What are the biggest challenges for your company?

Dr. Jochen Kress: One of the biggest challenges is the technological transition from the combustion engine to electromobility. It is clear that it will happen, the only question is to what extent and how quickly. The second major issue is digitalization. It will have a lasting impact on how we will work in the future and how cooperation with our customers will develop. In third place is the demographic trend. The current shortage of skilled workers is more due to the good economic situation. We also have a political situation at the moment that we do not know in which direction it will develop. Internally, we are currently dealing with our strong growth: we have discovered that a company with more than 5,000 employees is different to one with 3,000. This simply requires a different organization and more structured processes.

To what extent is demographic change affecting the shortage of skilled workers?

Dr. Kress: With the so-called baby boomers, the largest generation in terms of numbers will retire. At the same time, the number of people starting their careers is decreasing. The supply is decreasing, but at the same time young people have more opportunities. This can be seen in concrete terms when it comes to filling certain roles and positions. One example: the willingness to work the night shift is falling drastically.

Is there no rotation principle in shift work?

Dr. Kress: There is that, but what would you rather do: work the night shift or work flexitime in the office with the same or higher pay? The salary is one thing, but the flexible working hours are crucial. In the office, you have the opportunity to watch your child play soccer or maintain your social life. The day shift used to be the norm for us: we started at 7 a.m. and finished at 3 p.m. - the rest of the day was still long! This is no longer the case with night shifts.

Another point is the high investment costs of the machines - that means the machine has to run! Demographic change raises the question: how can I operate the machine without someone standing next to it? Of course, we have the option of operating our machines economically over their service life, but we generally have to find ways to enable employees in production to work more flexible hours.

Which specialists are you specifically looking for?

Dr. Kress: Of course we are always looking for skilled workers for production, from cutting machine operators to technicians and engineers. And of course IT specialists. This is very exciting for us, as we are not a traditional employer for IT specialists. In the meantime, however, we have also built up a certain reputation in this area.
However, we have also noticed that a cutting machine operator who trains with us is already tied to the industry to a certain extent with the knowledge they have acquired. It's different for IT specialists: they can program in any industry. An IT specialist is also productive within a few days as soon as they have understood the task area. External cutting machine operators first have to understand our products and familiarize themselves with our machines - that takes a while.

How many of your cutting machine operators are training to become technicians?

Dr. Kress: A great many. There are also phases in which almost an entire training cohort completes the technician training. We generally support qualification measures for our employees if it suits their personal and corporate development.

You recently mentioned that the proportion of women among cutting machine operators is increasing. Why is that?

Dr. Kress: In the trainee sector, the proportion of women is around 20 percent, but I honestly don't know what motivated the young women to choose this career. We are pleased about that. However, it doesn't matter to us what gender someone is. Different views, different life experiences and different backgrounds are the decisive factors in finding profitable solutions.

Which processes can still be automated in your production?

Dr. Kress: As we are not a large-scale manufacturer but a small-scale manufacturer, the potential is still high. However, many automation options are only just emerging. It's easy to say: put a robot on the machine. But that's too short-sighted: for a robot to work, data must be represented with the appropriate quality. A robot does exactly what it is told, it does not yet have the sensory, haptic and mental abilities to compensate for errors. It stubbornly follows its program and if, for example, the tool length is entered incorrectly, it simply crashes. Humans, on the other hand, are wonderful because they can recognize errors before and after the process and compensate for them. Another example: A person hears how a tool wears out. But how do I get a machine to do this?

Couldn't machine learning help here?

Dr. Kress: First of all, processes have to be clearly defined and then you can think about machine learning. But is it worth the effort? Of course there are sensors and algorithms that can provide support here. The development effort required to automate this little detail of "when do I change a tool" is currently out of all proportion. The question of what it means to take people out of production will keep us busy for a very long time. Industry 4.0 is not a switch that you flip; there are many steps that we have to take here.

A good database is one side of the coin; employees must also be able to handle the new technologies. What approaches are you taking here?

Dr. Kress: Of course, employees need to be trained accordingly. But for us, it's primarily about how we network different topics and areas within the company so that we minimize media disruptions.

How do you bring OT (operational technologies) and IT together?

Dr. Kress: It is always difficult when, for example, one person speaks German and the other French; it takes time for both to speak the other's language. IT has the methodological expertise, OT has the technical production know-how, and here too it takes time before both can communicate with each other. For us machining technicians, IT was ultimately always the means to an end; today we can no longer change processes without it. However, we now speak the same language in many areas. And if you create common goals, it works very well!

How do trends such as electromobility influence your work?

Dr. Kress: As a tool manufacturer, we always work on what other people come up with. We then have to ask ourselves how we can manage this with our resources. Electromobility means less business per se, because an electric motor offers less machining capacity than a combustion engine. Nevertheless, we want to take a strong position in this business area.

How e-mobility will ultimately affect us depends on various factors. 1. how quickly and to what extent will the changeover take place? 2. how many cars will be produced in the future? And 3. what exactly is the design of the vehicles? At the moment, for example, a Golf only has one motor; in future, an e-Golf will have one or two motors, depending on its performance. Although an electric motor offers less machining scope, if several motors are required per vehicle, we could compensate for this. Electric motor housings are also more complex.

They practically react to market trends, but have no influence.

Dr. Kress: We don't have direct access to the consumer, so we don't have to constantly react to short-term trends. In the case of e-mobility, by the time a trend reaches us, the car has already been developed and the machine for production has already been selected. Only then does the manufacturer come to us and ask for the right tools. We are always dependent on those who produce something and how they produce it: If the product is cast or additively manufactured, we have little or no involvement in production.

We have grown in the automotive sector over the last 30 to 40 years. For us, electromobility also means that we are becoming more involved in other markets. These include aviation and also tool and mold making.

Do you experiment with different metal powders for your additively manufactured tools?

Dr. Kress: We use conventional material in powder form for our base body and tool holders. We are currently testing a ceramic material, but we don't expect to see the first results until next year. However, the customer doesn't buy the tool because it has been additively manufactured or comes in a blue box, but because it offers the best possible properties for them. If the benefits are not clear to them, they will buy a different tool.

Is the hype surrounding additive manufacturing dying down?

Dr. Kress: Additive manufacturing will go even further. Materials will certainly be added and new applications will emerge. It's also about further industrializing the processes. As the process becomes better known, it can be better classified and new fields of application can be identified.

Will you continue to expand your additive manufacturing capacity?

Dr. Kress: This is largely due to our customers. If demand increases, we will continue to expand capacity. However, it will not replace conventional production, because the productivity advantage there is enormous.