“We are responsible for our own competitiveness!” 

Markus Feldenkirchen,
SPIEGEL-Author

From the land of 1,000 hills to Berlin and Washington 

While the Kraichgau region is often referred to as the “land of 1,000 hills,” Germany increasingly seems to be becoming the land of 1,000 problems. The opening speech by TV journalist and SPIEGEL author Markus Feldenkirchen focused on the role of politics and where the need for action is greatest. The former U.S. correspondent also analyzed the current presidential campaign in the United States – with a few anecdotes from his time in Washington. 

Ignorance as the most economically dangerous phenomenon 

For Arno van der Merwe, Vice President of Production Planning and responsible for the global network of Mercedes-Benz Cars, ignorance is the “most dangerous phenomenon” not only in local politics, but also in the German economy. However, Van der Merwe is not only pessimistic about Germany as a business location. For example, German companies continue to lead the way in deep system integration. Neither in China nor in the U.S. can the competition offer such complex production systems that take into account total life-cycle costs. This strength should be developed as a USP. His appeal: “We are responsible for our own competitiveness!” 

Arno van der Merwe,
Vice President of Production Planning, Mercedes-Benz Cars

Nicolas F. Steinbacher,
Programmleiter Deutschland, Northvolt

A painful transformation 

Battery manufacturer Northvolt is currently caught between the poles of political conditions and entrepreneurial risk. Nicolas F. Steinbacher, Program Manager for Germany and responsible for the construction of the new Northvolt plant in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, admits that the electric motor is currently stuttering, but believes that the medium- to long-term trend toward electrification will continue unhindered. Especially as the topic of energy storage becomes more and more important. However, Steinbacher sees it as a clear disadvantage for Germany as a business location that it is now questioning the path it has taken. His clear conviction: “We have to start this transformation now, even if it hurts in some places.” 

Naivety – a tool for innovation instead of child’s play 

For Christian Wehner, Senior Director of Innovation Strategy at SAP, an effective strategy for coping with such challenging situations is to return to a childlike, positive naivety. “For me, this doesn’t mean escaping into a dream world, but I see naivety as an excellent tool when it comes to change, transformation, and innovation,” says Wehner. For many years, naivety has been traditionally equated with being dull and lazy in one’s thinking. According to Wehner, naivety stands for straightforwardness, openness, courage, and trust. These are all qualities that every manager wants to instill in their team. And the “American Dream” is also based on naivety, in this case as an open-minded approach to things. Wehner believes that it is very important – keyword “unlearning” – to “sometimes shed a little bit of our old knowledge, because it often plays tricks on us.” 

Christian Wehner,
Senior Director Innovation Strategy, SAP

Torsten G. Müller,
CIO, Sartorius AG

Improved data quality with AI analytics 

Torsten G. Müller, CIO of Sartorius AG, also broke with supposedly irrevocable habits when he was given the task of digitizing the DAX-listed company a few years ago. To implement the project, all processes – from sales to finance and HR to operations – were separated from the specialist departments and bundled in a central location. And while the company used to have 5,000 employees authorized to change customer or material data, it now has just nine in a central data execution center. “We have also used AI to read over 100,000 CAD drawings, which means that our data quality has now improved significantly,” says Müller. 

Dovetailing process and leadership excellence 

Joachim Ley, CEO of ZIEHL-ABEGG SE, then explained the importance of leadership, especially in times of change: “The key success factor is the close integration of process and leadership excellence.” The first step is to build trust. “If we just dive right in, we’ll start 20 meters behind in terms of transformation,” says Ley. Trust, combined with a clear focus and as much autonomy as possible for the individual plants, created a positive dynamic at the ZIEHL-ABEGG locations. “Cultural change is the result of many people changing their behavior and is a top-down process,” says Ley with conviction. 

Joachim Ley,
CEO, ZIEHL-ABEGG SE

Joint plant visit at SEW-EURODRIVE 

The successful transformation at ZIEHL-ABEGG began with a best practice visit to drive technology manufacturer SEW-EURODRIVE. And that’s exactly where the C-DAY participants went the next day – to the motor plant in Graben-Neudorf. Johann Soder, Managing Director for Special Topics at SEW-EURODRIVE and one of Germany’s Industry 4.0 pioneers, did not miss the opportunity to personally present the perfect networking of individual production and assembly steps to create a highly efficient value-added process.