One brand, one promise: to enable customers' success
Interview with Michael Hauser, Head of Marketing and Sales Support, GF AgieCharmilles
How did globalization influence GF AgieCharmilles' decision to align its former brand names under the single GF AgieCharmilles brand?
Mr. Hauser: Like our customers, GF AgieCharmilles has been under increasing pressure to compete in the global marketplace. In the past 10 years, we have seen many different industrial market segments relocating their production operations, along with a significant portion of the tool- and mold-making segment to Asia. At the same time, the tool and die makers in our traditional Western markets have increasingly specialized in very demanding, high-technology applications while remaining the markets with, by far, the highest turnover. GF AgieCharmilles knows that bundling our forces and energies will allow us to remain a competitive, reliable partner to customers worldwide.
What will happen to the Mikron product name?
Mr. Hauser: The Mikron product range has wide name recognition and we will continue to use the Mikron product name on our Milling products in the near term, but like our former EDM brand names, Mikron is part of the single GF AgieCharmilles brand. Our other brands, Actspark, System 3R, Step-Tec and Engemaq, are not affected by our one-brand strategy.
How is your performance service package an opportunity?
Mr. Hauser: Over the past few years, GF AgieCharmilles has developed a unique and complete portfolio of products and services including the key EDM and HSM technologies, a line of state-of-the-art automation solutions and tooling systems, and the world's most comprehensive single-source package of services, consumables and wear and spare parts. Our performance service package is an opportunity for our customers to get the most out of their GF AgieCharmilles machines not only today, but across the life span of the machines.
Why hasn't GF AgieCharmilles offered customers this package before now?
Mr. Hauser: In the past, we were unable to efficiently pass these benefits along to our customers because our various sales channels worked in direct competition to one another. GF AgieCharmilles recognized some time ago that competition between our main brands, compounded by changes in the global marketplace, had begun to impede our group's ability to efficiently meet customers' needs, and we made the decision to promote a single-brand policy. In the last quarter of 2006, we began integrating our sales channels in the United States and Europe into one unique distribution channel. Integration of our sales channels; this process was completed in June 2007 with no discernable negative impact on our market share. Today, with a unified, global distribution channel unimpeded by internal competition and focused on customers, we finally are able to offer customers an unparalleled performance service package specifically designed to support their business performance.
With the enormous growth in the HSM segment in recent years, are you concerned that you'll lose your edge in the EDM market?
Mr. Hauser: No, because we know that HSM and EDM are complementary technologies. The most important thing when considering HSM and EDM is that GF AgieCharmilles has not only both of these core competences, but the expertise to support customers in selecting the solutions most appropriate to their manufacturing situations.
When will customers get their first opportunity to see GF AgieCharmilles new EDM and Milling products?
Mr. Hauser: At EMO 2007, Sept. 17-22, in Hanover, we will debut six completely new EDM machines and seven completely new milling machines. These are all new products and in no way do they replace existing products. We look forward to introducing our customers to our product ranges, which have a new design aligned with our one-brand approach: functional design focusing on ease of use by the machine operator, safety and workplace ergonomics. All of our new machines and machining centers feature rounded elements with an 18-millimeter radius, making them harmonious complements to the workshop environment. In addition, our new products have a new color scheme: an elegant and dominantly light gray highlighted with a slim, orange line to uniquely identify all of our new products as part of the common GF AgieCharmilles product family.
On the EDM side, our EMO presence will showcase the new CUT 20/30 wire-cutting EDM machines and the new FORM 20/30 and FORM 2000/3000 EDM die-sinking machines. Both of these new EDM product ranges put erosion speed, machine up-time and ease of use at the forefront, and the FORM 2000/3000 sets new benchmarks in die-sinking EDM performance, providing even our most demanding and forward-looking customers with the means to meet the highest requirements in terms of multi-cavity precision and performance. On the milling side, including the seven world premiers, we will present a total of 12 HSM and HPM milling centers, extending the successful Mikron HSM/XSM and HPM product lines, as well as the "Smart Machine" modules. The Mikron XSM 400 and XSM 400U establish new performance benchmarks in three-, four- and five-axis simultaneous, ultra-high-speed milling where precision and overall surface quality are concerned.
In addition, guests visiting our EMO 2007 exhibition space will get a look at the world-class services available through our Customer Service Business. These services, all available from a single source, include preventive maintenance, training, original spare and wear parts and certified consumables, our new, round-the-clock customer service hotline, and the GF AgieCharmilles Privilege Club which offers our customers cost-savings and exclusive advantages every time they purchase GF AgieCharmilles original spare and wear parts and consumables.
