From what I can see in the pictures, this seems like an annex to a larger building. I imagine that the computer was run by a division of the accounting / book keeping department. Assuming that in the old days there were only a few specialists who were trained in operating a computer, they might have created that space for the (real) nerds. Why not Adidas?! Adidas is a competitor, founded by the brother.

Not that I'm an expert in their history, but they were running one company together until some time after ww2 when they split up. So I was wondering if you saw something specific that hinted at puma. Afaik even today they still both have their HQ in the same city.

It could very well be that the previous owner was a collector who bought the machine from Puma, and set it up in that building to tinker with.

That seemed like a very permanent installation for someone who is just tinkering with the machine. Running all of the cables under false floor is a huge hassle and makes fixing problems harder.

Don't underestimate the amount of work a true tinkerer is willing to perform to get the system running 'as it should have been'.

But looking at the pictures of part 3 I have to conclude that the electrical installation was certainly not done professionally. In fact: the mains wiring wouldn't even pass inspection by German law.

So tinkerer or not, I doubt this was the place where this multi-million machine (in Deutsche Marks, that is) would have been installed originally.

At the 80s.. computer put into a otherwise useless room. Sounds smart and realistic even for a big manufacturer. They probably used it for some administrative stuff :)