The Bavarians came to the USA with 42 colleagues; today there are over 1,000 Witron employees in the USA and Canada who are responsible for logistics projects in the food, non-food, spare parts and medical technology markets. "I still experience working in the USA and Canada as a great enrichment. It is a privilege to work with people from different cultural backgrounds," explains Karl Högen. The Upper Palatinate native is aware of the requirements in both markets and quotes company founder Walter Winkler: "You can lose money on a project, but you must never lose your good name." Customer proximity, trust in the people involved, in the technology and personal relationships are crucial for success in Europe, but above all in the USA and Canada. "I've been with the Witron family for 19 years and, with just over a decade of experience as Managing Director, I'm more or less a newcomer to the Witron management team. Many managers have been with the company for much longer. North American customers really appreciate that. They trust us, because when you plan a mothership project together, you are aware of the fundamental changes that are coming for the organization, for the employees, for the internal and external processes in logistics."

This was also the case at Kroger - the first OPM project worldwide was implemented in the USA. "I stood in the logistics center with 50 colleagues and we planned (on site), tweaked and tested until everything was up and running," Högen recalls an exciting time. "At the time, food retailers were looking for a solution to pick retail units fully automatically onto pallets or roll containers in line with store requirements and without errors. We presented our idea to Kroger and the managers trusted us." Then work began. Kroger reported special requirements to Parkstein, sent packing examples and the majority of Witron engineers spent the summer at the plant rather than at the pond. But the great commitment of the employees was rewarded. The Kroger project was the breakthrough for Witron in the USA and Canada, and customers around the world followed the Americans' example and placed orders. Over 1,200 COMs have now been sold. The system is already running at market-leading retailers in 13 countries: Europe, North America - even Australia.

However, the projects in the USA and Canada were not only decisive for Witron's development in terms of technology. The business model of the logistics general contractor from the Upper Palatinate also changed with the Kroger project. "All of a sudden, we set up a kind of production environment in the warehouse with an OPM system. We were not only responsible for the implementation, but also for the complete system operation. We needed well-trained technicians for maintenance and servicing. The customers didn't want to do this with their own teams. They preferred to focus on their core competence - trading. And therefore handed this task over to Witron specialists, who are responsible for the system around the clock and thus guarantee a permanently high level of availability." The idea of the "operator" was born. So-called onsite teams also integrated in the USA. "We have always continued to develop and have always been different from the competition. We always want to be faster technologically. We are pirates, not the Navy," laughs Högen, echoing the famous Steve Jobs quote.

And in Parkstein? "We've learned a lot from our US colleagues, we've grown together. Many employees in the USA talk about the Witron family. As a medium-sized German family business, you have to earn that first. That is an honor." But sometimes there are still small language barriers. Högen laughs: "At the beginning of my career, I once had a call from an entrepreneur who wanted to sell me a kitchen and I thought he needed a logistics center for his products."

What is driving the North American market? "You can divide up the customer discussions over time. In the first five years, we mainly talked about IT structures, then about machines, then about ROI and today we are talking about intelligent automation for people, holistically networked "end-to-end" in the entire supply chain - from the supplier, to the logistics center, to the store or to the end consumer." Customers are desperately looking for skilled workers. "Modern, ergonomic systems make the search easier."

You can also hear what else Karl Högen is planning in the USA and what trends he sees for Europe in a podcast episode: https://ideenraum.witron.de/blog/we-are-the-pirates

As well as in the video: "3 questions for Karl Högen ": https://ideenraum.witron.de/blog/we-are-the-pirates

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Witron Logistik + Informatik GmbH, Neustädter Str. 21, D-92711 Parkstein

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Ms. Britta Gubitz, Marketing, Phone +49/(0)9602/600-0, E-Mail: marketing-at-witron.de

Witron Logistik + Informatik GmbH, Neustädter Str. 21, D-92711 Parkstein