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Exhibitor Profiles
TMTS 2012 - 60 kilometer radius of the Taiwan machine tool cluster
TMTS 2012: A whole new vision for the manufacturing exhibition
Konrad Friedrichs - German Carbide: TMTS 2012
2012 TMTS - Worldmax
TMTS 2012 - Taiwan International Machine Tool Show 2012 - JETRO
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
High-value machining efficiency
The trend in the automotive industry in Asia is toward higher performance with smaller cubic capacity; and less consumption brings with it a larger mechanical load on the engine block. This requires high-quality materials made of grey cast iron (GG) and compacted graphite iron (GGV). http://cn.industrysourcing.com/emagazine-s/newsletter/1210/imna1210.htm
PTC ASIA/CeMAT ASIA 2012 opening ceremony
Cai Jin, Vice Chairman of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, Wang Changming, Executive Vice President of China General Machine Components Industry Association, Wolfgang Pech, Senior Vice President of Deutsche Messe AG and Lv Zhongxin, General Managerof China Tobacco Commercial Logistics Ltd delivered speeches. Officials of Chinese government, foreign general consulates, industrial associations, scholars, journalists and over 300 domestic and foreign guests attended the ceremony. James Fu, General Manager of Hannove rMilano Fairs China Ltd hosted the ceremony.
Read More:
PTC ASIA: Exhibitors Part 1
PTC ASIA: Exhibitors Part 2
PTC ASIA 2012, CeMAT ASIA 2012 Opens
CeMAT ASIA: Leading transportation exhibition in Asia Pacific
PTC ASIA, CeMAT: Local/foreign firms exhibit cutting-edge products
CeMAT ASIA 2012: Asia’s most important intralogistics trade fair
PTC ASIA: Foremost power transmission, control trade fair in Asia
Friday, October 12, 2012
DMG / MORI SEIKI: Global expansion through partnerships
One of the more interesting areas to look at when analysing multinational companies are the different expansion strategies they apply when entering into a new global market. History is full of examples of attempted business failures with companies expanding into places like China , South East Asia and even parts of Europe . However, when we look at some of the success stories in the area of global expansion, it’s hard not to find DMG / MORI SEIKI as a shining example. At the MTA 2012 Exhibition in HCMC Vietnam Anthony Evans of International Metalworking News for Asia (IMNA) caught up with Christian Braun, Managing Director of DMG / MORI SEIKI South East Asia and asked him about the company, their products, and the reasons for DMG / MORI SEIKI’s amazing success in recent years.
IMNA: Could you give us some background on DMG / MORI SEIKI and your operations here in South East Asia.
BRAUN: DMG / MORI SEIKI handle the sales and service of two world leading manufacturers of machine tools, GILDEMEISTER in Germany and the Japanese based company Mori Seiki. Over the years, both had developed a number of strategic partnerships, before they started their cooperation from 2009 onwards. Overall we have more than 10,000 employees internationally and a yearly revenue of about 3.2 billion EURO, which makes us one of the leading companies in the market. My area of responsibility is managing the South East Asian region, which follows the overall strategy of being close to our customers with direct sales and high quality sales and service teams in the region.
IMNA: German companies operating in Asia I’ve spoken to over the years pride themselves on maintaining their manufacturing facilities in Germany; however DMG / MORI SEIKI doesn’t seem to follow this strategy.
BRAUN: I’m not of the opinion that you only have to focus on Germany. Of cause we pride ourselves on our German roots, and we believe it’s important to stick to your roots; German engineering is known and respected worldwide. But don’t forget that Japanese engineering is also of high international quality. But regardless of our roots however, it’s important for us to be close to the market, even with our production facilities, so we developed a global production network to truly connect with our customers. Presently we have factories in Japan, Europe and one in China. In China and the United States two further factories are presently being built, and a new factory in Russia is planned for 2013. We are not what you would call a typical German company, but truly global.
IMNA: Do you find your customers concerned with manufacturing quality when they see your machines coming out of Asia or Eastern Europe?
BRAUN: It’s funny, when people question me on the quality of our products manufactured in countries like China; I always have a quick response. Pull out your IPhone and look on the back. It’s written: designed in California, assembled in China, and that’s basically what we are doing with our global factories. For example, when we’ve assessed the needs of the market, we transfer that knowledge to Germany or Japan where our engineers will design the product, but then it’s a question of how to organise the production flow and the people within the countries to always guarantee to maintain a high quality level. This is what we’re doing in the factories. One example would be the first DMG / MORI SEIKI joint product we developed with engineers from both Japan and Germany. It’s a highly productive compact machining centre we have on display here at MTA Vietnam that will eventually be produced in four different plants in Japan, Germany and China.
IMNA: What would you say DMG / MORI SEIKI’s approach to positioning yourselves in the market, is it the high end of the market you’re targeting?
BRAUN: The high end market is for sure a field we are covering well due to our innovation driven strategy and our goal of technology leadership in our industry. But that is not all we do. In fact we have factories in China and Eastern Europe where we produce the ECOLINE product range, which offers customers a lower price range of machines designed to cater for companies just entering the market or using technology for the first time to expand or improve production, and which are cautious about overinvesting.
