Wolfgang Meyer started his plastics industry career more than 45 years ago in Germany, but for the past 35 years has held top jobs in the U.S. with Germany-based machinery companies. He has headed the North American operations for Battenfeld and Kautex, and has been president of W. Müller USA Inc. for the past five years, a job he took shortly after officially retiring from Kautex. He has extensive technical knowledge of blow molding and injection molding. He is described by friends and colleagues as dignified, warm, welcoming and very easy to talk to. Meyer is well-known for holding key positions in SPI. He has been chairman of SPI's high-profile Committee on Equipment Statistics since 2009 and chaired the blow molding subcommittee prior to 2009. He was inducted into the Plastics Pioneers Association in 2011. Meyer recently chatted with senior correspondent Merle Snyder.
Where did you grow up?
Meyer: In Solingen, Germany, which is famous for cutlery.
Where did you attend college?
Meyer: The school of mechanical engineering at what is now known as Bergische Universität Wuppertal. I earned a degree in mechanical engineering. The program was a combination of two years of practical work plus classes at a vocational school and three years of courses at the university. I graduated in 1970.
What was your first job?
Meyer: Application development engineer at Bayer AG from 1970 to 1975. I had worked at Bayer for a brief time while going to college and liked it, so I took the job they offered when I graduated. I had studied design and came to the conclusion that I did not want to work in front of a drafting board for the rest of my life.
What jobs followed Bayer?
Meyer: My first job in the U.S. was an 18-month assignment to Beloit Corp. in Pittsfield, Mass., a licensee of Schloemann-Siemag, which specialized in structural foam, reaction injection molding and industrial blow molding equipment. I was the product manager for structural foam from 1975 to 1977. After the acquisition by Schloemann-Siemag, I transferred to Battenfeld Corp. of America in Skokie, Ill., and subsequently back to Battenfeld Maschinenfabriken in Germany. At Battenfeld Maschinenfabriken, I was the sales manager for Europe until 1980.
In 1980, I moved permanently to the U.S. to become vice president for sales and marketing at Battenfeld's U.S. operation, which had become a division of Gloucester Engineering, then president of the newly formed Battenfeld of America Corp. in 1984, where I stayed until 2000.
I was president of Kautex Machines Inc. from 2000 until 2010, when I retired. I was hired by W. Müller six months later when my predecessor died unexpectedly at the age of 40 during the K Show in 2010. My initial plan was not to stay in this position as long as I have.
You have held top positions at companies that are important in the North American market. What are some of the major market changes you have seen?
Meyer: Well, in structural foam molding for example, which showed significant growth in the mid-1970s, there were business machines, computer housings and the like that provided a substantial market.
Then what happened?
Meyer: Those markets decreased rapidly, as the electronic and computer device market advanced toward smaller and smaller versions and other manufacturing processes. The market for structural foam as we knew it disappeared. The market for machinery was saturated and the already installed base of machinery was more than adequate to meet the production needs that were still active.
Our customers disappeared and as a machinery manufacturer specializing in structural foam injection molding equipment, we learned a costly lesson from having focused on a short-lived technology.
What lesson did you learn?
Meyer: As end markets for plastics products change, cost-effectiveness of plastics manufacturing methods change, as do the technological requirements for process equipment. To remain an active and profitable equipment supplier, a company must determine if a diversion into a niche market can provide more than short-term benefits and how much to invest. At the same time, it needs to assure that its core business is served well and maintained. Niche market business should never be a single or main focal point.
How do you do that?
Meyer: Engage in a dialogue with your end-users. Evaluate visions carefully and with an open mind. Don't let yourself be comfortable just serving the same narrow markets over and over again. Watch what is going on outside of your niche. Develop and promote a culture of foresight and readiness for change.
Any other lessons from the experience?
Meyer: Numerous European companies decided at one time or another to manufacture machinery in North America. Many encountered formidable obstacles that have caused them to reverse their decisions sooner or later.
What were those obstacles?
