Germany – Page 2 – understand-culture

Haimer in Germany

CNC Machine Shop Tour. Titan Gilroy takes you on a VIP Tour through the Haimer manufacturing plant in Germany. Epic innovation. 170 CNC Machines and a workforce that is highly skilled.

YouTube comments:

“We need more Titan videos. As a German I should add that we also need to bring manufacturing back. Our industry has been very keen on outsourcing production to other EU and non-EU countries. It starts with the identity and our core competences. Time to get that back, especially in the minds of the general public.”

“Glad to see a CEO who knows what he’s talking about and leading from the front….from tools to machining processes to tolerances etc….German engineering at its best….would love to walk through that shop.”

“Absolutely incredible, as a CNC instructor it’s been extremely difficult to get full classes going. Granted our program is 12 weeks and not 3.5 years but its fully funded. I feel like they pulled the trades out of schools and pushed college onto high schoolers when the trades are a more realistic approach for many teenagers. Honestly I wish I had known sooner how satisfying a career in machining could be now I’m trying to inspire a new generation who has no idea that there’s a career path for them that doesn’t involve 4 years of college.”

Mercedes C-Class 2022

The bestselling Mercedes-Benz model series over the past decade will start production in Bremen, the lead plant in the global C-Class production network. This will shortly be followed by start-ups at international locations in Beijing, China and East London, South Africa.

YouTube comments:

“My 9 year old C350 is still solid and tight as a drum in terms of build quality and how the materials held up. Hopefully these keep that going.”

“We’ve come to an age of true automation. Amazing work! Feels like a sci-fi movie in which humans are the supporting cast only.”

“Being an owner of 2 New ordered Benz, I have to say this. The quality of my W204 was superior than my American built W205. My W204 was build in Germany with pride and you can tell it whereas my W205 was just put together because of the buck and no pride = Pegged with problem after problem taking years under warranty to sort out with the help of Mercedes Germany. It is no wonder, Mercedes Germany now gives American dealerships a direct contact to help solve problem with their cars.”

Max Weber

For the German thinker Max Weber bureaucracy was positive, modern, effective, efficient, just.

German processes, and the way in which German colleagues live them, can come across to non-German colleagues as bureaucratic.

But what if German processes possess the qualities that Weber described in bureaucracy?

Success Factor

If surveyed Germans would rank internal processes, how the work is done, just after people as the most critical success factor. However, often it seems that people serve processes more than processes serve people. Examples

Success Factor

German Approach

American Approach

If surveyed few Americans would mention processes as critical to success. Instead they would state factors such as customer orientation, innovation, rapid reaction time, and pricing. Results are more relevant than how they were achieved. Examples

American View

German internal analysis of processes quickly leads to a form of navel-gazing. The longer and more intense the analysis the faster and further the company distances itself from the external world: customers, competitors, the market.

German View

Americans appear disinterested or unaware of the central importance of processes. Especially in times of crisis, when their German colleagues focus on structure and processes, their American colleagues seem to not engage in the internal discussion and analysis.

Advice to Germans

Analysis of how the work is done is important. But be sure to focus on its causal connection to the results for your external customers. Engage your American colleagues by starting with the market and your customers, then working back into your organization and its internal processes.

Advice to Americans

Be patient. Listen carefully. When Germans talk processes, they‘re talking output, and the business bottom-line. They are one and the same.

At their core Germans are European craftsmen. Success is based on craftsmanship. It‘s all about how the work is done. Get engaged in the discussion about processes. Add your pragmatic American business thinking.