Bonding - More than materials | Herrmann Ultraschall

1 USA scouting trip April 1989 with the big “ American carriage.” 2 Mentor and friend John Legat and Thomas Herrmann in the summer of 1990. 3 North American ultrasonic campus in Bartlett, IL, near Chicago. 1 2 3 industry, he discovered the medical industry as a possible alternative route to enter the US market. “The industry places maxi- mum value on quality and consistently good results. We can offer this with our ultrasonic technology. So, in February 1992, I found myself at a trade show for medical devices in California with our DIALOG machines. Technologically, these machines were well ahead of all the others, a fact also recognized by the chief de- veloper of Hewlett-Packard, who by pure coincidence passed by my show booth. He was simply fascinated by the superiority of our ultrasonic technology and immediately invited me to meet all his engineers at the Hewlett-Packard head- quarters. Long story short: That was the turning point.” SUCCESS CAME WITH LOCAL INVESTMENT Thomas is still grateful to Hans, AKA John, Legat to this day. “He taught me values such as passion and resilience; he saw potential in me,” says Thomas Herrmann with a hint of wistfulness. “I learned a great deal from him; he was a good mentor. John took a lot of time for me and virtually shaped me into a businessman. Today I think that my chances of success in the USA would have been significantly smaller if I had not had him at my side!” The breakthrough in Amer- ica was followed by the es- tablishment of headquarters in China and Japan. “Here, too, we were market-driven: Where our customers go, The internationalization was important but anything but easy. “My father didn’t speak any English and had no ambitions of expanding overseas. Until the automo- tive suppliers themselves were forced to produce locally, for example in the USA. And with our customers, so were we. They told us they needed our technology and our service locally as well. Had we not set up a branch, numerous custom- ers from the automotive sector would have left us,” Herrmann continues. “You can say that my father was somewhat forced to expand at the end of the 1980s!” AN AUSTRIAN MENTOR IN THE USA Then came, in 1990, the big jump across the pond to North America. In preparation for this, Walter Herrmann looked for a joint venture partner in 1989. “I had spent nine months in Kansas City for my practical semester as part of my me- chanical engineering studies in 1987 and spoke very good English, so my talents were needed,” he said. His tasks: write letters to possible joint venture partners and translate the replies. “It would be unimaginable to do some- thing like we did back then today; after all, there was no Internet as we know it now. We scoured through the yel- low pages and called pretty much anyone and every- one,” he says, laughing. The effort paid off. In April 1998, Thomas Herrmann accompanied the then Sales Director, who did not speak English either, on an extensive tour to introduce themselves to po- tential joint venture partners. “We met Hans Legat, the head of the American branch of TAMPO- PRINT, a native Aus- trian with a Swabian wife. On his return visit to Germany, he and my father reached an agree- ment and he convinced my father that I should establish a foothold for our compa- ny in the USA. So my wife Astrid and I moved to North America in 1990.” Although many of the employees in Karlsbad in the German region of Baden were quite enthusiastic for the internationalization, older colleagues were skeptical; including Walter Herrmann. Thomas Herrmann remem- bers: “Hans Legat, our part- ner, believed in us, espe- cially in me and my abilities. He placed an endless amount of trust in me. That was despite the fact that I was only 26, inexperienced, fresh out of college and therefore not necessarily the optimal choice to spear- head the expansion abroad. That was not at all easy in the first two years, as the success we had hoped for was long in coming,” says Thomas Herrmann about the difficult start in the USA. But things were about to change and his persever- ance was eventually reward- ed. Instead of continuing to focus on the automotive so do we,” explains the CEO. The Chinese branch also again started as a joint venture, but without success. With the move to Taicang in 2010, the former mechanical engineering student started afresh on his own. “Since then, things have been going well in China.” The expansion into Japan was also undertaken to meet the demand of large customers of the company. “Our customer wanted us present in Japan as well; this led to the erection of not only a sales office, but a further headquarters with tool design, application de- velopment, and service – as in the USA and China,” says the Herrmann boss. THE 3 COMRADES Each of these three head- quarters has a leader at its helm whom Thomas Herrmann knows he can rely on: Uwe Peregi in the USA; Shizhen Cheng in China, and Sohei Fukai in Japan. These three shape the international success story of Herrmann Ultra- schall. “Our Group would not be so successful in these difficult markets if I did not have these three com- rades-in-arms; I am firmly convinced of that,” says Thomas Herrmann gratefully about his team. “HARDLY ANYONE HERE SPOKE ENGLISH BEFORE.” “THE BREAKTHROUGH IN AMERICA WAS FOLLOWED BY HEAD- QUARTERS IN CHINA AND JAPAN.” “HANS LEGAT, OUR PARTNER, BELIEVED IN US, ESPECIAL- LY IN ME AND MY ABILITIES.” 13 12