Collab­o­ra­tion“We always invest in long-term customer rela­tion­ships”

Mr. Ketterer, why is the focus on customer require­ments so impor­tant for SCHUNK?

In the past, we pursued a universal approach: one product for many customers in different markets. Today, however, we are oper­ating in a more special­ized world in which it is crucial to adapt our service port­folio precisely to the require­ments of each indi­vidual customer.

In order to posi­tion ourselves in a differ­en­ti­ated way, it is essen­tial that we under­stand our customers and speak their industry-specific language, be it in life science, elec­tronics, auto­mo­tive, avia­tion, or defense. And we want to under­stand the needs of the indi­vidual: the buyer, the designer, the commis­sioning engi­neer. This is the only way we can provide the greatest possible benefit for our customers.

You also main­tain many part­ner­ships. What signif­i­cance do they have?

A very great signif­i­cance! Part­ner­ships are a funda­mental prereq­ui­site for long-term success. We there­fore rely on close coop­er­a­tion with univer­si­ties, research insti­tutes, and compa­nies in order to contin­u­ously expand our tech­no­log­ical exper­tise and shorten inno­va­tion cycles. We main­tain part­ner­ships along the entire vertical value chain, including upstream and down­stream process steps. One example of this is our coop­er­a­tion with inte­gra­tors, with whom we offer shared solu­tions. We are also contin­u­ously devel­oping our supplier networks into strategic partner networks. On the one hand, to create the inno­va­tions of tomorrow, and on the other, to meet the increasing demands for speed in product devel­op­ment and delivery times. By pooling our strengths, we ensure that we remain agile and effi­cient.

How have customer require­ments changed over the past few years?

The impor­tance of speed has increased signif­i­cantly in recent years. As Hein­rich von Pierer aptly put it: “The big don’t eat the small, but the fast over­take the slow.” This prin­ciple shapes our strategic direc­tion: we focus on agility and speed in order to always be one step ahead for our customers. At the same time, customers increas­ingly expect solu­tions at process level, not just at func­tional level. For us, this means that we can not only provide the ‘grip­ping’ func­tion, but also deliver produc­tivity along the entire ‘handling’ process. The art of paring things down to the essen­tials has also gained in impor­tance. That’s why we provide the exact func­tion that the customer needs for a specific appli­ca­tion. These over­ar­ching trends are reflected in different prior­i­ties: some­times the focus is on speed, some­times on a partic­u­larly lean solu­tion.

What condi­tions do you create to ensure that the customer expe­ri­ence is as posi­tive as possible?

We are grateful to have been a reli­able partner for our customers for 80 years and to be able to draw from a wealth of expe­ri­ence. This reli­a­bility at various levels is the be-all and end-all: we keep our promises. We also promise that what SCHUNK delivers is state of the art. As a tech­nology pioneer, we always strive to remain a leader in our field in terms of our tech­no­log­ical exper­tise and the perfor­mance of our prod­ucts, systems, machines, and services. This reli­a­bility creates trust: in the brand, in the company, but above all in the people. At the end of the day, it is people who put our values into effect and trans­port them. Personal customer rela­tion­ships are the basis for creating joint inno­va­tions and mastering new market require­ments. Instead of investing in short-term success, we always invest in long-term customer rela­tion­ships.

Is that enough?

No. Our aim is to make working with us as effi­cient and straight­for­ward as possible. For example, a fully auto­mated global ordering process. Our aim is to contin­u­ously expand our customer portal with digital services to make product searches, config­u­ra­tion, and ordering as easy as possible. The customer should there­fore be able to find the right solu­tion as easily as possible, even with a larger and increas­ingly complex port­folio. Our aim is to drive projects forward together with our customers in an inte­grated and collab­o­ra­tive process.

Can you give us a specific example to illus­trate this?

I can give two exam­ples that illus­trate all the topics I have mentioned: the 2D Grasping Kit, an AI-supported handling solu­tion, goes beyond the func­tion of a simple gripper, and instead offers a compre­hen­sive solu­tion for the task at hand: grip­ping. We have designed the system’s user inter­face to be so intu­itive and simple that an end customer is able to commis­sion the system within half a day and auto­mat­i­cally handle a diverse port­folio of work­pieces. And the second example? This is the RCG round cell gripper for battery cells. This is where we put our decades of exper­tise with pneu­matic grip­ping into effect, and we have devel­oped it further specif­i­cally with the end customer: for handling round cells.

How do you manage to meet the different needs of your customers: from newcomers to the world of automa­tion to those who are already well advanced and have special require­ments?

First of all, this means under­standing customer needs, clearly segmenting them, and adapting the service port­folio accord­ingly. Then, with our three steps to increasing produc­tivity, we have an incred­ibly powerful tool to enable small and medium-sized customers to take the step towards automa­tion. We offer SCHUNK Engi­neering for automa­tion profes­sionals. We use our broad tech­no­log­ical exper­tise in grip­ping, handling, clamping, and changing to meet the chal­lenges of large machine manu­fac­turers and system inte­gra­tors with jointly devel­oped solu­tions.

What are the three steps to increasing produc­tivity?

This enables customers to take the first steps towards automa­tion very easily. A key pillar here is our consulting exper­tise. The first step involves a needs analysis by our experts. The focus is on whether an automa­tion solu­tion makes sense and, if so, what poten­tial it offers. In the second step, we vali­date the tech­nical feasi­bility. In one of our CoLabs, for example, we can map the customer’s processes in a work­shop envi­ron­ment. Finally, we provide support during imple­men­ta­tion, from the selec­tion of suit­able compo­nents to commis­sioning.

What range of solu­tions can you offer through SCHUNK Engi­neering?

This starts with the use of stan­dard compo­nents, but very quickly moves into the area of config­urable compo­nents through to customized special solu­tions. We offer a compre­hen­sive and modular engi­neering service that can be flex­ibly adapted to the indi­vidual require­ments of our customers. Our range of services includes the design of sophis­ti­cated systems as well as their produc­tion, assembly, and commis­sioning directly on-site. We are able to develop and imple­ment highly complex system require­ments.

Where do you still see poten­tial to improve the customer expe­ri­ence?

There is still poten­tial for each of the topics discussed. The use of digital tech­nolo­gies – including arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence – still offers extremely high added value. We are contin­u­ously working to develop our global customer service and exper­tise to a uniformly high level world­wide.