With over 50,000 employees, the 175-year-old family business Freudenberg is one of the silent giants of the German economy. We have worked with Freudenberg on several occasions.
Dr. Niko Reuss is CEO of Freudenberg Technology Innovation. At Freudenberg, he works precisely at the interface between technology, tangible customer benefits and consistent implementation and investment.
Our conversation will inspire you in your own approach to innovation and strategy. Even smaller companies with few resources can learn a lot from Dr. Reuss and Freudenberg.
What do we take away from this conversation?
Artificial intelligence is being used intensively at Freudenberg, but Niko Reuss still sees huge untapped opportunities. For him too, AI is the most powerful tool for greater efficiency and, above all, greater productivity. Every company can and must benefit massively from it. AI is becoming a license to play.
Innovation is change, which people usually hate. The technology, the idea, the concept are all important. But the decisive success factor is communication from person to person. From developer to manager to customer. Because people are and always will be the decision-makers and implementers.
Securing the future requires a balance between now and the future. Short-term successes, medium-term developments and long-term bets must be pursued simultaneously. Every goal needs a budget in terms of time and money. Otherwise you will either lose touch or lose credibility in the here and now.
Differentiating positioning is vital for survival. When products become commodities and competitors from Asia have massive cost advantages, cheekily copy everything and now also deliver the best quality, we have to consciously ensure through our business model and solutions that competitors find it difficult to copy us.
As we always say, an intelligent future strategy is your most profitable investment of time and money.
