Professor Niemeyer, what have been the three most impor­tant learn­ings since your start at the Uhlmann Group?

Firstly: Family-owned hidden cham­pions are confronted with exciting tasks, from brand strategy to designing modern working worlds. Secondly: Lead­er­ship teams can be young and successful. Thirdly: Our Customers promote a huge wealth of vari­ants.

Which attrib­utes come to your mind when you think of the employees of the Uhlmann Group?

I see the employees as highly qual­i­fied, committed people who are always ready to help.

You also worked in assembly at Koch, Cremer and Uhlmann. What were the biggest differ­ences?

The types of screw locking (laughs). No, seri­ously. The differ­ences are due to the compa­nies’ varying sizes and can be seen in processes and proce­dures.

From a mechan­ical engineer’s perspec­tive: What will be the greatest chal­lenges for the future?

To generate inno­va­tions quickly enough and to trans­late digi­ti­za­tion into busi­ness processes and prod­ucts. And we have to get the complexity out of our product port­folio, reduce the delivery times for new machines by half and supply spare parts more quickly than anybody else. And above all, it is absolutely essen­tial to take everyone with us on this journey.

2030 we are by far the number 1 for our customers all around the world in the areas of digital and sustain­able product solu­tions.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Niemeyer, CEO Uhlmann Group Holding and Uhlmann Pac-Systeme

Strategy 4forward25 for the first time is commu­ni­cated in an open and trans­parent manner to all employees. Why this open­ness?

For me, this is only natural. Only a strategy that is known by every­body and filled with life by every­body can be success­fully imple­mented.

An essen­tial corner­stone of the new strategy is Lead2Win, which primarily deals with lead­er­ship. How do you lead?

What is impor­tant for me is trust, reli­a­bility, setting a good example, and open­ness. Deci­sions have to be taken at the level with the highest exper­tise. Compre­hen­sive, fact-based and unbi­ased commu­ni­ca­tion is a prereq­ui­site. Autonomous thinking is defin­i­tively desired. Common goals are an essen­tial key to success.

Where do you see the Uhlmann Group in the year 2030?

In the areas of digital and sustain­able product solu­tions, we are by far the number 1 for our customers all around the world.

What will happen with the Keck­eisen plot?

We will make very good use of it for our vision of “Werk30” [Plant30], which means the plant devel­op­ment plan 2030 in order to ideally struc­ture the internal process flow.

Will there be an exten­sion of the parking garage so that there will also be enough parking space after moving back?

Yes, the imple­men­ta­tion and execu­tion plan­ning will start by the mid of the year. We will then have suffi­cient parking space avail­able when we will finally have all employees back at the site in Laupheim.

Let’s talk about the work-life balance: How do you manage to juggle family and job?

By sepa­rating the one from the other and by delib­er­ately arranging time for my family. And I also achieve a balance through motion: in the morning by running through Ringel­hauser Park towards Hochstetten, by riding my bike along the rivers Iller, Danube or Lauter, or by swinging my hockey stick once a week in the senior hockey team of the SSV in Ulm. Once this will be possible with the Covid situ­a­tion…

Do you also work from home, and what have you expe­ri­enced in the home office?

Yes, what I miss, however, is the very personal exchange, and walking to the adja­cent offices, through produc­tion and to the cafe­teria.

What is the proper form of address for you in daily coop­er­a­tion?

If no third, external parties are involved, of course Matthias or Mr. Niemeyer. But with customers, suppliers or in a larger circle of people, the title “professor” should actu­ally be used.

Thank you very much for the inter­view, Professor Niemeyer!