How Kellenberger is strategically positioning itself to withstand crises

Mr. Liske, you have been the CEO of the Swiss technology group Kellenberger for just over 100 days now and are responsible for all strategic decisions worldwide in this position. How do you see the company positioned in the future?

Carsten Liske: I see my task as CEO to bring our strategy to life in daily business and, among other things, to drive the integration and expansion of new technologies. With the transformation program 'One Kellenberger', we have established the strategy for a successful future for all locations worldwide. We are a global player and must act as such. Our regional presidents know their respective markets very well and can implement the objectives precisely there. All these responsible parties form our global leadership team.

We continue what was started in recent years, including with the technologies of turning and milling and also with the construction of the new company headquarters here in Goldach. With the placement of myself and our CFO Norbert Finger in Goldach, the location of Switzerland as the company headquarters is emphasized.

In the new building in Goldach, which we moved into two years ago, the production of our European premium products takes place. Even during construction, sufficient production space was planned to enable future growth. We will continue to do this continuously. Our vision for Europe regarding our premium products is "From Goldach to the world."

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The global situation with many wars and crises is not quite easy at the moment. And especially the important industries of automotive and mechanical engineering are weakening worldwide. To what extent is optimism still justified?

Liske: Of course, geopolitical upheavals affect global trade, lead to disruptions in supply chains, and impair the stability of markets. The tariff policy of the American president is also not exactly helpful.

We draw our strength from our position as a global player. Building on our over one hundred years of history, Kellenberger is today one of the most successful mechanical engineers in the precision sector. We have been present in Europe, North America, and China for decades with large production sites that operate independently in daily business and also develop their own product lines adapted to the respective markets. This allows us to compensate for one or another unevenness in individual markets.

We have been present in China as a manufacturer for over 30 years, and our team on site today builds machines that are specifically developed for the Chinese market and its requirements. We already have many customers there in important future industries, such as medical technology, who rely on the high precision of our machines. Especially in cases where it involves the processing of highly complex parts, such as backlash-free planetary gears that are used in the joints of humanoid robots, so that these come as close as possible to human movements. These robots will play a major role in the future in care in hospitals or in the care of the elderly.

We have also adapted to the specific customer needs in the American market. For decades, we have served the market for special solutions, for example in aviation and the semiconductor business, with our modular Usach machines. The US market is a growing future market, particularly in the aerospace sector. The Kellenberger U-machines offer tailored solutions for aircraft manufacturers and operators.

But just as important for us is to continuously tap into new markets and segments. We currently see great growth potential in the ROW region, meaning the Asian countries outside of China. We will focus more on India and Southeast Asia. Therefore, we will establish a 'Regional Headoffice Sales, Service, and Application' in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which will also lead our location in Bangalore, India. We observe that the competition is withdrawing from these regions. I see this as a missed opportunity for growth.

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The industry is currently laying off skilled workers on a large scale. How is Kellenberger handling this situation?

Liske: Kellenberger entered a far-reaching innovation mode years ago and launched a new machine philosophy. We transitioned from a series-based machine construction to a modular one, allowing for a variety of technically convincing configurations and thus a very customer-oriented approach. This year, we can therefore show clearly above-average growth in the machine tool sector and gain market share in all regions.

It also pays off that we have sensibly expanded our portfolio over the past few years and have increasingly integrated the technologies of turning and milling alongside grinding. The highly precise Kellenberger super precision machines for hard turning in the premium segment will also be built in Switzerland in the future, with the customer-specific turnkey projects being realized with the customers in the respective regions.

For our customers, this means that in the future they will be able to get every machining technology they need in their production in premium quality from our company. Our broad success is also reflected in the numbers. The increase in machine sales means that we are hiring selectively against the market trend. Mechatronics engineers and application specialists in the areas of grinding, turning, and automation, as well as qualified service personnel, find interesting tasks with us. And that's worldwide.

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We benefit from the fact that some competitors are currently intensely preoccupied with themselves and some companies are even outsourcing service more. This is, of course, fatal in the long run and sends the wrong signal to customers. Customer proximity is immensely important to us, especially in service, which must always be present where our customers are. As everywhere, we consistently focus on customer orientation in this area as well. This means that we are present with local service personnel in all regions to ensure quick processing of service requests and to meet the customer on an equal footing in their own world. In addition, our customers find support on our online service platform in all areas from service appointments to maintenance contracts or spare parts orders to software updates.

The Kellenberger program was previously divided into brands, including the well-known names Voumard and Hauser. These are now to be discontinued. Isn't that confusing for customers, at least for those in stock?

Liske: We are, of course, aware of the great importance of the brands in our portfolio. Voumard, for example, was one of the pioneers in internal grinding technology and the company was market-leading in Europe for decades, if not worldwide. And even today, the precision of these machines sets standards. To ensure it stays that way, we have not only continuously developed the Voumard machines in recent years but also redesigned them, and today these machines are Kellenberger VM machines. The same applies to the Hauser machines in the field of coordinate grinding, which will be managed under the Kellenberger H series in the future. We use the original brand name as an abbreviation, among other things, to mark the respective technology. Kellenberger machines, which stand for external grinding technology, are now logically called Kellenberger K machines.

But of course, there are already thousands of our machines on the market that still carry the old designation. Therefore, I would like to mention another area that offers us great growth potential and that we are currently expanding - the retrofit area. There are thousands of Voumard machines alone on the market, many of which have become outdated and need refurbishment or even a complete retrofit to continue delivering the best results. This overhaul is definitely worthwhile, as these machines then deliver the highest precision and competitiveness again.

Source: Kellenberger