{"id":2747,"date":"2025-06-20T19:15:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/de\/?p=2736"},"modified":"2025-06-23T10:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:45:15","slug":"we-always-invest-in-long-term-customer-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/01-25\/we-always-invest-in-long-term-customer-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe always invest in long-term customer rela\u00adtion\u00adships\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mr. Ketterer, why is the focus on customer require\u00adments so impor\u00adtant for SCHUNK?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the past, we pursued a universal approach: one product for many customers in different markets. Today, however, we are oper\u00adating in a more special\u00adized world in which it is crucial to adapt our service port\u00adfolio precisely to the require\u00adments of each indi\u00advidual customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to posi\u00adtion ourselves in a differ\u00aden\u00adti\u00adated way, it is essen\u00adtial that we under\u00adstand our customers and speak their industry-specific language, be it in life science, elec\u00adtronics, auto\u00admo\u00adtive, avia\u00adtion, or defense. And we want to under\u00adstand the needs of the indi\u00advidual: the buyer, the designer, the commis\u00adsioning engi\u00adneer. This is the only way we can provide the greatest possible benefit for our customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You also main\u00adtain many part\u00adner\u00adships. What signif\u00adi\u00adcance do they have?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A very great signif\u00adi\u00adcance! Part\u00adner\u00adships are a funda\u00admental prereq\u00adui\u00adsite for long-term success. We there\u00adfore rely on close coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion with univer\u00adsi\u00adties, research insti\u00adtutes, and compa\u00adnies in order to contin\u00adu\u00adously expand our tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical exper\u00adtise and shorten inno\u00adva\u00adtion cycles. We main\u00adtain part\u00adner\u00adships along the entire vertical value chain, including upstream and down\u00adstream process steps. One example of this is our coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion with inte\u00adgra\u00adtors, with whom we offer shared solu\u00adtions. We are also contin\u00adu\u00adously devel\u00adoping our supplier networks into strategic partner networks. On the one hand, to create the inno\u00adva\u00adtions of tomorrow, and on the other, to meet the increasing demands for speed in product devel\u00adop\u00adment and delivery times. By pooling our strengths, we ensure that we remain agile and effi\u00adcient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How have customer require\u00adments changed over the past few years?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The impor\u00adtance of speed has increased signif\u00adi\u00adcantly in recent years. As Hein\u00adrich von Pierer aptly put it: \u201cThe big don\u2019t eat the small, but the fast over\u00adtake the slow.\u201d This prin\u00adciple shapes our strategic direc\u00adtion: we focus on agility and speed in order to always be one step ahead for our customers. At the same time, customers increas\u00adingly expect solu\u00adtions at process level, not just at func\u00adtional level. For us, this means that we can not only provide the \u2018grip\u00adping\u2019 func\u00adtion, but also deliver produc\u00adtivity along the entire \u2018handling\u2019 process. The art of paring things down to the essen\u00adtials has also gained in impor\u00adtance. That\u2019s why we provide the exact func\u00adtion that the customer needs for a specific appli\u00adca\u00adtion. These over\u00adar\u00adching trends are reflected in different prior\u00adi\u00adties: some\u00adtimes the focus is on speed, some\u00adtimes on a partic\u00adu\u00adlarly lean solu\u00adtion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAt the end of the day, it is people who live and embody our corpo\u00adrate values. Personal customer rela\u00adtion\u00adships are the basis for creating joint inno\u00adva\u00adtions.\u201d<\/p>\nJohannes Ketterer, COO\/CSO | Member of the Manage\u00adment Board<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What condi\u00adtions do you create to ensure that the customer expe\u00adri\u00adence is as posi\u00adtive as possible?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We are grateful to have been a reli\u00adable partner for our customers for 80 years and to be able to draw from a wealth of expe\u00adri\u00adence. This reli\u00ada\u00adbility 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 tech\u00adnology pioneer, we always strive to remain a leader in our field in terms of our tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical exper\u00adtise and the perfor\u00admance of our prod\u00aducts, systems, machines, and services. This reli\u00ada\u00adbility 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 trans\u00adport them. Personal customer rela\u00adtion\u00adships are the basis for creating joint inno\u00adva\u00adtions and mastering new market require\u00adments. Instead of investing in short-term success, we always invest in long-term customer rela\u00adtion\u00adships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that enough?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

