The changing future

However, the complexity of the challenges for Kässbohrer will continue to increase, as Dr Christian Oberwinkler, CTO of the company, explains: “We see three megatrends that will have a massive impact on us: sustainability and climate change, digitalization with the field of artificial intelligence, and demographic change with the looming shortage of skilled workers.” According to Dr. Oberwinkler, the last point in particular will have a direct impact on vehicle requirements: “There is a high turnover of drivers who work with our vehicles – they often only stay for one season. This means we have to make the vehicles easier to operate and equip them with more assistance systems and AI support.” Kässbohrer’s product development must face up to these trends.

In order to better manage the increasing complexity and increase efficiency and quality, Kässbohrer decided to realign the development organization. With the support of Staufen AG, two central levers were set in motion: a value stream-oriented organizational structure with clear roles and responsibilities and the implementation of strict store floor management within the development projects and the line organization.

In the first step, the development teams were reorganized and bundled according to their core competencies and value streams. “Instead of a complex mixture of projects, series tasks and special topics, the teams can now concentrate on one value stream,” explains Michael Kuhn. The new product development teams, which are organized according to core competencies, do nothing other than develop the new vehicle generations, another team deals specifically with current series and warranty issues and a third team is already dedicated to the pre-development and validation of new technologies. By adapting the project organization within the new development projects, further optimizations could be implemented, as Jan Haug, who accompanied the project as a partner at Staufen AG, explains: “We have shortened decision-making processes and paths by putting the right people in the project teams.” But improving the structure alone was not enough; the processes themselves also had to be reorganized. “In the past, many processes were based on the accumulated experience of certain people, but that no longer works once a company reaches a certain size,” says Jan Haug. “We also had a situation where every technical decision ultimately rested with the head of development. That’s no longer the case today; now decisions are actually made at the point of need.”

More transparency through a daily overview

In order to consolidate and improve interdisciplinary collaboration and communication, store floor management routines with daily team meetings and visualizations on boards have also been established. Employees use these to share the status of their work and can escalate problems or bottlenecks.

“Without shopfloor management, our team of eleven would hardly have been able to keep track of where things were getting stuck. The board creates clarity for us and our employees,” says team leader Benjamin Zacharias, praising the newly gained transparency. “For us as managers, this increases the overview immensely and we can intervene much more quickly if things get stuck somewhere,” adds Michael Kuhn.

Cautious change for lasting improvement

Christian Burger, project manager for the new, all-electric PistenBully series, is convinced that the investment in the new way of working has paid off: “In particularly critical phases, the new system has helped us a lot to successfully bring our flagship project to the home straight.” However, it will still take some time before the transformation is completed company-wide – good change takes time. “In some areas, we are already fully integrated into the new system, while in others there are still things that need to be worked through first,” reports Michael Kuhn. “But wherever we are consistently implementing the new way of working, we are already seeing very positive effects.”

Dr. Christian Oberwinkler is also convinced that the change process, with all its efforts, is making product development fit for the future: “With the new ways of working, processes and methods, we are optimally positioned for the complex requirements.”

The managers agree: with the value stream-oriented approach and clear role descriptions, Kässbohrer has created the right basis to not only shoulder the challenges of sustainability, digitalization and demographic change, but also to be one step ahead as an innovation leader.

Dr. Oberwinkler is already anticipating a technological race when it comes to autonomous and remote-controlled driving on slopes and trails: “With assistance systems and AI support, we can prepare our vehicles even better for the constant shortage of drivers and achieve a real competitive advantage.”

About the company

With innovative technology, passion and creativity, Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG masters extreme missions on the mountain and in the valley, on the beach and off-road. The company develops and produces vehicles for slope and trail preparation, beach cleaning equipment and tracked special vehicles for use in rough terrain and on particularly sensitive surfaces.

The brands PistenBully, PowerBully and BeachTech stand for this. The portfolio also includes SNOWsat, a holistic digital solution for slope and fleet management, maintenance and area management. With the PRO ACADEMY, Kässbohrer offers a manufacturer-independent education and training concept for economical and resource-saving slope management. Sustainability and a responsible approach to people, the environment and resources are firmly anchored in the company’s objectives.

Kässbohrer is represented with its products in over 110 nations – from the North Pole to the South Pole. The company is the world market leader in snow grooming and beach cleaning. Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG employs over 800 people worldwide in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and the USA. Production takes place exclusively at the company’s headquarters in Laupheim, Baden-Württemberg.