Mr. Geißdörfer, we are currently in the midst of multiple crises at once, from war in Ukraine to a slug­gish economy and turbu­lent transat­lantic rela­tions. How do you deal with all this?

In times like this, it’s impor­tant to stay calm. I delib­er­ately only check the news once a day and give myself two or three days to sort the topics in my head. In my role I can’t act abruptly; I have to keep a cool head and make long-term deci­sions.

How is ebm-papst currently doing from a finan­cial perspec­tive?

Our busi­ness is once again on a posi­tive trajec­tory, which tells me that we set the right strategic course early on. The trans­for­ma­tion is now bearing fruit. Our “local-for-local” strategy, which we launched some years ago, is a big help here as our focus on local­iza­tion has made us more resilient today. That’s a good feeling, but we cannot rest on our laurels – we have to keep moving forward. Shifts in the geopo­lit­ical land­scape mean we are facing new chal­lenges – for example, because end markets are shifting from Europe to Asia and the USA. This directly impacts our capacity utiliza­tion in Europe, and we’re working out how best to use this avail­able volume strate­gi­cally.

You mentioned the trans­for­ma­tion – how well does your strategy still suit the current situ­a­tion?

Very well. We made the right deci­sions three years ago; our move away from the auto­mo­tive segment has proven to be the correct course of action. We’ve now halved our volume of busi­ness here and are currently working on fulfilling our remaining oblig­a­tions to our customers. The sale of the Drive Tech­nology divi­sion is a “win-win-win” situ­a­tion for everyone involved. The divi­sion can grow much better under Siemens. Our focus on our core compe­ten­cies in venti­lation and heating tech­nology will really drive us forward.

Many compa­nies are cutting back in the crisis – but you’re investing. Why is this?

Because we firmly believe we’re on the right course. We’re focusing on future issues and building up local resilience. We’re making targeted invest­ments in promising markets such as data centers, in expanding our inno­va­tions, and in new tech­nolo­gies. Exam­ples include the High­Speed Tech­nical Center and the E-Drive Solu­tion Lab. As a result, we’re currently launching new prod­ucts like never before. Our inno­va­tion pipeline is chock-full once again. While I’d prefer us to be even faster in our imple­men­ta­tion, we’re on a very good path.

What are you focusing on with the tech­nolo­gies?

We look at the entire product life cycle. The aim is to speed up devel­op­ment, supply more energy-effi­cient prod­ucts, further sharpen our compet­i­tive edge in tech­nology, and in doing so lead air tech­nology into a new era. The best proof of this is NEXAIRA, our digital ecosystem. The first concrete customer projects are already underway here, and we’re receiving very good feed­back. But we’re not neglecting our tradi­tional markets and are, of course, also launching new, strong prod­ucts here: intel­li­gent high-effi­ciency fans.

Given the way global trade is at the moment, is your early focus on glocal­iza­tion now paying off?

Defi­nitely. Geopo­lit­ical devel­op­ments have made our local-for-local strategy even more impor­tant. That’s why we’re building new plants, such as in Oradea in Romania, Xi’an in China, and Chennai in India. We’re gaining market share in Asia and are working at the limits of our capacity in the USA. In Europe, too, we’re working to full capacity in the data center segment and are expanding capacity. Unfor­tu­nately, in the heat pump segment we’re still feeling the reper­cus­sions of the German Building Energy Act (Gebäudeen­ergiege­setz). And in the resi­den­tial venti­lation segment, we’ve not yet been able to compen­sate for the market decline in the construc­tion sector. However, our inno­va­tions mean we’re in a posi­tion to gain market share again here as well.

What’s next in terms of the regions – what areas will you focus on in future?

We’re devel­oping well in Asia, so now the next logical step is the USA, where we’re plan­ning to set up addi­tional local produc­tion capacity. For our customers, this means faster deliv­eries, reli­able supply chains, and more effi­cient prod­ucts on the market.

Let’s turn to another hot topic: arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence. How is ebm-papst posi­tioned in this respect?

AI is an issue that is crucial to our future. We’re deploying it selec­tively in our prod­ucts to opti­mize energy consump­tion and further increase reli­a­bility, and we’re also using it for process control, in Knowl­edge Manage­ment, commu­ni­ca­tions, and beyond. We’re giving our staff compre­hen­sive, prac­tical training on it. AI is not a stand-alone project – it runs through our entire orga­ni­za­tion.

You’re also involved in the Inno­va­tion Park Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence (IPAI) in Heil­bronn. What specific bene­fits does it bring?

The IPAI gives us access to experts, talented people, and a strong network. For example, we’re collab­o­rating with Bechtle AG on gener­a­tive AI, and it also helps us with over­ar­ching issues such as ensuring legally water­tight appli­ca­tions or system archi­tec­tures. It’s a real stroke of luck to have this type of AI center right on our doorstep.

How is it bene­fiting your customers?

Our prod­ucts are becoming more intel­li­gent and energy-effi­cient, which signif­i­cantly reduces energy consump­tion at the customer’s premises. Digi­tal­iza­tion means we can speed up the devel­op­ment cycle and offer new services, including all-digital ones. As you can see with NEXAIRA, this has long since ceased to be just a vision of the future – our customers are already bene­fiting from it today.

And if you could request some­thing from your customers, what would that be?

More courage, partic­u­larly when it comes to trying out new tech­nolo­gies. Many are still hesi­tant – they’re worried they’ll tie them­selves to us too much, or they ask them­selves whether the inno­va­tions really work and make the differ­ence they claim to. We’re seeing that customers who get on board early on have a compet­i­tive edge and are the most successful ones today. If you want to drive forward inno­va­tion, you have to take the first step – and we see ourselves as a partner on this journey.

Is there anything that’s partic­u­larly impor­tant to you beyond all these issues?

Yes. I firmly believe that Europe currently has a historic oppor­tu­nity. With AI and digi­tal­iza­tion, we can regain a leading posi­tion as long as we pool our strengths: excel­lent research, great talent, strong values. We need to trans­late our exper­tise into prod­ucts and busi­ness models. This requires courage, collab­o­ra­tion, and a resolute deter­mi­na­tion to posi­tion Europe as the third global force along­side the USA and China.

Many people have reser­va­tions about AI. What would you say to them?

Fear of new tech­nology is under­stand­able, and it’s nothing new if we look back at history. The impor­tant thing is to use AI respon­sibly. Yes, there’s a risk of misuse, such as from deep­fakes or in consumer manip­u­la­tion. But at our company, we’re using AI selec­tively and ethi­cally in prod­ucts and processes. We don’t need fear, we need exper­tise, respon­si­bility, and a will­ing­ness to actively shape this new tech­nology.