“Our customers are more successful.”
Interview with Jürg Krebser, CEO of GF AgieCharmilles
Mr. Krebser, what led you to make the decision to combine the Agie, Charmilles and Mikron brands at this point in time?
Mr. Krebser: Over the last ten years, we have sold our products using the traditional, well-established Agie, Charmilles and Mikron brands, but now, the business environment has changed: The globalization of mold and tool making involves both ourselves and our customers in hard-fought, worldwide competition. Now is the perfect time to make the best use of the combination of three previously independent brands, Agie, Charmilles and Mikron. Thanks to this merger, in the future we will be able to offer our customers the best of everything, instead of standard products in several areas.
What does the new brand GF AgieCharmilles represent?
Mr. Krebser: Complete focus on the customer, innovation and a certain dash of “Swissness." This places the customer at the center of all our thoughts and deeds. We are concentrating on constantly developing our employees, processes, products and services for the benefit of our customers, and we take pride in guaranteeing the best possible quality, precision and reliability. These advantages enable us to promise our customers that they, too, will “Achieve more,” namely, that they will be more successful and achieve more with us – including in terms of profit.
What makes customer focus so special at GF AgieCharmilles?
Mr. Krebser: We already have a partnership with our customers, which is based on trust, because, as the only worldwide manufacturer in our sector, we have excellently trained employees in the very places that matter to our clients. In the USA, Brazil, Western and Eastern Europe as well as Asia – GF AgieCharmilles has sales companies in all four corners of the globe. We accompany our customers at their own sites, as it were, solving their problems by applying our comprehensive knowledge of their applications. Our well-structured service package enables our customers to use our machine tools efficiently and productively. This package benefits from the previously mentioned traditional values of our Swiss heritage – including quality and reliability – and is very difficult to match.
What innovations can customers expect?
Mr. Krebser: Our customers are typically under heavy pressure in terms of prices and competition. With GF AgieCharmilles they can rely on being able to acquire a wide range of technologically advanced machines, efficient automation solutions and comprehensive service provision, enabling them to benefit from commercially attractive applications. The bottom line is that higher productivity over the entire lifetime of a machine results in greater added value for our customers.
The merger will allow us to be even closer to our customers, when it comes to sales, and to be faster off the mark in providing them with support. One example of this is the creation of a central spare parts hub in Geneva, providing our European customers with a 24-hour service covering the entire product range.
Until now, every brand within the Group has had distinctive characteristics. With the amalgamation into GF AgieCharmilles we are pursuing a clear strategy of offering our customers new products in the future, which combine the best of all these characteristics.
Do you see any obstacles standing in the way of amalgamating these brands into GF AgieCharmilles?
Mr. Krebser: I don’t see any real obstacles. So far, the merger has gone very smoothly internally. Our employees clearly recognize the advantages and are highly motivated to join forces and use the new GF AgieCharmilles brand to further increase the success of our customers. Our aim is to convince our customers, with an attractive range of products and services and a friendly brand image, that they will be more successful with GF AgieCharmilles and that we will honor our brand promise ”Achieve more.”
We have recognized and dealt with possible reservations on the part of our customers: We will therefore be retaining tried and tested features, including for example the familiar way of operating an EDM machine. Of course, competitors will try to pounce on any supposed gaps, but I am convinced that we will successfully convince existing customers and new ones of the incomparable added value of the new GF AgieCharmilles brand, with outstanding products and services, as well as market-driven innovations.
What can visitors to EMO 2007 expect to see at the GF AgieCharmilles stand?
Mr. Krebser: GF AgieCharmilles will show its visitors what the promise “Achieve more” really means: Innovation in the electric discharge machining as well as high-speed and high-performance milling sectors, more productive machines and automation solutions, a comprehensive range of services and, ultimately, more focus on the customer.
As previously mentioned, these innovations at EMO 2007 in Hanover will illustrate the concept of bringing together the best of all the previously separate product ranges. The result will be even better machine tools from GF AgieCharmilles than was previously the case with the individual products from the different brands.
