an email. I got it like on white. He told him, yeah, the 30 degrees program is for clothes that is possible to wash with maximum 30 degrees. It's not getting warm. So this is how we are faked. So this is cold washing. So you can save a lot of energy if you don't need to heat the water. But you can do this with your old machine, you don't need to buy a new one for this. Another problem is the quality of the devices is getting down because of eco labels. Why? For washing machine, in the past, we had the, I don't know, in English, like the surrounding housing of the, of the turning part. It was made, normally made out of metal because it's long living. But metal is, yeah, it's like the heat is going away. So nowadays they use plastics. It's better for the eco label, but it's not good for the, for the lifetime of this device. And we have, we have like this legislation, like millions of, of examples, which are making the life of us as small repair shops in the, in the, in the areas it's making our life more hard. Yeah. And the, another maybe most controversial point is the, the, the topic warranty or guarantee, which is not the same. I'm not sure if it's in English, it's like a thing a little bit different, but in German, we have the guarantee, which is like the, the, like you can go to your manufacturer and you have the Giverlison, which is the warranty, which is between you and the, the, the dealer, the, the seller of the product. And I see for, for my network of independent repairs, the warranty as the biggest danger for the repair. So why is this? There is a study from Deloitte from 2015. I can't see it on my screen. What would happen if the warranty would be extended? More and more cheap devices are being bought, which is right for 74 percent. Manufacturers will exchange the devices if the exchange is cheaper for them than the repair, 93 percent. The specialized trade shops, workshops would receive fewer orders, 82 percent. Yeah. If I have, for example, five years of warranty, why buy quality? Why buy a German, for me, a German quality product? Why not the, the Chinese one, which is like half or third of the, yeah, of the price? Yeah. If the industry has to guarantee a certain lifetime, I would like to have a warranty only on the spare parts, because they can't do all the, all the repair in, in Europe or in Germany or whatever, because we don't have the, the professionals for this. So if I can get, as a customer, the, the spare part for free, I can ask my neighbor, who was an electrician in the past, or I can go to the, to the workshop in, in my hometown, I can do it on my own or I can call the, the, the industry and say, ask them for a repair. I have all options and I can decide for the repair or against the repair and buy a new one. I think the, the customer must decide this and it has another, yeah, another positive effect. If they have to, to, to have the spare parts, they are interested in not having too much of them. So I, they will think about using standard spare parts, like standard pumps, like standard motor, like standard screws or whatever, because they need to, to have every spare part on stock, which is a price thing. So the new device will get more expensive and the repair will get less expensive, which is a pro for the repair. And I want to repair authorization for special, specialized companies also during the guarantee period. I think in the, in the, in the, in the, um, micro soldering workshop, um, we talked, uh, or the, the, the presenter talked about the warranty. If, if you open an iPhone, for example, the warranty is off. So you don't have any warranty anymore. Um, why? Why is that? Why is that? And why is that? Okay. If I change the display on a, on a, on a, on a, on a smartphone and, um, I do everything right and the battery is getting broken, like two months later, why you don't have any, uh, any warranty anymore. That, that doesn't make any sense if I break it. Okay. But if I don't, why? So I don't understand this, but I think it's like common, uh, that this is normal or that's it's okay. I don't understand this type of, this part. Um, and I think it has another, uh, yeah, another, uh, important thing is, um, it's a, it's a, like, it's like better for the quality companies. If, if you are a German or a European, uh, manufacturer, you normally, you have the structure for, for, uh, for spare parts. You have the structure for, for, like all these, um, uh, supplying of, of spare parts and you have the price. They already have the spare parts, not all of them. But I think if we're talking about industries, we have to, yeah, they, we have companies that are doing a good job. They have spare parts, sometimes too expensive. Yes. But they have spare parts and we have other, uh, manufacturers that don't even have spare parts on the first day after selling the device. So, um, we have, like, like a more fair competition because I know I can get a spare part for every device I bought and I think this is important. Yeah. Another big problem for us as a society is the lack of young technicians. Um, we asked our workshops and they said that 70% of the repair shops would like to repair more if they had employers, uh, employees to do it. Um, so my, okay. Yeah, okay. Um, yeah, why is it it's, it's, it's not attractive. I learned the job of informations elektroniker für Geräte und Systeme, which is, um, yeah, like a very long name and not an attractive name, but that's not the problem. It's, um, not economic to repair. We do absolutely, um, uh, sustainable and yeah, a good thing for the planet as a job as for our living. We, we're doing this like every day, eight hours a day, five days a week. And, um, this is, yeah, a big part of our life. And I think it's important to, to, to help us, to save us because we are, we are literally dying as the, the, the companies they are going out of market because of age. The most, um, the most companies in Germany that are allowed to repair, they need a master, but it's not the master, like the academic master. It's in like a handcraft a master. So to repair washing machine or TV or another device with an, with an, with a block, um, you need to be educated for four to six years. It's like getting a doctor. So I have nothing against it. If I would like earn money like a doctor, um, but in the moment situation, I can't, um, the job is great, but the money is bad. And, um, so we need to change things. I'm not against this master system, but I think we have to, to rethink it. Um, we have to, yeah, to modernize it. So there's a lot of things to do. I think with the right to repair, we can get away from the throwaway society. I think this is our, uh, connecting, um, thing. And thank you for your attention. So if you have any questions, feel free. I think time is running out and here's my, uh, contact data.