Insight

For the first time in over 50 years the family behind Puehl will once again be involved in the day-to-day running of the business from 2020 – with the fourth generation, Dr Goetz and Ralf Kaltheuner, joining the operational board together with Joachim Rohwedder (CEO).

Over the last 50 years Puehl has always had an external managing director running the company. However, at the start of 2019 the shareholders took the decision that the family should get back involved with the business operation. Both Ralf and Goetz started in January this year and have been working across each department to further understand the day-to-day operations.

Since October 2018, the company has been led by another family member, Joachim Rohwedder, the father in law of Ralf Kaltheuner. He will continue to support the Kaltheuner brothers when they join the new operational board and take over responsibilities for different departments in January 2020.

The Kaltheuner family has the knowledge of the market and understands the history of the business, which were key factors in the decision to introduce the next generation. “Our great uncle founded the company, before it moved over to our grandfather and then father,” explains Ralf Kaltheuner. “We are now the fourth generation and we will continue to develop the family business for the future – offering the reliable and flexible service, which we have built the Puehl name on. Since starting we have been supported by our staff to enable us to learn more about the day-to-day operations, which has been a huge benefit.”

Goetz Kaltheuner adds: “For the employees it shows sustainability, because if the family is involved in the company it helps underline the family principles that have made Puehl such a success. Our aim is to continue with these principles and develop new opportunities to help us grow in the future.”

Puehl manufactures a wide range of stamping parts that go into a variety of sectors, which means it is not beholden to one particular market. “This is a very big plus for us, as it means if a certain sector is struggling, we have other fields to focus on,” points out Ralf. “For instance, currently there is a slowdown in the automotive sector, as well as the German economy as a whole. However, only 10% – 15% of our business is for the automotive supplier industry, so we have not been impacted as much.”

To further counteract the slowdown, Puehl is also looking to increase its sales activity within Europe. “We have sales representatives in France, Spain, Portugal, and we are currently looking for representatives in Italy and eastern Europe,” mentions Goetz. “We want to expand in these areas and be more proactive to grow our customers, alongside our existing customer base.”

A key factor in developing its customer base is the company’s commitment to investing in its infrastructure and the service it provides to its customers. “We recently invested in a new ERP system, which has played a huge role in helping improve our service,” states Goetz. “Introducing it was a time-consuming process, but it was vital to enable us to efficiently handle the volume of products and orders we work with every day.”

The new system has helped Puehl improve the processes in its quality management, as it can track parts throughout the production chain. “It gives us a great overview of the entire production process and allows us to offer more possibilities to our customers,” adds Ralf. “We will continue to work on our ERP system and look to optimise it where possible. We want to make sure we are as cost-efficient and process effective as possible, and the ERP system will help us streamline operations and make our processes stronger.”

Another area in which the ERP system has had a big impact is with offering ‘frame contracts’ to customers. “Our ability to offer ‘frame contracts’ is a big advantage of working with us,” says Goetz. “We offer six or twelve months ‘frame contracts’ where we stock customers’ parts in our warehouse. A big plus for the customer is they only pay for the parts once they are delivered. This means they do not need to keep the products in stock, and they can request them when they need them.”

Puehl ensures it always has a portion of each product in stock, guaranteeing quick delivery to customers. “We have several agreements with customers regarding time frames and delivery, and we are seeing a growing interest in this area,” adds Ralf.

Puehl has also invested further in its in-house tool shop, where all the tools for its production are produced. “We already have a high-level of machinery within the tool shop, which enables us to build our tools in-house with good quality and shorter reaction time,” explains Goetz. “The investment means we have been able to replace older milling and eroding machines with the latest technology. These newer machines are quicker, faster, with a better quality, and help improve the overall department. Improving the efficiency of our tool shop was crucial, because if you cannot produce the tooling it can hold up the entire process.”

In addition to investing in its services and infrastructure, Puehl is also looking to focus more on increasing the contact with customers through key departments within the business – not just its sales team. “Having contact with customers is very important, and having a personal touch is even more so,” states Ralf. “We have a vast amount of experience and knowledge within our different departments, who can all help customers even further with their enquiries. Our experts can talk to customers about options regarding changing from a turned part to a stamped part or help with designing more special and complex parts. We can give customers technical know-how and support so they can produce at volume at a better price, with a better quality.”

Puehl is very good in the bigger sizes, where turned parts are normally used, meaning it can offer a good alternative. “Thanks to our wide range of machinery, from 100 tonnes up to 1,000 tonnes, we can produce parts from M3 – M72, with the possibility of M80, and offer customers a wide range of high performance solutions,” explains Goetz. “Customers are checking parts more and more and the quality level is always increasing, so being able to reliably supply high-quality products is essential.”

“As a business we are well known within the industry and by working with customers we can continue to provide the products and service that has established Puehl as a leading brand for stamping parts,” finishes Ralf. “As the fourth generation, we are looking to continue the family philosophy whilst growing in partnership with our customers.”

www.puehl.de