Mr. Dittrich, what went through your mind when you received the offer to become CEO of Fette Compacting?
I was delighted! Three things were decisive in my accepting the offer: Fette Compacting is a top company with an excellent reputation. We operate in an interesting and challenging industry with demanding customers who are dependent on long-term relationships. Our employees are very committed and have lots of experience. And all of this in an area with which I am very familiar as I grew up in Hamburg-Bergedorf which is only 20 kilometers away from Schwarzenbek.
You are assuming responsibility in a challenging environment. How has the order situation at Fette Compacting developed during the coronavirus crisis?
Compared to other sectors, our order situation is very good despite the pandemic and we managed to achieve our growth targets for 2020. This is a good basis to work from and the current order situation gives us reason to be optimistic for 2021. The importance of health and the significance of reliable worldwide supplies of medication associated with this have once again been impressed upon us. The demand for medication will continue to increase and we are receiving positive signals from our customers in operative business. As a leading supplier of key technologies for the manufacture of solid formulations, we are in a good starting position to have a share of this growth in the future. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to guess just how this next year will evolve. The pandemic is constantly presenting us with new challenges, particularly within the global context.
What experience have you gained working under these conditions?
Through the pandemic, we have experienced once again just how important regular contact is with our customers and among ourselves. One positive factor is that we have adapted very swiftly with the aid of digital tools and have become more flexible. The world has come closer together. This applies for our collaboration with our customers just as much as for us in-house.
What do you wish to focus on?
We want to be the world's leading provider of solutions for OSD production. That means that we need to get even closer to the international markets and our customers. Two strategic focal areas are therefore represented by customer orientation and internationalization. I will also continue to push the topics of sustainability and digitalization of our processes.
Why are these two topics so important?
What essentially drives us is to ensure that people receive safe medication and nutrition supplements. This is an inspiring task which makes the world a healthier and better place. From this, we derive the standard for ourselves of our actions being a positive force in the world. An increasing number of our customers are of the same opinion and are already acting accordingly. That is why the topic of sustainability represents a cornerstone of our activities.
I see digitalization as having two dimensions: on the one hand, it is a very effective tool for positioning ourselves even better internally, whereby the goal is for us to plan and steer our processes worldwide in such a way that they interconnect perfectly. But I also see it as having the greatest potential for our customers. If we merge our knowledge and our machine data, our customers’ production facilities will become significantly more efficient. Digital services will enable us to considerably improve customer satisfaction and customer loyalty as well as further differentiating us from our competitors.
What can customers expect of Fette Compacting in the future?
One of our most important projects in the months to come is to launch our new i Series completely as it is the most successful range of tablet presses in the world. And the new models will give our customers a further efficiency boost. But we are also driving the topics of containment and continuous manufacturing. Parallel to this, we are extending our digital portfolio and strengthening our service.