„We believe in being open to technologies“

Matthias Zink, CEO of the Automotive Technologies division of Schaeffler AG

Headquarters of Schaeffler AG’s Automotive Technologies division in Bühl. Cranes can be seen everywhere. A new Competence Center for E-Mobility is being built here on the company’s Development and Production Campus. This makes it the perfect place for a conversation between CEO of Schaeffler AG’s Automotive Technologies division, Matthias Zink, and Mathias Bihler about the future of mobility, innovations and the challenges facing industry. They start by looking at the technology group’s characteristic new construction.

Matthias Zink: What you can see here in Bühl illustrates and emphasizes the way our company is shifting in the direction of e-mobility. That is why we are investing in a project building in which we will implement cutting-edge working methods. On the one hand, we want to install a “New Work”. We are engaged in complex projects in which we are developing e-motors, e-axles and e-drives. These are very large-scale projects involving up to 250 people each. We want to bring people together, and that includes face-to-face contact. Complex projects encourage a team spirit in which the participants engage with one another. And in addition to using modern methods, we want to do justice to this approach in the various project spaces.

Mathias Bihler: I believe that if you use the synergies that emerge from talking and working together then you can be unstoppable. Technology is fundamental to Germany. We have vast engineering expertise and good universities. This constantly helps us show our worth on the global stage.

Matthias Zink: We once had a well-known saying: “If Schaeffler knew what Schaeffler knows!” The task is to diffuse knowledge in development centers in a way that makes it accessible and ensure that it is available for industrialization and manufacturing. If you also want individuality, that is to say entrepreneurship and a spirit of innovation – then that is an art. Following the merger with Vitesco, we will have over 100 locations worldwide. How to manage things on this scale is another important question. That is why we are building centers like the E-Mobility Center in Bühl. It is a competence center that is also responsible for other sites and for this technology worldwide.

Mathias Bihler: You have mobilized a great team around you, a team with real hunger, or so it appears to me. Intense, sometimes also fiercely-debated discussions breed productivity and ever greater proximity. We recently shared a Technology Day with you on the subject of hairpins. This once again brought completely new ideas to light that neither we nor Schaeffler had previously even thought of. I believe that this gives rise to a driving force that brings a competitive advantage with it. Our clear focus is on relationships and collaboration, not on selling machines.

Matthias Zink: I think we share this way of looking at things. We have a very high level of vertical integration and, at the same time, our proximity to our customers is our greatest asset. We do a great deal ourselves, for example we have a very productive toolmaking department. We want to be technology innovators not only in our products but also in the way we produce them. This then leads to exactly the type of discussion that you have with our people, where we also try to introduce innovative ideas into the production process. Things like this are only possible when there is an open dialog. To do this, we need good processes and machines. A readiness to innovate in the manufacturing field is undoubtedly a part of this. We have probably never partnered as much as we are doing now. For example, we have entered into a joint-venture with the French company Symbio in order to help greatly expand hydrogen-based mobility in Europe. Our partners are Michelin and Forvia. We do this so that we can act together to minimize the risk, but also in order to maximize the chances for hydrogen. It’s not possible to cover all the very many technical solutions on your own. We work in various consortia and also together with start-ups. Modern companies must be much more open when it comes to partnering. And also more generally about technological diversity.

Mathias Bihler: It’s possible to see many parallels. Strategic partners, for example Trumpf in the laser welding field in our case, are vitally important. We integrate Trumpf technology in our processes because we know that there are resources we can call on. Together, we are in a better position to address a wide range of topics such as emissions, energy efficiency or material use. For us, that is always a motivation in our own area, stamping and bending. And I think that the two sides go very well together. During our conversations over the last few months, we have revealed many synergies which have led us to take a close look at ourselves, further develop our own personnel and, most importantly, optimize our in-house processes. All of this shows that production in the mechanical engineering field isn’t old-fashioned; it’s forward-looking. And that drives us to extend our knowledge through training and further training, through collaborations with colleges and universities. And I think that that is what has made Germany great: Knowledge. And that brings me to the subject of digitalization.

Matthias Zink: When I look at our target markets, digitalization is playing a major role. I’ve just come out of a discussion where we were talking about Catena-X (open data ecosystem for the automotive industry). Dataspaces and data systems are being defined in which you have to find your own place, because there is no other way of controlling a digital supply chain. This means that beyond the products themselves, we also have to look at the question of processes, which is becoming ever more pressing. Standards, specifications, those are areas that will see very extensive digitalization in the future. We are very intent on digitalizing wherever this makes sense for us. This starts with the development departments and reaches right through into the factories. We have some lovely examples of smart, networked factories that we control digitally, for example in China, Spain and Germany. These are flagship projects. However, there is one thing we mustn’t forget. We generate a lot of data and relations between data; however, we still have to read and understand this information – as human beings. Working with all this with state-of-the-art tools, that is something I envy the current and next generation.

