"All clear, we can start!"
Interview with Markus Bast, Managing Director and Director of B2B Sales DACH at Michelin Reifenwerke AG & Co. KGaA
When hearing the name Michelin, most people first think of high-quality tires, the world-famous hotel and restaurant guide – and the equally well-known Michelin Man. However, the company’s grown material expertise is now also in demand far beyond its traditional business fields: from the further development of the fuel cell to optimizing municipal traffic management. With Wirtschaftsforum, Markus Bast, Managing Director of Michelin Germany, discussed the various innovations the company is currently working on, as well as the unique organizational culture that defines his business everyday life.
Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Bast, Michelin is known not only for its tire expertise but also for its world-famous Michelin Guide – and is now also committed to numerous other fields of application. What initiatives are you currently pursuing with particular intensity?
Markus Bast: The far-reaching diversification of our activity range has always been done with a clear focus on the needs of the end-users of our products: As the automobile was rapidly gaining momentum in the early 20th century, Michelin recognized that its customers needed not only high-quality tires but also valued helpful tips on where to reliably get gasoline, dine nicely and stay comfortably – this was the seed for the Michelin Guide, whose sustainable global success we continue to be very proud of.
Currently, the focus of Michelin is naturally on the transformation in mobility in all its facets. For example, with our company Symbio, which we founded as a joint venture with Faurecia in 2019, we want to bring our grown material expertise to further improve the membranes of fuel cells and thus sustainably advance this technology. But our expertise is also in demand beyond cars – for example, in shipping, where we have developed Wisamo, a retrofit sail that is attached to masts on container ships, allowing them to harness the wind and thus reduce their fuel consumption accordingly.
Wirtschaftsforum: What role does Big Data now play for Michelin, alongside your recognized material expertise?
Markus Bast: A big one – both internally and in direct cooperation with our B2B clients. With MICHELIN Connected Fleet we can collect a variety of fleet data, thoroughly evaluate it, and on this basis provide powerful data-driven decision aids – for individual hauliers as well as entire municipalities. From this data, important insights can often be derived about critical or even dangerous points in local traffic management, or recommendations for optimal speed limits.
Such a project was implemented with the city of Lyon. Meanwhile, individual fleet operators can recognize peaks in fuel consumption through our clearly prepared data and a conversation with our consultants, thus uncovering significant energy-saving potentials. In our own processes, thanks to in-depth digitalization, we have been able to sustainably accelerate our development cycles, for example by significantly reducing the necessary tests in the real environment along with the associated logistical effort through comprehensive computer simulations.
Wirtschaftsforum: How will the tire itself change in the future?
Markus Bast: It will certainly become more sustainable – we have been working on this for over 30 years, having been able to set an important impulse for sharpening environmental awareness in our market in 1992 with the MICHELIN Energy Saver. Today, we pursue various approaches that should enable us to achieve our ambitious goals collectively: By 2050, we want to manufacture our tires completely from bio-based and recyclable materials, by 2030 already 40%. At peak times, we can already exceed these values: At last year's 24-hour race at Le Mans, for example, we introduced a tire that was almost two-thirds made from sustainable materials – and whose compelling performance would have been achievable only with much greater effort without comprehensive computer simulations.
Beyond process optimization, minimal tire wear, and the use of new and innovative materials, we also see a holistic view of the entire product lifecycle as an important aspect, to which the whole company places great focus: Together with the Swedish start-up Enviro, we have developed a new recycling process in which old tires are decomposed into their original components, which are then re-entered into the product cycle. So far, we have implemented this approach in a plant in Chile. In the coming years, we also want to commit ourselves to this in our European markets, where the pressure for sustainability by political decision-makers is significantly higher – which we explicitly welcome from our own convictions.
Wirtschaftsforum: What does this diverse and simultaneously focused commitment mean for the Michelin brand in perspective?
Markus Bast: Basically, we see ourselves as a mobility provider, with all the associated connotations. Mobility means freedom – every person and every company wants and needs to be mobile and agile. Michelin's mission is thus to enable all people to live their freedom as they wish. Safety is a key issue for our core business of tires – in both the B2B segment and the retail business. Because at high speeds, the contact patch of the tire on the road is just about as big as a postcard – at the end of the day, you trust this product with your life and the life of your family.
Wirtschaftsforum: The tire remains an emotionally charged product?
Markus Bast: As a premium manufacturer with an unshakeable focus on quality, a key task of our company is certainly in sustainable customer education. We work closely with dealers to provide end customers with the necessary context: Because anyone who buys a limousine for tens of thousands of euros often does not make the best decision if they try to save a few hundred euros on tires – a key safety-related component. The topic of sustainability, with its increased general prevalence in public discourse, is also becoming increasingly important to more people, which aligns perfectly with Michelin's grown stance – another important approach for an emotional customer approach.
Wirtschaftsforum: Not to forget the Michelin Man!
Markus Bast: Even my then six-year-old daughter knew him when I started my job at the company five years ago – even though I had never talked to her about Michelin before! And after I had given a presentation about Michelin to her school class some time later, I was told how one of her classmates pointed at the Michelin Man on the tire of the bus on the next field trip and joyfully announced: "All set, we can go now!" This is the reliable sense of safety we want to convey as a brand.
Wirtschaftsforum: What are ultimately the reasons for this sustained corporate success?
Markus Bast: It's so simple and yet so difficult: Everything stands and falls with the people in our organization. Even today, you can feel that Michelin was run as a family business for decades. Because the core values that arise from this original stance – respect for employees, customers, shareholders, the environment, and society – shape our dealings with all stakeholders and our overall societal responsibility to this day.