Visions
A conversation with Karl Buxbaum

So the founding of your own company was just a question of time for you then?

I think so. In the end, he who wants to work for himself, with a full appreciation for the work of others, only has to take a step towards independence. This moment eventually came to me as well.

You ultimately founded Finzer Stanzbiegetechnik GmbH with Heinz Finzer in 1980. What led to this partnership?

I have known Heinz Finzer, his company and the employees for a very long time, since my time as a manager. Back then Finzer was already known for excellent stamping bending machines, a prestigious company. So I knew what they were able to do and what made them tick and I was sure that we would go very well together.

Even so, you could say that you jumped in at the deep end; you were still the technical director at Bihler. Didn’t you think it was risky to give up a safe job with a market leader?

You could look at it that way. But for me it was a different thing altogether. I was never one to hold onto the status quo, to champion things that he has achieved with difficulty. When you have your own ideas and visions of how something can be improved, then that’s one aspect. But when you also have your own beliefs about implementation you want to push the whole thing ahead and further develop it. Then you are literally itching to find out what else is possible.

Wouldn’t it have gone the same way at Bihler?

It definitely would have, but then it’s a totally different thing when you do something on your own. Of course Bihler is innovative, there’s no question about that. There’s a good reason that they are leaders in many areas. The technical and loyal environment was the best too. The five years at Bihler were definitely my best time as an employee. There was also the fact that the firm relocated their branch in Austria to the border with Burgenland. Overnight it effectively took me more hours of travel time to get to work, which bottom line really didn't make sense in the long run and simply took too much time. Time which I would have preferred to have spent doing other things.

Developing new products, for example...

By way of example, yes. But not just that. Heinz Finzer and I were in agreement that we wanted to develop innovative solutions, completely new approaches with which we could offer new or at least better products. Then when we had a market opportunity, and only then when we would set ourselves apart from the big guys, this was clear to us from the start.

The breakthrough came two years later with a very special contact welder.

Correct. At that time SBT already had a lot of experience in the resistance welding of contacts and we had the prospect of an interesting and important order. However, with the requirement that the retooling to other profile tapes should be possible rapidly and without difficulty and this definitely had to be within ten minutes! A huge challenge since back then the retooling times were still several hours long. Our solution was ultimately the quick change cassette system. In effect a groundbreaking innovation, not only for us, and the response was hugely positive as we made it ready for series production and launched it in 1982.     In this sense the HSG-500-E wasn’t just the first highly flexible contact welding head on the market; it was also the first milestone for our young business entity. It takes pride of place with us.

A lot of entrepreneurs had focused on making the most of the success of the product and to first make money steadily. But you had something else in mind...

The HSG-500-E was certainly a good debut, a wake up call for the competition as well. And of course they saw that they are making up ground again. So there was no reason for them to rest on their laurels. In fact we wanted to build on the core idea of the solution and to comply with our customers even further.

So you made every effort to capture a new niche? With the next surprise?

That’s roughly it, just that we are expanding our niche; we wanted to occupy it for a long time. In soccer this always means that “the game is always on” – it’s no different for us. First of all an innovative product is always a huge help; a triumph for that moment in time. On the other hand we knew from a lot of conversations with clients and business partners that there was still a lot of room for improvement. You will always optimize efficiency and quality, presumably that never stops. The next logical step for us was to build contact welders with a greater range of functions. So we continued to work meticulously and developed a unit that you can use to weld in all the angles. You can do that now with the HSG-600-E. Anything you want, and this was totally without changing over the mold tool. At that time even the use of dynamic servomotors with a rotating drive was an absolute novelty in contact welding technology. Almost just as dynamically we also gained further market shares.

Didn’t the customers bombard with engineering orders by now?

Hey, the door is always open! No, seriously, of course the product developments related to orders made up a large portion of our work. The bedrock of our success, however, definitely lay in the fact that we have always thought and behaved in a solution oriented way. As we were able to cope with joining the modular design we were also able to venture on other processes such as stamping, bending and riveting. We were also excited about over molding with plastic.