No. Our aim is to make working with us as effi\u00adcient and straight\u00adfor\u00adward as possible. For example, a fully auto\u00admated global ordering process. Our aim is to contin\u00adu\u00adously expand our customer portal with digital services to make product searches, config\u00adu\u00adra\u00adtion, and ordering as easy as possible. The customer should there\u00adfore be able to find the right solu\u00adtion as easily as possible, even with a larger and increas\u00adingly complex port\u00adfolio. Our aim is to drive projects forward together with our customers in an inte\u00adgrated and collab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtive process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On an equal footing from the very first project phase: SCHUNK in customer dialog.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Can you give us a specific example to illus\u00adtrate this?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I can give two exam\u00adples that illus\u00adtrate all the topics I have mentioned: the 2D Grasping Kit, an AI-supported handling solu\u00adtion, goes beyond the func\u00adtion of a simple gripper, and instead offers a compre\u00adhen\u00adsive solu\u00adtion for the task at hand: grip\u00adping. We have designed the system\u2019s user inter\u00adface to be so intu\u00aditive and simple that an end customer is able to commis\u00adsion the system within half a day and auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally handle a diverse port\u00adfolio of work\u00adpieces. And the second example? This is the RCG round cell gripper for battery cells. This is where we put our decades of exper\u00adtise with pneu\u00admatic grip\u00adping into effect, and we have devel\u00adoped it further specif\u00adi\u00adcally with the end customer: for handling round cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you manage to meet the different needs of your customers: from newcomers to the world of automa\u00adtion to those who are already well advanced and have special require\u00adments?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

First of all, this means under\u00adstanding customer needs, clearly segmenting them, and adapting the service port\u00adfolio accord\u00adingly. Then, with our three steps to increasing produc\u00adtivity, we have an incred\u00adibly powerful tool to enable small and medium-sized customers to take the step towards automa\u00adtion. We offer SCHUNK Engi\u00adneering for automa\u00adtion profes\u00adsionals. We use our broad tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical exper\u00adtise in grip\u00adping, handling, clamping, and changing to meet the chal\u00adlenges of large machine manu\u00adfac\u00adturers and system inte\u00adgra\u00adtors with jointly devel\u00adoped solu\u00adtions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the three steps to increasing produc\u00adtivity?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This enables customers to take the first steps towards automa\u00adtion very easily. A key pillar here is our consulting exper\u00adtise. The first step involves a needs analysis by our experts. The focus is on whether an automa\u00adtion solu\u00adtion makes sense and, if so, what poten\u00adtial it offers. In the second step, we vali\u00addate the tech\u00adnical feasi\u00adbility. In one of our CoLabs, for example, we can map the customer\u2019s processes in a work\u00adshop envi\u00adron\u00adment. Finally, we provide support during imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion, from the selec\u00adtion of suit\u00adable compo\u00adnents to commis\u00adsioning.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/div>

For Johannes Ketterer, CSO\/COO at SCHUNK, the key chal\u00adlenge is to speak the customers\u2019 industry-specific language and to under\u00adstand the indi\u00advidual people.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>

SCHUNK is increas\u00adingly offering process solu\u00adtions such as handling instead of pure func\u00adtions such as grip\u00adping. This is in line with changing customer require\u00adments.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What range of solu\u00adtions can you offer through SCHUNK Engi\u00adneering?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This starts with the use of stan\u00addard compo\u00adnents, but very quickly moves into the area of config\u00adurable compo\u00adnents through to customized special solu\u00adtions. We offer a compre\u00adhen\u00adsive and modular engi\u00adneering service that can be flex\u00adibly adapted to the indi\u00advidual require\u00adments of our customers. Our range of services includes the design of sophis\u00adti\u00adcated systems as well as their produc\u00adtion, assembly, and commis\u00adsioning directly on-site. We are able to develop and imple\u00adment highly complex system require\u00adments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you still see poten\u00adtial to improve the customer expe\u00adri\u00adence?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There is still poten\u00adtial for each of the topics discussed. The use of digital tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies \u2013 including arti\u00adfi\u00adcial intel\u00adli\u00adgence \u2013 still offers extremely high added value. We are contin\u00adu\u00adously working to develop our global customer service and exper\u00adtise to a uniformly high level world\u00adwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johannes Ketterer, COO and CSO at SCHUNK, explains how SCHUNK under\u00adstands and develops the customer rela\u00adtion\u00adship and how it puts the rela\u00adtion\u00adship into effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-cover.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,48,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein","category-01-25","category-trendthema"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2747"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3090,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747\/revisions\/3090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluejournal.schunk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}