Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. De Razza, Heyman Manufacturing GmbH stands for ‘Access & Fastening Solutions’. What specific product lines are you involved in the market with?

Christian De Razza: Basically, our business activity is based on two strong pillars: On the one hand, we offer comprehensive solutions for access technology, where we can provide our customers with various components – from handles and fasteners to gas springs and telescopic rails for drawers and hinges for doors. The applications are as varied as the industries in which our customers operate. For example, manufacturers of large recreational vehicles need flaps for the interior and exterior areas of their vehicles, while, for instance, maintenance access to heat pumps requires a vandalism-proof lock.

Wirtschaftsforum: What role does the digitalization of access systems play in this?

Christian De Razza: Many providers of external storage spaces, such as containers or lockers, now want to extensively use the opportunities arising from this. After all, the benefit is clear: while the end user's usability increases due to the attractiveness of a seamless app experience and 24/7 access, the provider benefits from significant cost savings by eliminating the need for certain staff positions. Of course, security also plays an important role in this context, especially in the medical field: Here one can think of medical dispensing cabinets, where the entire staff should have access to some drawers, while individual compartments need to be handled more restrictively. We also offer targeted solutions for this.

Wirtschaftsforum: To what extent is your company's consulting expertise also in demand in this context?

Christian De Razza: Originally, Heyman was founded over 50 years ago as a classic trading company – but in the meantime, our core competency has shifted significantly towards extensive consulting services concerning the possible uses of products as well as the associated optimization of our customers' manufacturing processes. Even today, we continue to work steadily on our positioning as a strong service partner and offer, for instance, seminars and innovation meetings, while we have also established partnerships with technical universities in our region, at which we speak on topics from our core expertise. At the same time, we are naturally always on the lookout for further approaches to support our customers in their value creation even more comprehensively. Thus, we will soon offer the option to directly integrate the CAD data of our products into our customers' digital models, so that they can evaluate the given options in even more detail.

Wirtschaftsforum: In addition to access solutions, Heyman also offers 'Fastening Solutions'.

Christian De Razza: This represents our second mainstay, where we primarily distribute blind rivets and blind rivet nuts, which are particularly convincing as an alternative to corresponding welding processes. After all, the welding profession is struggling with significant recruitment problems, while alternative solutions should be considered more strongly in the interest of a better sustainability record. But beyond these very tangible benefits, together with our customers, we also aim to achieve a clear cost saving and also ensure a more streamlined internal company process. When a customer approaches us with their specific problem, we first evaluate the given framework conditions in detail: What is the thickness of the material, which steels are being used, are shear forces acting on the system, or is there direct contact with water or other media? Here too, we initially rely on in-depth consultation before presenting a viable solution based on our extensive experience and data sheets. Subsequently, as part of the Design-for-Assembly process, we conduct a detailed economic analysis together with the customer, comparing our solution to the existing procedure. Because when components are riveted together instead of welded, not only is the actual welding process eliminated – many steps in intralogistics become unnecessary, since the rivets can also be pressed into the already painted components. What previously had to be done in two and a half days can ideally be replicated with our solution within 90 minutes. Efficiency gains can hardly be more significant.