INSIGHT Taking ‘Solutioneering’ seriously
There is a risk with hybrid words that they can be seen simply as smart marketing slogans. For Phil Matten ‘Solutioneering’ did make sense on first reading but a day at the KVT headquarters close to Zurich was an excellent opportunity to test the integrity of the strategy and thinking behind it.
metal engineering in Zurich. In 1950 the company introduced complementary products including blind rivets and fasteners. It also relocated to Dietikon, around 15 kilometres from the centre of Zurich, which remains its headquarters as well as a manufacturing site. It is one of KVT’s distinctions that
T
it is both innovative manufacturer and successful fastening technology distributor. The KOENIG-expander®
,
manufactured now in both Dietikon and North Haven, Connecticut, is a unique
he KVT Solutioneering Group owes its roots to Dr Ing. Max Koenig who, in 1927, began offering customised sheet
means access and regular connection to all tiers of the global automotive and hydraulics supply chain. It also means a very strong engineering technical base, which includes testing facilities in both Europe and America that are regularly used to provide both quality assurance and modelling results, for example for anti-corrosion capabilities or tensile strength, to fastening customers. Least tangible, but of unarguable significance, is an innate comprehension of the needs of the manufacturer and its interface with the supply chain, which KVT uses to its advantage in differentiating the relationship it develops with its fastening suppliers as well as customers.
parted company with Debrunner-Koenig Holding AG through a leveraged buy- out. The KVT Solutioneering Group encompassed both sealing and fastener technology supply to a remarkably diverse range of market sectors across a growing geographic profile. Since the buyout additional European branches have been opened in Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. Most recently KVT founded national trading entities in both Brazil and China, with the expander acting as spearhead to these rapidly developing markets. Sitting at a meeting table in Dietikon,
listening to seven of KVT’s key managers, it does not take long to recognise one of the most important consequences of the buyout. KVT has a management team that, all the evidence suggests very effectively, has melded a rich seam of experience and knowledge with some extremely incisive business brainpower. No question either, that the resultant combination has a clear and critical understanding of the KVT strengths, which can be effectively deployed to drive the group from a still primarily central European business to the genuine global player, now required by many of its major accounts and stakeholders. ‘Solutioneering’ is at the core of that
sealing system for drilled holes. Innovated in the 1970s primarily for hydraulic applications it today ensures safe and tight closures, even at extreme pressure loading, in a wide range of applications, including engine, power transmission, steering and fuel injection systems for many automotive manufacturers. As well as contributing substantially to the sales and profitability the expander business imparts a series of invaluable advantages to its fastener technology counterpart. Its innovatory design and engineering integrity have, even after 40 years, only been bettered by KVT’s own developments, making it one of the world’s leading sealing systems. For the KVT group that
50 In 1973 a second location was founded
in Illerrieden, Germany and in 1992 Debrunner-Koenig Holding, as it was then, developed a KVT sales and distribution presence in Asten, Austria. In the early years of the next decade KVT established a presence in Gdansk, Poland and at Brno, in the Czech Republic. The most significant development in its international profile came in 2008 through the acquisition of the sealing plug distribution part of Sherex Industries and Farmington Engineering in the US, which becoming KVT Koenig LLC meant the American market could for the first time be serviced in situ. In 2008 Koenig Verbindungstechnik
Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 69 May 2011
strategy. “We focus on customer specific solutions and on individual components and not the mass market for standard products,” explains Dr Frank Hilgers, head of group sales & portfolio and member of the executive board. The point is reiterated: “We are the company that provides the customer with a solution to their problem.” Frank is also quick to link that capability to KVT’s relatively unusual mix of manufacturing and distribution competences. “We are not a normal distributor because we are also a manufacturer. That gives us a special ability to understand manufacturers because as one ourselves we work with distributors, so we see both sides of the matter.” The solutions KVT offers are founded
on a series of strong partnerships with innovative and competent supply manufacturers. “We have a lot of good partners that produce premium brands,” explains Dr Christina Würthner, director group portfolio & supplier, and
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