Are you pursuing a particular strategy in the realization of new products? Do you begin more with the technical potential of the products or does the market provide direction?

For the most part it’s a mixture of both; we try to link what can be done with what is desired. We always make the effort to anticipate the next market demands and specifically want to exploit the potential of the currently available technologies. Of course the customer benefits have priority but the vision of optimizing a process arises for the most part from the product itself, in exactly the same way as the approach to the solution, or at least it can be found in the technical environment of the production.

Could you explain this using an example?

We tried, for example, to blend the advantages of conventional stamping bending machines and presses and to develop a new machine from this, which can do both things. In this we were not content with simply filling a gap in line production; in fact we wanted it to be optimally developed so that the actual machine contains even more advantages. For example, in that there is now a new or an increased flexibility in production. By themselves our results represent individual modules that consist of a mold tool block and a decentralized, servo-electric drive. But it is what they can accomplish that makes them really interesting for the entrepreneur.

So modularity plays a double role for you then? In construction on the one hand and through the options for the clients on the other hand?

Exactly. Wherein the advantage for our clients actually generates three times the added value: First of all through more flexibility in complex applications with high versatility of the parts. Secondly through the increased performance capacities using the quick change mold tool systems that save time and money. And thirdly through more cost effectiveness and efficiency in production as a whole.

Isn’t the cost factor a double-edged sword in this?

What do you mean by that?

Don’t versatile machines like this, particularly those designed for complex operating procedures, require highly qualified personnel as well? − Key word: Shortage of skilled labor?

No, not at all. SBT machines really are very easy to operate, ask anyone in production sometime. This was also our goal from the outset. Our machines shouldn’t just allow the workers to adjust and repair the mold tools themselves, this has to be done simply as well. The lack of well educated people will certainly grow in the future. So it is important to use the available employees as efficiently as possible. Incidentally: It actually isn’t true that it is becoming more and more difficult to get qualified machine personnel. When personnel, for example, have to make mold tool adjustments directly on the machine in a loud and even dusty environment, this isn’t just an unattractive working environment, it also impacts ones ability to concentrate and almost inevitably has an increased rate of errors as a result.

So is simple operation an important factor in product design at SBT?

It is important to us in principle to perfect the technology so that the most complex tasks can be accomplished with the simplest manipulation. Without a lot of prior technical knowledge. But we are still looking at this. For example, at the moment we are working on an option of retooling modules electronically. I am even thinking about unmanned production in the area of stamping bending technology, but it is still too early for this ...

What hidden potential do you think there is in the stamping bending technology today? And how does the future of SBT Austria look – where is it headed?

In light of the advancing globalization I believe that it is of elementary importance to create intelligent machines and production lines that are automated to the greatest extent possible and that unveil more efficiency. And this is possible. Components, which don’t just optimize the precision and the production quality overall but which also optimize their competitiveness and demonstrate that they have a positive influence on personnel costs if not even lowering them.

Isn't that becoming even more difficult in global competition?  Key word: Low wage countries?

We do have to reckon with this but this is precisely why we can prepare for it in good time. The technological development in recent hears has shown that products and parts are becoming increasingly more refined and complex in our market environment. On the other hand the simple parts are being outsourced and manufactured in Eastern Europe or in Asia - countries with serious advantages compared with the operating costs in Germany.

Will you be able to stand up to the pricing pressure for the long haul?

I am sure of this and the price of a product is always in relationship to the performance capability in terms of volume and of quality. As I said, the key products in efficient production are becoming increasingly more complex and complicated. As a result they will also be come more difficult to manufacture so a lot of know-how is in demand. The significance of efficient assemblies will increase considerably overall while the number of individual parts needed will shrink. This accommodates our application oriented modular design very well.

Thank you very much for the interesting conversation.