Published on www.wirtschaft-regional.de
By Robert Schwarz
The sale of SHW WM has been sealed and the focus is now on the future.
The new owner explains what goals he is pursuing – and why the company is already looking for new employees.
The sun is shining at midday.
Wolfgang Schepp is too.
The Munich native is one of the new owners of SHW Werkzeugmaschinen – and is visibly happy about it.
“It’s a company that is absolutely unique in the industry. We are delighted to have been awarded the contract,” he says in an interview with this newspaper, explaining what he plans to do with the latest addition to the SFO investment company.
“We are pursuing an absolutely long-term interest,” says Schepp.
SFO has acquired several mechanical engineering companies in recent years and is in a very strong financial position.
SHW WM fits perfectly into the portfolio.
But “an investor with capital alone is not enough. We have precise ideas about the structure of SHW WM”.
Schepp and the management team want to restructure SHW WM to ensure its long-term success.
“We will optimize throughput times and internal processes for the new strategy so that the company can continue to develop positively,” explains Managing Director Anton Müller.
Initial improvements had already been achieved before and during the insolvency.
Schepp also wants to set a further focus: “We will invest massively in research, development and innovation,” says the investor.
For example, SHW WM is to have a technical center in which engineers and technicians will develop new ideas outside of day-to-day business.
The reason: “The competition never sleeps. In order to remain a technological leader, we must not rest on our laurels.”
Schepp also wants to increase vertical integration and added value, i.e. develop and build more parts and modules for the machines at the site in Wasseralfingen.
The investor also hints that he can also imagine acquisitions in this context.
“We are in good spirits. However, the company would have to be a perfect fit for SHW WM.”
Nevertheless, the focus is on organic growth.
Anton Müller remains Managing Director, but is no longer a shareholder in the company.
The management team of Werkzeugmaschinen is also complete following the appointment of Martin Greis as Commercial Managing Director.
Greis is regarded as a proven reorganization and restructuring specialist.
Together with Martin Rathgeb and Oliver Reuter, he and Müller will lead SHW WM into the future.
Schepp also makes it clear: “We are committed to Aalen as a production location.”
The Munich-based company has been impressed by the loyalty of its employees in recent months.
“During the insolvency, there was very little bloodletting on the employee side,” explains Müller.
Only 15 employees resigned.
Here, too, the focus is on the future.
One of the goals is to hire new employees.
“We need good, new people, especially in the software and development areas,” says Schepp.
“We know what we are doing.” ( Wolfgang Schepp, SHW-WM investor )
Sales target: 50 million euros
One thing is clear: “Now that the transaction has been completed and the companies have been combined, it is time to focus on day-to-day business,” says Müller.
The order books at SHW WM are already “well filled” despite the “difficult summer months” due to the insolvency.
Schepp estimates the sales target for 2019 at around 50 million euros “and it looks like we will be able to achieve this”.
Strategically, SHW WM intends to focus more on the domestic European markets in the future.
A lesson from the past: “Excessive internationalization, which simultaneously entails very high risks on both the economic and political side, has overstretched the company and overburdened it due to its low equity base,” explains Müller.
He is referring to the Russian embargo, which affected SHW WM just as much as a canceled order in China.
In addition, there were “individual mistakes, including commercial ones”, as Schepp puts it neutrally.
This constellation resulted in losses and increased capital requirements, which the shareholders could not agree on.
The result was insolvency – despite an order volume of 50 million euros in January 2018.
“The quality of the machines and the order intake were not the problem,” says Schepp.
It quickly became clear that SHW WM had a future despite the insolvency filing.
40 investors registered their interest, including many from the US and Asia.
This was also due to the fact that Müller had already tried to realign SHW WM at the beginning of the year.
This included optimizing the product range.
This is not the only reason why Schepp is certain that he has made the right choice with the Wasseralfingen-based company.
He says: “I have never regretted a deal. We know what we’re doing.”
© Wirtschaft Regional 31.10.2018