IMNA: Another common approach I’ve noticed amongst foreign companies operating in the region is that they put a lot of effort into customer retention, is that DMG / MORI SEIKI’s approach to South East Asia, an emphasis on customer relations?
BRAUN: Yes that’s right, and what I mean about keeping good customer relations is having a strong application and service support, and having ongoing discussions with customers about their particular needs. What I feel is that with the highly dynamic development of the region, customers are looking at moving forward with technology and innovation as part of their strategy. So it’s not only providing leading products but providing the support to the customer with things like training and testing, application support, and on the other side, effective services support with fast response times. And of cause, there is always the added advantage of being the producer of the machines who is able to service them better, so it’s important to create that strong communication link with our customers. We try to assist them with all their needs, from the show room floor to the factory floor, providing advice on how to improve efficiency whenever we can. All of our customers know we are totally committed to the region.
IMNA: How long has DMG / MORI SEIKI been operating here in Vietnam?
BRAUN: We’ve been here in Vietnam for some time now, for more than 10 years, and we have an office in Hanoi and in HCMC offering a full range of services. Apart from sales and service we also have a strong application team here, which means we are able to directly support customers more effectively with application issues. Our leading application person here in Vietnam worked in Japan for 8 years and has excellent knowledge of the process, and we are finding our customers are increasingly demanding this type of application support. We’re also using our Technology Centre in Singapore as a main hub for support, which means we have our experts continuously coming to the country.
IMNA: With 10 years experience here in Vietnam, what would be your assessment of the market here?
BRAUN: Here in Vietnam we feel that the market is still quite price sensitive, which means we see a strong demand for the entry level machines with companies wanting to take the next technology step. What we’ve noticed here, is that companies may start with a second hand machine, and then upgrade to a cheaper new machine, but once they start trading in the international markets, as a lot of them do, and supplying companies in the United States and Europe, then they need the more advanced technology. At the moment the market is fairly entry level machines. What we are seeing however is a number of international customers who are coming to Vietnam to establish a footprint here in South East Asia and to service other markets. It is these companies which create the demand for the high end machines, particularly with companies operating in industries such as the automotive, mould and dies, oil and gas.
IMNA: What are some of the significant changes you’ve seen in Vietnam?
BRAUN: Well as I mentioned before, there is a definite move towards the higher technologies, and were noticing a race to grow and to develop competitive industries amongst most of the Asian countries. China was strong in previous years, and of course it’s still strong and will be the biggest market next to India, but we realised in South East Asia people are very keen to develop their companies here. Another noticeable change we’ve witnessed over the years, is that the sophistication of the buyers has increased tremendously, with a lot more of our local customers having overseas experience and knowledge. And it is the same with universities here. We’ve noticed, as DMG / MORI SEIKI cooperates with a number of local universities conducting seminars and workshops, there is a real hunger amongst the coming generation for the technological knowledge, which will have a positive impact on the future industry development.
IMNA: A lot of businesses these days are very waste conscious with regards to their operations, is this an area where DMG / MORI SEIKI puts any emphasis?
BRAUN: Definitely, particularly regarding energy consumption, it’s always a very big topic. In fact we have a business unit called GILDEMEISTER energy solutions that produces and sells large capacity energy storage systems, small wind turbines and solar tracking systems, and we are offering our customers various types of energy efficient solutions. When you look at the design of factories, there is so much potential to utilise unused space such as roof areas to create a whole power source for a factory. So for a very low investment companies can be environmentally friendly while cutting energy cost dramatically. In some regions a well-planned combination of renewable energy generation and storage also helps to bridge imbalances in the public grid, thus ensuring maximum productivity for our customers.
http://cn.industrysourcing.com/ezine/res/12/10/imna.html
 |
| Christian Braun, Managing Director of DMG / MORI SEIKI South East Asia |
IMNA: Could you give us some background on DMG / MORI SEIKI and your operations here in South East Asia.
BRAUN: DMG / MORI SEIKI handle the sales and service of two world leading manufacturers of machine tools, GILDEMEISTER in Germany and the Japanese based company Mori Seiki. Over the years, both had developed a number of strategic partnerships, before they started their cooperation from 2009 onwards. Overall we have more than 10,000 employees internationally and a yearly revenue of about 3.2 billion EURO, which makes us one of the leading companies in the market. My area of responsibility is managing the South East Asian region, which follows the overall strategy of being close to our customers with direct sales and high quality sales and service teams in the region.
IMNA: German companies operating in Asia I’ve spoken to over the years pride themselves on maintaining their manufacturing facilities in Germany; however DMG / MORI SEIKI doesn’t seem to follow this strategy.
BRAUN: I’m not of the opinion that you only have to focus on Germany. Of cause we pride ourselves on our German roots, and we believe it’s important to stick to your roots; German engineering is known and respected worldwide. But don’t forget that Japanese engineering is also of high international quality. But regardless of our roots however, it’s important for us to be close to the market, even with our production facilities, so we developed a global production network to truly connect with our customers. Presently we have factories in Japan, Europe and one in China. In China and the United States two further factories are presently being built, and a new factory in Russia is planned for 2013. We are not what you would call a typical German company, but truly global.