Mathias Bihler: Yes, we mustn’t forget the next generation. Digitalization makes companies more attractive to applicants looking for an apprenticeship, further training or an engineering position. It helps create efficiency in processes and makes information available to production departments with minimum delay. Of course, it will still be people who make the decisions. However, these people will be better placed to use information to make more reliable decisions. One of the more important things we have developed is therefore the digital twin to permit the virtual commissioning of our machines, something that really excites the younger generation. These are not “nice-to-have” offerings but solutions that boost our performance. And we are all racing against time. You receive an order from a customer. From that moment on, the clock is ticking. And the faster you are, the more likely it is that you will be successful. Digitalization makes an enormous contribution here. Always supposing that people see digitalization not as an enemy but as a tool helping them become more efficient.

Matthias Zink: And in all this, the question of sustainability is playing an ever more important role. The current generation is more aware of this than the generations before them were. And we must also take account of that. And that is just what we are doing, when I think of the amount that we invest in sustainable projects. For example, we have invested in a hydrogen-driven steelworks in Sweden. We have introduced programs to reduce our freshwater consumption, we plant green areas. That is something you have to do up-front if you want to attract sought-after, talented individuals or motivated employees.

Mathias Bihler: Here we are in the Competence Center for E-Mobility. What do you think the future holds?

Matthias Zink: I wouldn’t think of e-mobility solely in terms of battery-powered vehicles. We continue to believe in a transition towards e-mobility. However, we have also always said that we don’t think a ban on combustion engines is a good idea. You can have regulations and you can have goals. However, I, and here we return to the strengths of German industry, wouldn’t lay down the path to the goal. I would allow the technologies to compete with one another. We support all solutions. At Schaeffler, we have further optimized the combustion engine and worked on combustion solutions and solutions that make combustion engines more efficient. Hybrids technologies. We believe that electrification is coming. However, ultimately, the best technical and economic solution, the solution that end users will actually buy, should win.

Mathias Bihler: It’s important to offer a range, starting with a modified combustion engine that runs with e-fuels, and possibly also a fuel cell. The next stage in development is e-mobility. And e-mobility should ideally be powered using alternative energies. 17 percent of Germany’s electricity requirements are supplied by alternative energies, with 9 percent of this being generated by wind power and solar technology and the rest coming from biomass. You can see how much still needs to be done in order to switch over completely to alternative energies.

Matthias Zink: That shows just what a challenge transitioning to CO₂ neutrality is. And I believe that it is important to be aware of this when it comes to working together to define an appropriate, phased path to decarbonization. One positive thing is that many companies are already acting on their own initiative. Consequently, we are continuously covering more of our energy requirements in Germany with in-house installations. In Kammerstein, for example, we have our own solar park with a total peak output of 9.9 MW. But it will take a few years yet before we have enough renewable energy to truly power all the world’s vehicles. What we need first and foremost is a European charging infrastructure. The Green Deal was decided in Brussels and not in Berlin. These laws that we are currently seeing and will see in the future are European regulations. And that is right because constructing a charging infrastructure and defining regulations are European-level tasks. How much do we want to reduce CO₂ by and by when? That’s not possible at the individual national level, only at the European level. But it also means that any joint solution has to be feasible right across Europe. If you consider that 80 percent of charging stations are currently located in just four countries rather than being evenly distributed throughout Europe, then you can see that there is still a lot to do. I am committed to working together with our association, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), for the good of the supply industry in Europe. We are currently in an extremely exciting phase.

Mathias Bihler: However, I also think that Brussels must unite Europe again, because some countries are working to destroy all of this. Europe doesn’t just mean having the same currency or that it’s easier to trade; instead it’s about maintaining the power of Europe against North America and Asia.

Matthias Zink: That is what Europe has to do, be strong. Europe has not managed to show the same strength as the other two major regions: America and Asia. Sometimes we have over-regulated and done so in too fragmentary a way. But Europe’s actual aim is to be strong, just as the common currency is strong. The aim is to become CO₂-neutral in a sensible, feasible way. The answer is not to over-regulate or to stop parts of the economy from functioning correctly, but instead to innovate our way towards CO₂ neutrality.