Marcel Kiessling joined the management team at Gerhard Schubert GmbH, Crailsheim, on 1 May 2017. On 1 November 2016, the experienced manager with over 25 years of expertise in mechanical engineering was introduced to his areas of responsibility as Managing Director Sales, Service and Marketing.
pj: Mr Kiessling, what are Schubert's current priorities?
Marcel Kiessling: Schubert's current focus is on working through a full order book and evaluating interpack, where we showcased new technologies such as our Flowmodule have presented. We are satisfied with the development of our pharmaceuticals division and will focus even more strongly on Cosmetics concentrate.
pj: What particular challenges have you faced so far in your new role?
Marcel Kiessling: ... many meetings with employees and customers and a steep learning curve! I travelled a lot to get to know our international customers and business partners and to establish personal contact - above all, of course, with my colleagues on site in Crailsheim. They explained the individual work processes to me in detail, e.g. in the pre-assembly and final assembly of our TLM machines. I also attended training courses at the Schubert Academy.
pj: How do you assess the economic situation?
Marcel Kiessling: Basically, the economic environment is right. What worries me are the protectionist tendencies in the USA. The USA's problem is not too many imports, which have to be reduced with import tariffs, but too few exports. And you have to ask yourself whether this is not due to the low competitiveness of some American products.
pj: What effects do you expect for Schubert?
Marcel Kiessling: We currently have many good projects in the USA and will have to see what the Trump administration decides. But we are following developments closely and I regularly travel to my second home, the USA.
pj: What do you see as the most important tasks and trends in the industry?
Marcel Kiessling: The trend towards automation and greater integration of process steps in the packaging process continues unabated, and we will continue to drive this development as the market and technology leader. In our view, what is new is greater networking with our customers and machines on the basis of Cloud technologies. We see great potential here to create additional value for our customers and to make our service much more preventative. At interpack, we presented our cloud solution GRIPS.world presented to the specialised public for the first time.
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