In an interview with FUTUR, Alfred Geißler, CEO of DMG MORI AG, explains what his customers expect from modern plant technology.
Although some industries and regions are experiencing a slight economic recovery, the current fiscal year is still marked by geopolitical uncertainty, ongoing conflicts, and low demand for capital goods. At the same time, our customers are under intense pressure to innovate and must invest in future-oriented technologies. Machine tools are at the forefront of this transformation. DMG MORI’s strategy, »MX – Machining Transformation,« reflects our commitment to addressing these challenges and providing holistic solutions, even for small and medium-sized enterprises. Close communication with customers and prospects, high-quality products, and comprehensive services are essential for survival in this difficult market environment. Accordingly, we continuously invest in research and development, as well as in our employees.
Our customers are faced with the challenging task of modernizing their production facilities to ensure long-term success. Products are becoming more complex, batch sizes are shrinking, and cost pressures are rising. Therefore, innovation, efficiency, and flexibility are top priorities. Specifically, customers need increased productivity and higher product quality, as well as reduced personnel costs and lower unit costs.
To meet these needs, machines must have a high level of technical complexity, which we achieve through a high degree of technology integration. At the same time, the worsening shortage of skilled workers requires user-friendly machines, digital operating aids, and automation capabilities. Longer machine running times by means of automation and digital tools ensure greater efficiency, sustainability, transparency, and reproducibility, which in turn form the basis for a continuous improvement process.
DMG MORI ensures the consistent quality of its components by maintaining a high degree of standardization with internally manufactured DMG MORI components and by employing a modular design. Sustainability is also an integral part of our machine development. In addition to ensuring high quality, we pay particular attention to making sure that all components can be repaired or updated to the latest standard, especially electronic components. One example is our digital, data-based CELOS X ecosystem. We offer retrofit options for older machine models to automate or digitize them, improving productivity and efficiency in line with the principle of sustainable production.
DMG MORI is responding to changing and increasing customer requirements with its Machining Transformation strategy, or MX for short. MX is based on the four pillars of Process Integration, Automation, Digital Transformation (DX), and Green Transformation (GX). By interlinking these four pillars as closely as possible, we offer our customers tailor-made solutions for modern, sustainable, and efficient manufacturing. By pursuing MX, DMG MORI is consistently evolving from a machine manufacturer to a holistic, sustainable solution provider in the manufacturing environment. The principle here is: The machine is and will always be at the core of our business! We promise our customers highly productive, precise, and sustainable machines of excellent quality and comprehensive service.
Through synergies from process integration, automation, and digitalization, MX aims to support users in unlocking potential for sustainability and innovative growth. This is how we are responding to changes in our business environment, such as the increasing shortage of skilled workers and raw materials, and how we aim to give our customers a competitive advantage at every step of the value chain.
Our machine tools often have a service life of over 20 years, which is why providing excellent service for every aspect of the machine is essential. We work closely with our customers to tailor our offerings to their individual needs in the best possible way.
We offer numerous services for our machines: from automation and digitalization solutions to various sustainability options and peripheral devices from certified partners to retrofit options or trade-ins at the end of a machine’s life cycle. We also offer financing and training. In short, our customers get everything they need from a single source.
When it comes to classic maintenance and repair cases, speed plays an increasingly important role. Customers expect a response within 24 hours. To meet this expectation, we continuously strengthen and train our MRO employees and rely on digital tools such as AI-supported detection and planning of predictive maintenance or our customer portal my DMG MORI. my DMG MORI acts as a comprehensive digital customer center – from troubleshooting to technology optimization. One of the most significant innovations is self-service. Based on error codes, users receive specific instructions for solving problems independently. This functionality reduces and strengthens users’ autonomy in handling our high-tech machines
As machine manufacturers, we must support our customers on their path to future-oriented production and help them make their manufacturing processes more efficient and sustainable. The following principle applies: People are always at the heart of creating innovations, advancing technologies, and finding customer solutions. Cooperation and co-creation offer enormous potential, both internally and externally. Internally, we are investing heavily in research and development, enabling our employees to engage in intensive collaboration to develop solutions and learn from each other. Additionally, we are working closely with our customers to develop the optimal solution for them. We collaborate with partners to develop innovations together. Only those who have strong partnerships and are willing to continue learning can remain successful leaders in innovation in the long term.
has been CEO of DMG MORI AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT since May 2023.
A trained mechanical engineer, he focuses on product design, development, and purchasing. Alfred Geißler has been with the DMG MORI Group since 1983 and, among other things, has served as Managing Director of DMG MORI Pfronten GmbH, the largest development and production site in Europe, since 2005. DMG MORI is a leading global manufacturer of machine tools and is driving forward holistic process integration based on technology integration, automation, and digitalization to increase sustainability.
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology