When it comes to controlling motors in automation technology, one device is irreplaceable: the contactor. In Siemens' Industry Sector, the engineer Manuela Lüftl specializes in developing contactors for a wide range of output classes. After managing a development department in India for two years, Lüftl recently returned to the plant in Amberg, Germany. Her invention, which involves a special quenching plate arrangement in the arc chamber, is an important innovation. The plates extinguish the arc that is created when a contactor is switched at high outputs. Applications for the new generation of contactors that Lüftl helped to develop include motors used in the automotive, steel, and machine construction industries.