IMNA: Do you find your customers concerned with manufacturing quality when they see your machines coming out of Asia or Eastern Europe?
BRAUN: It’s funny, when people question me on the quality of our products manufactured in countries like China; I always have a quick response. Pull out your IPhone and look on the back. It’s written: designed in California, assembled in China, and that’s basically what we are doing with our global factories. For example, when we’ve assessed the needs of the market, we transfer that knowledge to Germany or Japan where our engineers will design the product, but then it’s a question of how to organise the production flow and the people within the countries to always guarantee to maintain a high quality level. This is what we’re doing in the factories. One example would be the first DMG / MORI SEIKI joint product we developed with engineers from both Japan and Germany. It’s a highly productive compact machining centre we have on display here at MTA Vietnam that will eventually be produced in four different plants in Japan, Germany and China.
IMNA: What would you say DMG / MORI SEIKI’s approach to positioning yourselves in the market, is it the high end of the market you’re targeting?
BRAUN: The high end market is for sure a field we are covering well due to our innovation driven strategy and our goal of technology leadership in our industry. But that is not all we do. In fact we have factories in China and Eastern Europe where we produce the ECOLINE product range, which offers customers a lower price range of machines designed to cater for companies just entering the market or using technology for the first time to expand or improve production, and which are cautious about overinvesting.
IMNA: Another common approach I’ve noticed amongst foreign companies operating in the region is that they put a lot of effort into customer retention, is that DMG / MORI SEIKI’s approach to South East Asia, an emphasis on customer relations?
BRAUN: Yes that’s right, and what I mean about keeping good customer relations is having a strong application and service support, and having ongoing discussions with customers about their particular needs. What I feel is that with the highly dynamic development of the region, customers are looking at moving forward with technology and innovation as part of their strategy. So it’s not only providing leading products but providing the support to the customer with things like training and testing, application support, and on the other side, effective services support with fast response times. And of cause, there is always the added advantage of being the producer of the machines who is able to service them better, so it’s important to create that strong communication link with our customers. We try to assist them with all their needs, from the show room floor to the factory floor, providing advice on how to improve efficiency whenever we can. All of our customers know we are totally committed to the region.
IMNA: How long has DMG / MORI SEIKI been operating here in Vietnam?
BRAUN: We’ve been here in Vietnam for some time now, for more than 10 years, and we have an office in Hanoi and in HCMC offering a full range of services. Apart from sales and service we also have a strong application team here, which means we are able to directly support customers more effectively with application issues. Our leading application person here in Vietnam worked in Japan for 8 years and has excellent knowledge of the process, and we are finding our customers are increasingly demanding this type of application support. We’re also using our Technology Centre in Singapore as a main hub for support, which means we have our experts continuously coming to the country.
IMNA: With 10 years experience here in Vietnam, what would be your assessment of the market here?
BRAUN: Here in Vietnam we feel that the market is still quite price sensitive, which means we see a strong demand for the entry level machines with companies wanting to take the next technology step. What we’ve noticed here, is that companies may start with a second hand machine, and then upgrade to a cheaper new machine, but once they start trading in the international markets, as a lot of them do, and supplying companies in the United States and Europe, then they need the more advanced technology. At the moment the market is fairly entry level machines. What we are seeing however is a number of international customers who are coming to Vietnam to establish a footprint here in South East Asia and to service other markets. It is these companies which create the demand for the high end machines, particularly with companies operating in industries such as the automotive, mould and dies, oil and gas.
IMNA: What are some of the significant changes you’ve seen in Vietnam?
BRAUN: Well as I mentioned before, there is a definite move towards the higher technologies, and were noticing a race to grow and to develop competitive industries amongst most of the Asian countries. China was strong in previous years, and of course it’s still strong and will be the biggest market next to India, but we realised in South East Asia people are very keen to develop their companies here. Another noticeable change we’ve witnessed over the years, is that the sophistication of the buyers has increased tremendously, with a lot more of our local customers having overseas experience and knowledge. And it is the same with universities here. We’ve noticed, as DMG / MORI SEIKI cooperates with a number of local universities conducting seminars and workshops, there is a real hunger amongst the coming generation for the technological knowledge, which will have a positive impact on the future industry development.
IMNA: A lot of businesses these days are very waste conscious with regards to their operations, is this an area where DMG / MORI SEIKI puts any emphasis?
BRAUN: Definitely, particularly regarding energy consumption, it’s always a very big topic. In fact we have a business unit called GILDEMEISTER energy solutions that produces and sells large capacity energy storage systems, small wind turbines and solar tracking systems, and we are offering our customers various types of energy efficient solutions. When you look at the design of factories, there is so much potential to utilise unused space such as roof areas to create a whole power source for a factory. So for a very low investment companies can be environmentally friendly while cutting energy cost dramatically. In some regions a well-planned combination of renewable energy generation and storage also helps to bridge imbalances in the public grid, thus ensuring maximum productivity for our customers.
http://cn.industrysourcing.com/ezine/res/12/10/imna.html
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