Meyer: Lack of volume and inefficiencies of domestic assembly operations, costly reengineering and Americanization resulting in untested designs. Also, the advantages and disadvantages of a heavily fluctuating exchange rate at certain times. It is not enough just to manufacture components and to assemble nearby to a few customers. You must manufacture enough to achieve economies of scale. Manufacturing must be efficient wherever it is. Suppliers of components will charge more because of lower volumes and it usually takes a long time to remove inefficiencies from a start-up assembly operation.
And exchange rates?
Meyer: There have been times when exchange rates were more favorable and resulted in lower cost of imported compared to domestically manufactured machinery. As we all know, there is absolutely no control over the exchange rate. A decision to manufacture in North America is also not reversible quickly without sacrificing major investments. Therefore, local manufacturing by a foreign equipment manufacturer makes sense only if beneficial regardless of [the] exchange rate, within a reasonable range.
What else did you learn?
Meyer: In the 1980s, quite a few injection molders of automotive and appliance components resorted to automation for handling molded parts and for production changeover. Some of these changes were initiated by top management. Others were developed by plant floor personnel with a good understanding of the capabilities and willingness of the workforce to accept training in operation and maintenance.
Top-down decisions in these molding businesses proved less successful in general than those driven from the plant floor up. It takes preparation, certain skill sets and acceptance of the fact that automation does not necessarily affect jobs. For one thing, automation is expensive and the workers on the floor have to buy into the concept for it to succeed. At the same time, the supplier's personnel must learn quickly how to provide training and service support.
Do you see a shortage of quality technical personnel?
Meyer: Manufacturers of the plastics processing equipment have to have qualified personnel. Getting and keeping staff with these abilities is not easy. Hiring contractors does not work well if it requires learning specific equipment and technologies. If the product is not highly electronics-intensive, as with W. Müller extrusion heads for blow molding machines, hiring automobile mechanics can be quite successful. This may sound strange, but has been proven a good approach for us. Auto mechanics understand how mechanical devices work, which is no small thing. And they are quick in disassembly and reassembly if this becomes necessary.
Does location matter?
Meyer: Yes, but perhaps not in the way you think. It is not necessarily beneficial to be located close to a customer base. With today's shipping services, spare parts can be delivered quickly almost anywhere. For service personnel, access to a major airport is advantageous. It allows technicians to reach their destination without using up excessive travel time while waiting for and potentially missing connections.
What trends do you see for the current injection molding machine industry?
Meyer: Well, as chair of the SPI Committee on Equipment Statistics, I see the aggregate data reported by the participating member companies. Members report all-electric and hydraulic machines. The ratio between all-electric and hydraulic machines is about even, and has been fairly stable for some time. However, definitions for all-electric machines are such that the group of hydraulic machines includes hybrid machines as well as hydraulic machines with servo-electric motors driving the pump.
It also became apparent at NPE 2015 that more blow molding machine manufacturers are going to all-electric technology. This trend started among Italian manufacturers and, in the meantime, German manufacturers have followed suit with new equipment introductions.
Have you seen an influence of 3-D manufacturing in plastic processing machinery markets?
Meyer: In spite of the extensive press given to 3-D manufacturing, it still serves almost exclusively as a prototyping tool. The notion that it will displace this or that plastics process just has not taken hold in our segment of the plastics industry.
It is also used for unit cavity molds that we receive from customers for sampling their bottles.
How about your management style? What do you delegate?
Meyer: If a company has 40 employees, delegating is a different issue and a possibility. But W. Müller USA is a company with six employees. Almost every one of our employees must be multitasking and capable of doing a variety of jobs. Also, I wear multiple hats. I will delegate only those jobs that my co-workers can complete from beginning to end including all communication with our customers. If this is not the case, I prefer to do it myself.
How do you want to be remembered?
Meyer: During my entire career in the United States, I have worked for sales and service organizations of German companies. In such a role, one is occasionally confronted with difficult situations. I have made it my principle to approach the other party in such situations the same way I would like to be treated — that is with openness, fairness and respect. It is not difficult and earns you quickly the respect of the other party. I want to be remembered as this kind of a person.
