With the US economy in flux, the nation’s manufacturing sector is experiencing competing requirements to improve quality and delivery while reducing costs.
It’s a war pitting US manufacturing against recession and offshore competition, with American workers as soldiers and machine tools as their major weapon.
Dr. Thorsten Schmidt, CEO of machine tool heavyweight DMG MORI USA sees light at the end of the tunnel for US manufacturers who use advanced machining technologies.
“As the largest market in the world, it’s very diverse and we see a lot of companies shifting and bringing manufacturing back to the US,” Dr. Schmidt said. “However, we still see a need to communicate with potential customers in the US about what kind of strategic weapons, as in technology and machine tools, that can best ensure their future competitiveness and success.”
This issue is exacerbated with America’s paradoxically low employment-participation rate in a market short of skilled manufacturing workers. It’s an issue that affects machine tool builders as well as machine users.
“The issue of limited human resources led to a program where we are investing more into our own future with apprenticeship programs for service and application engineers and even sales people,” Dr. Schmidt explained.
Planning for a Bright Future in the Machine Tool Industry
This ideology of investing in human and machine resources simultaneously is one that Dr. Schmidt does not see as often in the US compared to the European industry.
“In Europe, the machine tool is more seen as a strategic weapon in a company’s strategy,” Dr. Schmidt explained. “It’s not uncommon for a European company to have a three to five-year business plan, where they take a part of their total investment in machine tool capacity to plan for the medium to long term. In the US, I see too often that companies receive a job where they need a machine tool immediately,” Dr. Schmidt continued. “I hope to see more planning in the American manufacturing industry and I hope to see DMG MORI become a useful partner for its customers in that kind of environment.”
Despite the challenges the American market is experiencing, Dr. Schmidt sees a brighter future for the machine tool industry.
“I see 2016 as a very stable one for the machine tool industry and I think DMG MORI is especially secure with our new direct-to-customer business model,” Dr. Schmidt said. “Our philosophy is to communicate with every single company who is using CNC metal cutting machine tools who are interested in becoming more competitive.”
For more information about DMG MORI USA, visit their website.