Interview with Dr. Georg Kofler and Holger Hansen

1. Mr Kofler: In autumn 2007, you took over Leifeld Metal Spinning, located in Ahlen, Germany. What makes this company so exciting for you and what are your goals with Leifeld?

Kofler: The exciting element is the clearly recognizable growth opportunities. Engineering "Made in Germany" is renowned worldwide. Leifeld sells its machine tools to the whole world and demand will even increase in the years to come. In forming technology, especially flow-forming and spinning technology Leifeld has a long tradition and offers an established brand. The entrepreneurial challenge is to build on these solid foundations and lift the company to the next level of success through innovation, productivity, and first-class customer-service.

2. Mr Hansen: As CEO of an internationally operating, established German company, you have to face the challenge of reconciling tradition and innovation. How do you manage to get that balance right?

Hansen: Tradition means to follow proven technology and methods in ones own way. We can continue to use many of the developments of Leifeld's tradition or combine them with innovations. Modernization is an ongoing process, within the minds of our employees and for our products. Even small improvements and developments are first steps to innovation and finally unfold in new inventions and approaches.

3. Leifeld has been developing and producing since more than 100 years at its location in Ahlen, Westphalia. What are the values which symbolically stand for Leifeld?

Hansen: For Leifeld, there are three key values: reliability, competence, and progress. Reliability means that we keep our promises and that our machines sustainably increase our customers’ production safety. Using our competence, we have to prove day by day that our machines are best in their technology branch. Progress is the continual challenge to improve our machines in the interests of our customers.

4. What role does technological development play for Leifeld?

Hansen: Leifeld has filed a patent for more than 400 inventions. Amongst others, ground-breaking innovations in spinning technology, as for instance world's first CNC driven spinning machine. We want to keep and enhance this pioneering role. This is why we will invest even more in research and development in the years to come. We compete internationally and can compare our machines to those of our competitors any time – our customers do that, too. This comparison is not only a permanent incentive but also serves for position determination.

5. Machine tools manufactured by Leifeld are known for their first-class quality all over the world. How do you bear out your claims to be state-of-the-art on the market and to improve your position even further?

Kofler: We plan to be permanently one step ahead of the market! Our activities in research and development must be measured according to our approach.
Hansen: We specifically concentrate on internal measures and requirements of our customers: Internally, we have taken on more staff for our testing department and also modernized and increased our machinery. In the near future we will be able to offer our customers bridging of delivery times by offering thoroughly overhauled used machines and different financing solutions. Additionally, within our development work we offer our customers access to our network of experts, for instance to prestigious universities to develop new research results, which we mutually realize and market.

6. Do you set specific focus within your research work?

Hansen: At any point in our daily routine, our focus is the interest of our customers. We have a large group of customers with different requirements, challenging us anew again and again. The customers demand is the most important impulse of our research work. Our mechanical engineers often are away on jobs around the world and are highly respected by our customers.

7. How important is efficiency when developing new machines and technologies?

Kofler: Efficiency is of significant importance for development of Leifeld machines. Our customers must feel certain that with Leifeld machines they will obtain highest productivity for their purposes. Efficiency does not only mean productivity, but also endurance and longevity of a machine: the fewer repairs have to be done, the more efficient it is. Additionally, another aspect of efficiency is prompt customer service, reducing the machine's downtime to a minimum.

8. One of the factors of Leifeld's excellent reputation worldwide is their close cooperation with customers. What are the advantages of this partnership relation – for Leifeld as well as for the customers?

Hansen: We are not only an engineering company. We are also a reliable business partner, aiming to solve not only customer problems, but also giving ideas for creative solutions. To reach this goal, we have to understand our customers and their needs to develop custom-made products. This partnership results in a win-win situation: No one knows better about the use of our machines than our customers and we can profit from their experience and requirements. Our customers take advantage from our know-how, because we convert challenges into chances and increase their success significantly.

9. For your customers, the know-how of Leifeld's experts are guarantee for knowledge of yearlong experience. How do you as share holder make provisions for the future, so that customers can profit from Leifeld's high service quality in the long run?

Kofler: As share holder I am highly interested in Leifeld's permanent success. This is why the sustainable development of the company itself but also of their products and customer relationships are the core of all our decisions. We invest in research and development as well as in training our employees, so that Leifeld will stay competitive for the decades to come.

10. One of your top priorities is to consequently develop the existing strengths of Leifeld. Which other concrete plans do you have for Leifeld's future?

Hansen: Apart from outstanding product quality and absolute reliability, first-class customer service is one of Leifeld's keys to success. For our entrepreneurial action there is one maxim: The customer is king. This mindset must be anchored in all levels of our company. In the future, Leifeld will develop even more to be a full-service provider. We want to ensure our customers efficiency and investment security through competent consulting, latest technology, highest product quality, and first-class service. We impersonate our motto: Passion for Perfection. Made in Germany.