In the Interview: Ralf Schmid - "Strong People are Creating Strong Products with Strong Materials"

MR. SCHMID, YOU HAVE ALREADY HELD VARIOUS POSITIONS AT FREUDENBERG SEALING TECHNOLOGIES. YOU HAVE NOW TAKEN CHARGE OF ONE OF THE LARGEST FST DIVISIONS. WHAT ASPECT OF YOUR NEW JOB EXCITES YOU?

The Special Sealing Division fascinates me due to the multiplicity of its products and its complexity of methods and processes. During my time in General Industry sales, I worked very closely with the division and did more than one-third of our business with products from it. So I have some knowledge of its markets and customers and of their requirements and applications.
I have worked at Freudenberg for ten years. My long-term goal has always been to assume an appropriate responsibility in a lead center or a division. Before joining Freudenberg, I held a position at BASF that is somewhat comparable with the job of a lead center manager at our company.

WHAT STRATEGIC GOALS HAVE YOU SET FOR THE DIVISION?

We have to strengthen our business in North America and China and above all expand our market share in General Industry segments. This also includes the further development of our production facilities in Europe, America and China. One of the core issues of our strategy is to further develop our business in plastic and silicone parts and to achieve profitable growth.

WHAT IS CRUCIAL FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF YOUR OBJECTIVES?

It is important to me that we improve our competitiveness, which is why I would like to intensify our lean activities. Of course, our technology must also be suitable for modern processes and high-quality products. So we are checking to see how we can expand and improve the business with lean methods. We want to offer especially high-performance products that represent added value for the customer and that allow us to differentiate ourselves from the competition. Good rapport with our employees lies especially close to our hearts. I would like to jointly shape the future with people in the Special Sealing Division and further develop them in the process. I am betting on strong teams.

WHAT EXPERIENCES ARE YOU BRINGING WITH YOU FROM YOUR FORMER LEADERSHIP POSITIONS?

Immediately after my studies, I worked as a lean consultant and in various functions such as sales, product marketing, marketing and purchasing in later years. I worked as a supply chain director and, as I already mentioned, I was in charge of BASF's global glysantine business as business director.
The same central questions were important in all of these jobs. What does the customer want, and what does the market require? What must the product be able to do? How do we differentiate ourselves? And when we know all this, how do we manufacture products as efficiently as possible? All of this applies precisely to the further development of the Special Sealing Division.

WHAT EMPHASES ARE YOU SETTING IN THE INDIVIDUAL LEAD CENTERS? WHAT PROJECTS AND WHAT NEW PRODUCTS ARE IN THE PIPELINE?

The focus is on growth in North America and China at the Lead Center Special Sealing Automotive (SSA). In Taicang, after a localization project, we are nearing the regular production of parts that are installed in accumulators for the Chinese vehicle market.
At the Lead Center Diaphragms, we are strengthening our activities in products for General Industry in double-diaphragm pumps, dosing pumps, pressure regulators, gas regulators, large regulating diaphragms, and diaphragms for respirator masks, for example.
We want to move the business in magnetic armatures forward at the Lead Center Integrated Moulding Components in Kufstein. We would also like to become stronger in North America.
In addition, we would like to generate new, profitable business with two-component products.

WHERE DO THE STRENGTHS OF YOUR DIVISION LIE?

For starters, we have grown profitably in the past. Our division is very strong in product development and material competency. We have very good, highly motivated employees, and they cooperate very well with their managers. Strong people are developing and marketing strong products made of strong materials.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE STARTING POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT?

The potential improvements that I see include optimizing our on-time deliveries to customers and our service. We want to press ahead with production automation and strengthen our operations with robots and systems for automatic visual inspection.
We are not represented well enough in a number of segments, although we serve almost all of them. For example, we can still grow in the fluid handling and building engineering/appliances segments.

LET'S TURN TO GLOBALIZATION: HOW CLOSELY INTEGRATED ARE THE GERMAN AND AMERICAN FACILITIES IN THEIR COOPERATION IN THE SPECIAL SEALING DIVISION?

In the U.S., we are already working very closely and successfully with two SSA competence centers and in the diaphragm field. We have two very capable teams in Morristown and Findlay.

HOW CLOSELY IS NOK OF JAPAN INTEGRATED IN THIS COOPERATION? WHAT ROLE DOES THE JOINT INVOLVEMENT IN CHINA PLAY?

In the U.S., we have been very closely meshed with our affiliate NOK through our joint venture Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies for decades. We are manufacturing for the local Chinese market in Taicang and Wuxi in China.
In addition, our cooperation with the Industrial Service Division and the Strategic Sourcing and Trading unit can still be intensified. In certain segments, there is the opportunity for making production more flexible and becoming stronger at one location or another through purchasing.