The saws do not screech, and there is no sawdust flying around. Sawdust is dangerous; it can lead to damage and failures in production. HOLZMA has won the battle against sawdust thanks to a technology called dustEx. Darko Zimbakov demonstrates the principle, consisting of many small nozzles along the cutting line. These blow the sawdust over the work surface until it disappears in a suction device. In addition, a dust curtain seals off the work area.
This type of technology can only be developed with experienced and specially trained staff. Therefore the HOMAG Group trains many employees in-house.
At the German sites there are more than 300 trainee electronics engineers, mechatronics engineers, industrial mechanics, construction mechanics and IT specialists.
In the future, employees will have to know more and more about international business. Take Asia: “China is becoming one of the key markets for the HOMAG Group”, explains Head of Assembly, Wennagel. Just under 20 percent of sales are generated in Germany, closely followed by the People’s Republic. However, it is difficult to predict from Schopfloch what the preferences of Asian furni-ture manufacfurni-turers will be. For this reason the company is employing an in-creasing number of people at its Shanghai plant and training them in-house.
Most recently, students from China have been completing a dual training pro-gram within the company, with a view to taking over important positions for the Group in their home country. After all, more and more Chinese furniture manufacturers now take pride in showing off systems made by the HOMAG Group in their production facilities.
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In his element:
Darko Zimbakov, Head of Develop- ment at HOLZMA, explains a high-end cutting center.
Concentrating during assembly:
an employee of HOLZMA in Calw.
Blows away sawdust:
dustEx, a patented system of small air nozzles on the work surface.
FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE HOMAG GROUP CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.HOMAG.COM
NE X T LEVEL Growth 26
Dürr stands for highly efficient production technology for the automotive industry. And this is not going to change. In addition, the Group is positioning itself
more broadly in the mechanical engineering business. In the following interview Ralf W. Dieter
and Ralph Heuwing explain Dürr’s value-based growth strategy.
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Photos: Marcus Pietrek
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Ralf W. Dieter, CEO of Dürr AG (left), and Ralph Heuwing, CFO of Dürr AG and CEO of HOMAG Group AG
Why have you opted for the woodworking machinery sector?
Ralf W. Dieter: Wood is a fascinating material, but this was not the deciding factor. More importantly, the HOMAG Group fulfils all the criteria we have defined for our acquisition targets. The HOMAG Group is a mechanical and plant engi-neering firm, and we understand what matters in this sector.
The company has committed employees with unique know-how and strong loyalty. The HOMAG Group is the world market and technology leader but still has great potential and remains on an upward trend. It has accomplished a great deal since its restructuring in 2011, and this is a good basis for further development.
You have mentioned the potential of the HOMAG Group.
Can you be more specific?
Ralph Heuwing: There is great potential for business ex-pansion in the emerging markets. The Chinese furniture market is growing by an average of 6 % a year, while the market for the woodworking industry is increasing even more rapidly. The HOMAG Group wants to participate more than ever in that growth, which is why we are expanding our position there. The second potential lies in internal op-timization. This includes topics such as process efficiency, cooperation between the sites and globally seamless IT sys-tems. In addition, we can see great potential in the area of service – as is the case at Dürr.
The acquisition of a majority stake in the HOMAG Group came as a surprise to many people. Why did Dürr not invest in its core automotive business?
Ralf W. Dieter: Dürr’s focus clearly remains on the auto-motive industry. We will continue supporting our long-term customers with the same level of commitment as before.
After the frenzied development that started in 2010, growth in the automotive business has now plateaued. This was expected in view of our market share. Due to the position we have reached, acquisitions in the automotive sector would have made little sense. That’s why we are creating another mainstay for Dürr with the HOMAG Group.
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To what extent will the HOMAG Group benefit from its affiliation with Dürr?
Ralph Heuwing: The HOMAG Group has found a robust new owner in Dürr that has a long-term interest in the industry.
A lot of the optimization work planned for the HOMAG Group has already been completed at Dürr. We can draw from this experience and make use of the Dürr ‘toolkit’ where appro-priate. The bulk of the work, however, has to be carried out at the HOMAG Group: on the basis of a comprehensive analysis, the company is currently developing an optimi-zation program, which will be implemented from mid-2015.
What role do synergies between Dürr and the HOMAG Group play?
Ralph Heuwing: We want to achieve cost savings, for exam-ple through combining our purchasing activities. For this we require the domination and profit and loss transfer agreement, which has been effective since March 17, 2015.
The two companies can also benefit from each other tech-nologically. Dürr can share its robot integration expertise, while the HOMAG Group has innovative system operation solutions. However, the focus is not on typical synergies but on the exchange of information. We want to make the HOMAG Group even more efficient, with the help of all man-agers and employees.
The HOMAG Group’s profitability is currently below Dürr’s level. What potential do you see here?
Ralph Heuwing: The HOMAG Group will make a clearly positive contribution toward the Dürr Group´s EBIT in 2015.
In the long term, it is capable of reaching the same margins as our activities so far. The optimization measures offer a considerable upward potential.
What other acquisition plans do you have?
Ralf W. Dieter: We want Dürr to develop into a cross-sectoral specialist for efficient production technology with a sales target of € 4 to 5 billion. For this we need further acquisitions in mechanical and plant engineering. However, there are no major transactions planned for 2015; we are initially focusing on the further development of the HOMAG Group.
What organic growth potential do you see for Dürr?
Ralf W. Dieter: As far as the automotive business is con-cerned, we are aiming for growth at least in line with world-wide automotive production, in other words an average of around 5 % per year. In addition, we are using existing competences to develop new areas of business, for example we are expanding the application technology business with customers in general industry. Here, the annual mar-ket volume is around € 3 billion, and we want to participate in this.
You have unveiled plans to optimize and expand the service business. Where does Dürr stand here?
Ralf W. Dieter: In 2014 service-related sales rose more strongly than in previous years and exceeded € 600 million for the first time. The most important element in our busi-ness, and especially in service, is customer focus: How can we tailor our advice to customers’ needs? How can we en-sure that spare parts reach customers as quickly as possible?
How can an existing production system be made even more efficient? These and similar questions are being explored to ensure that we become an even better partner for our customers in the area of service.