WEISS GmbH opens its new campus at Chakan, Pune that will house WEISS APAC Regional HQ
Dieter Weiss in 1967 founded WEISS KG Neckarweihingen near Ludwigsburg, German
WEISS is one of the world’s leading manufacturer of modern and efficient industrial rotary and linear movement in automation
Weiss Automation Solutions India Pvt Ltd inaugurated its new campus that will house Weiss APAC regional HQ, India Sales Office, The Engineering Knowledge Centre, Weiss Solution Factory, and Global Sourcing & Global Technical Development Centre. Uwe Weiss, CEO of Weiss Group of Companies congratulated his team and said that the new campus is a big step in the direction of growth plan and strategy for Asia Pacific and India Market.
In an online interaction with Mr. Weiss, in connection with their new Indian operations, Machine Maker brings you the exclusive story of the journey of the company since its inception till now. The year 1967 marked the founding of WEISS KG Neckarweihingen near Ludwigsburg, Germany by Dieter Weiss, who was known for his determination to go on his own way. His motto to be a step ahead of the rest and not follow the crowd enabled him to produce rotary indexing tables that simply won’t break through a strong product development strategy. He shipped the first WEISS rotary indexing table just two years after the company was founded.
In the year 1981, WEISS’ sales reached 1 million Deutschmark and the company relocated to Buchen in the Odenwald forest, which is the present location of the company. In 1985 the company witnessed an outburst of continuous growth and expansion of production capacity and since then WEISS has been unstoppable with the recent. Later in 2001, Uwe Weiss, Dieter Weiss’ son, joined the company and it began to spread out its wings. In 2006, the company began establishing new subsidiaries across the international borders such as in Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, England and North America, since then the company has been consistent in internationalising with new subsidiaries.
Post his father’s retirement in 2006, Uwe Weiss took the reins of the company and understood 50 years of WEISS DNA and further started shaping its future course of growth
Furthermore in 2010-11 WEISS forayed into the Asian market with subsidiaries in Singapore and China. In 2014 the company crossed yet another milestone by launching the WEISS AR app that brought the company’s philosophy of operator convenience to smartphones and mobile interface. Later, Uwe Weiss took over as the owner and CEO of Weiss and it was his dream to start their Indian operation, which saw the light of day early March 2020 as it was inaugurated in Pune, Maharashtra, by Dr. Juergen Morhard, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mumbai and Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, German Machinery and Plant Manufacturers Association (VDMA).
Coronavirus disturbed the plans of Uwe Weiss visiting for the launch of the Indian operation, but he and his wife made himself available for the inaugural address through digital means
In his address, Uwe Weiss began by formally greeting the gathering followed by introducing his team in Germany. Later, he extended his apologies for not being physically present at the press meet and spoke about the importance of the use of advanced technology not just in relation to COVID-19 but also to be future-ready since the times are changing.
Joining the interaction, Paolo, one of Uwe’s associates who has been heading the information technology (IT) department for the last three years, said that his focus is for the company to become an online solution provider for automation in the manufacturing sector. The company will be launching its newest website, which will no longer be just a website but will also contain tools that can be used in real-time for product configuration, product sizing, sales support, market analyses, and market challenges. Uwe said that they are very proud of the advancements they have made with regard to the website and industrial standardisations.
Paolo presented the WEISS Augmented Reality (AR) app, where their customer can view a 360 degrees perspective of Weiss Product. Uwe demonstrated the WEISS AR app live to the audience and said that with the help of WEISS AR app a salesperson can explore real size WEISS products in augmented reality. The WEISS AR catalog is available here https://www.weiss-gmbh.de/arapp2/AR_Katalog.pdf with the complete list of their products to view from.
Uwe said that the next decade really excites him and said that this is just the beginning. He further added that technology will guide through this shift to the next decade and that it would be interesting to witness this transition. Uwe expressed that the urge to establish a subsidiary in India grew on him when he witnessed a beautiful sunset from Darjeeling at the backdrop of the Himalayas.
I believe that in the next decade India will be the epicenter of industrial automatisation, and WEISS will contribute its expertise on the know-how of the internet of things (IoT) platform
With regards to the journey of WEISS, Uwe said that it began around 50 years ago and as a start-up the company did not have access to any kind of machinery but his father was relentless to manufacture a rotary indexing table that was reliable and of the highest quality. He further stated, “the indexer always goes into the heart of the machine, which is why reliability and quality are so important to it”. In the next few years, the company began to grow exponentially, enlarge its portfolio and expand by adding new technologies and software to their products.
Over the last few years, the company has been successful by building a strong community of partners, customers, and employees of WEISS, which is the real potential and future of the company. As a company, which has been at the very center of automation systems, it has gained a lot of experience in their particular field and has witnessed a lot of applications to make these solutions highly valuable and competent. With more than 10 years of his association with WEISS, Uwe’s motive is to give the company a global footprint and be closely present with their customers in order to understand and serve their customers in the market.
We would like to dive deep into the Indian ecosystem of the future and this new campus in India will not just be a factory, but a meeting point for a lot of interesting activities in the Indian market and WEISS group.
In 2017, Uwe was asked to deliver a speech at the Motek international trade fair, which is an important trade fair for automation in production and assembly in Germany. Uwe spoke on the topic “Detalization of Automation”, which was inspired by the acceptance and adaptation of smartphones in 2007. Smartphones changed the complete business model of phones and detalization of automation is also similar in the thought process.
Uwe said that detalization is just one aspect, but there is more going on in the field of automation. The biggest players of the automation industry began a radical transformation process in 2018 and that this would influence the automation activities and market. In addition, he stated, “besides this, megatrends are changing our market and our customer behavior for many years now and this transformation process by biggest players of the industry comes on top of it”.
In the coming years, Uwe said that the automotive industry will grow but other sectors such as lifestyle and electronics will grow even bigger, he further opined that automation will be able to meet the demands of these markets. In addition, he said that the markets are connected, and they need to closely work with each other to overcome the current crisis and he opined that it will be the real cause for the industrial revolution. For Industry4.0 the key was the transformation of IT and IOT, and for the upcoming industrial revolution in the next decade software will be key, and for WEISS it is important to network and be open to partner with new ideas. He stated, “We know how to make products, we know a lot about applications, but we need to provide IT platforms in small micro-ecosystems in the future”.
WEISS India team will be able to create a winning community and our Indian campus that got inaugurated will support, and we have the experience and the strength to become a respected player in the market.
Furthermore, Uwe stated, “all of us, especially small and medium companies are running against time because there is so much of potential out there, and we have to connect in order to protect our information practices and to bring the flavour and colourfulness into our business of tomorrow, this I think is the biggest problem for all of us to provide”. He also added that in the next decade India has a huge task in acquiring a strong industrial base into this fast-growing market. He also said that India has many unanswered questions, which can be answered by the millions of young Indian minds, which is one of the main reasons for WEISS to believe and invest in the Indian market.
Uwe extracted a simple example of digitalisation of money in China about 10 years ago and said that this will happen in automation as well because the pressure and the questions of the markets are huge and prevalent. Uwe stated, “We want to be sure that we can participate in this growing economy and market, again as WEISS we have the willingness to share our experiences and come together as a key player in India”. Finally, Uwe concluded by saying that he is happy and proud to have begun the India subsidiary and is very excited about India and the years to come.