Many new impulses

materialfluss: For the past two years, SSI Schaefer has been increasingly changing its orientation and also its external image. Where do you stand at the moment?

Mr. Meyer-Jander can certainly tell us more about the company's external image; we in the management team are delighted with the company's new image. What surprises me is the vehemence with which the topic is now being perceived. We have consistently developed the company strategically over the past five or ten years and see corporate development as a continuous process. The reactions to our course show us that we are successful. We have built on what we already have, so there have been no hard cuts or new, wild ideas. Our focus has changed and we have made adjustments in some areas. But basically everything went according to plan.

"Once the brand was defined, we tried to condense it into one word: commitment." Thomas Meyer-Jander, Director Global and Corporate Marketing SSI Schaefer

mfl: You have also renamed companies and said goodbye to Peem or Noell, for example. Will there be further renaming?

Harrie Swinkels took over as CEO of SSI Schaefer on January 1.

No, that's finished. The founding companies from back then - Peem, Noell and Salomon - have disappeared from the company names.

That was one of the fundamental goals: To present SSI Schaefer as one company and one brand across all divisions and in all regions. That was the starting point for our considerations - to transfer the company's strategy to marketing and we started - actually! - with a blank sheet of paper. Using employees, customers and market research, we first compiled the portfolio of what we do particularly well, i.e. our top performance, and derived the brand values from this. An exciting, but also very challenging task!

mfl: What happened next?Meyer-Jander: Once the brand was defined, we tried to condense it down to one word: "commitment": to the customer. Even if the plant is already in operation. To the employees. Being a good and reliable employer is a topic that is becoming increasingly important in today's changed working world. But we are also committed to the values of the Schäfer family. We are a family-run company, with values such as reliability, seriousness, entrepreneurial thinking and action to ensure long-term success. And a down-to-earth attitude. Once the brand had been defined, the question was how to proceed. Mr. Swinkels and the top management were very supportive, especially when it came to conveying the brand's message internally. We have 10,000 employees who are ten times more effective as brand ambassadors than advertisements in a newspaper.

Harrie Swinkels

Harrie Swinkels was born in the Netherlands in 1955 and studied business administration. Working in the logistics industry since 1981, he has gained a great deal of expertise - beyond the industry itself. Over the course of his career, he has held leading management positions in the International Supply Chain and Logistics Management Industry, including at well-known companies such as Rank Xerox, Volvo and Witron. With his many years of logistics experience, Harrie Swinkels has played a decisive role in shaping the strategic fortunes of the globally active family business as Managing Director of SSI Schaefer Automation GmbH and as a member of the Operational Management Board since 2003. Harrie Swinkels has been the new CEO of SSI Schaefer since January 1, 2018, succeeding Rudolf Keller.

mfl: So the brand has been sharpened and realigned. What about the products, Mr. Swinkels: more hardware, more software, a focus on specific markets, new business areas - where is the journey heading?

The pursuit of innovation and diversification has always been a success factor for SSI Schaefer. A new path for us is the topic of big data: collecting customer data, creating platforms for the data and so on. This involves the question of how to process and visualize the data, optimize processes and ultimately use it for the benefit of the customer. That is very exciting. Apart from that, we won't be adding any rockets or drones to our portfolio in the near future (laughs), but rather driving forward the evolution of our products. There may be additions in the field of robotics. But that's more work on the toolbox, while big data is a journey into a new country.

mfl: And an area where a lot of innovation is still possible. What about the hardware? Recently, an industrial truck manufacturer presented its own SRM - will the SSI Schaefer stacker now follow as a counter? Swinkels: No. We have a portfolio in the AGV sector that we will continue to maintain. However, we are not interested in the vehicle; there are already companies with very good products that we can work with. We don't have to offer everything ourselves, but rather work more and more with partner companies, ideally with companies in which we have a stake. You have to secure the know-how.

Thomas Meyer-Jander

Thomas Meyer-Jander (46) studied economics in Dortmund and subsequently held several senior marketing positions in the telecommunications and automotive industries, including at what is now Verizon, at a subsidiary of Telefonica and at Toyota. Following the announcement of Volkswagen's entry into the FIA World Rally Championship, the accompanying global brand program for the Polo model was developed and implemented under his leadership. As Vice President Marketing and Communications at SSI Schaefer, he has been responsible for global marketing as well as corporate and product communications since 2016.

mfl: So a new player in your market doesn't really worry you?

You saw the new products at our Media Forum - the new shuttle is a very exciting addition. Our conveyor technology is also constantly being optimized. But all this will no longer be the decisive factor as to whether the SRM is painted green or yellow or whether it travels four or five meters per second. This is standard and can be compared to the automotive industry - the big leap is not the new model from Mercedes or Audi, but the path to electromobility, digitalization or autonomous driving. We believe we are well positioned here.

Thomas Meyer-Jander.

mfl: Will SSI Schaefer continue to be the place to go for the mega projects or will it also score in smaller orders of magnitude?Swinkels: Allow me to correct you here. 70 to 80 percent of our projects have a volume in the single-digit million range. The major projects don't account for as much as they might seem. In the past, we have perhaps placed too much emphasis on the presentation of these major projects in order to show what we can achieve. But the fact is that many customers around the world trust us with smaller and medium-sized projects in all the markets in which we are represented.

mfl: Is there more margin in the smaller projects?Swinkels: Generally speaking, yes, if you do it well and have your business under control. If, on the other hand, you have to fly to Brazil twice to coordinate a 1.5 million euro plant, the margin is ruined. You have to solve that locally.

"The pursuit of innovation and diversification has always been a success factor for SSI Schaefer." Harrie Swinkels, CEO SSI Schaefer

mfl: You have been CEO of the company for a few weeks now. How are you doing in your new role?

It's a really exciting time. I have even more respect for the task today than I did a few weeks ago, if you know what I mean. But there was no handover at the office door in that sense. Mr. Keller and I worked together for a long time and consistently took the team in the new direction. Nevertheless, the transition has generated many ideas for new directions in the company. This has less to do with me as a person than with the change at the top of the company itself and certain restructuring measures. Fortunately, I can work with an experienced team that knows what it is doing very well.

Intra says: On course

It's been a while since SSI Schaefer caused a stir at LogiMAT with its new trade fair stand: bright, friendly, open and communicative, the hall-high shelving walls were a thing of the past. Just an external feature, of course, but the path that the market leader has taken in terms of communication since then has brought benefits both internally and externally and is bearing fruit: appearing under one brand while dispensing with once beloved brand names such as Noell or Peem and local brands strengthens employee identification. And customers also appreciate things that they can easily remember. An exciting mind change that I will continue to observe with curiosity!

mfl: Finally, let's talk about LogiMAT: Is there anything you are particularly looking forward to in Stuttgart?

Yes, I am very curious to see how the market reacts to what we have initiated and whether the changes that the entire market is currently experiencing can be felt.

We always have high positive expectations of what we do. I am looking forward to the SSI Carrier as overhead conveyor technology, which we will be showing for the first time, to the new SSI Flexi Shuttle and the reactions of the trade fair visitors to it. And, of course, that we will be presenting SSI Schaefer as one company and that we will continue to make our refreshed brand image visible with new presentation technologies. I am also looking forward to the further development of our "Let's Talk" panel of experts in order to further strengthen our position as an opinion and competence leader.

mfl: Mr. Swinkels, Mr. Meyer-Jander, thank you very much for the interview.

Martin Schrüfer, editor-in-chief of materialfluss, spoke to Harrie Swinkels and Thomas Meyer-Jander.