Measuring Success
Interview with Timo Gökeler, Managing Director of GOEKELER Messtechnik GmbH
Whether in automotive or aerospace, safety or machine and plant engineering, medical technology or Industry 4.0: nowadays, hardly any industry can do without metrology. An important part of these metrological devices is the probe, which allows the corresponding device to determine measurement values in the first place. A pioneer in the industry is GOEKELER Messtechnik GmbH, which has been manufacturing tactile probes for 40 years. We talked to managing director Timo Gökeler about success through innovation and the unique way people in the company think and work.
"Our core competence is tactile probes, which are used in coordinate measuring technology as well as in shape and surface measuring technology," describes Timo Gökeler the product portfolio of GOEKELER Messtechnik GmbH. With its products, the company serves a broad customer base. "We are very strong in customer-specific solutions and are therefore represented worldwide," says the Managing Director.
Innovation is in our DNA
GOEKELER Messtechnik is a family business: Founded in 1984 by Timo Gökeler's father, the company celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. "Today, one would speak of a start-up, because the technology underlying our products was developed in the early 1980s and was therefore something completely new," says the Managing Director.
Having made a name for itself over the years with continuous new technological innovations not only as a specialist for customer-specific solutions, the company took another important step in its history in 2009: Timo Gökeler took over the company and founded a GmbH. In 2015, GOEKELER Measuring Technology participated for the first time in Control, the leading trade fair of its industry; in 2019, the company set another milestone with the construction of a larger business and production building.
Trust and Reliability
The success of his company is primarily attributed by the managing director to the people who work in it and a special company culture. "Our location here in Lenningen is a piece of our DNA and company culture," the managing director is sure. "For us, it is important that we stay here at the gates of Stuttgart, where we feel comfortable. Although we are a small company, we keep up with the world market from Lenningen. The character of the people here has shaped us, we have 22 very loyal employees, a four-day week, and very low turnover. It's the way we think and work. We are reliable and trustworthy, to each other, but also to our customers. And last but not least, the quality and the price of our products are right."
Digitalization with Purpose
The innovative strength of the company secured it a global clientele. "We always try to be at the cutting edge. In the last few years, we have been able to launch several innovations and have often been a pioneer in our industry, although competitors are often much larger than us," emphasizes Timo Gökeler.
In the medium term, the expansion of the product portfolio is planned, but for now, the company wants to continue working on making all processes more digital and modern. "In the world market, it's important to always be able to offer a solution," Timo Gökeler makes clear. "And nowadays, this has to be as digital as possible." The company has already taken a step in this direction that has been very well received by customers by providing a configuration platform. "We offer customers the opportunity to configure their probe on the screen. The 3-D model changes almost live. This way, the customer can test the product and adapt it to their individual needs. This is digitalization that is truly practical and meaningful."
Shaping rather than Managing
For the future, the entrepreneur wishes for more doer qualities from politics: "We should not always over-discuss everything but rather focus again on doing and shaping, not on managing."