"We address a wide range of customer segments!"
Interview with Dipl.-Ing. Heiko Boysen, Managing Partner of PeakTech Prüf- und Messtechnik GmbH
From a pure trading company to a developer of its own products: This strategy has been pursued by PeakTech Prüf- und Messtechnik GmbH for a good ten years and has been very successful. In industry and educational institutions alike, the high-quality devices from the owner-managed company based in Ahrensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, are in demand and cover a wide range of uses with their different functions.
"Many customers choose us because we offer them an excellent value for money," emphasizes Dipl.-Ing. Heiko Boysen, Managing Partner of PeakTech Prüf- und Messtechnik GmbH. "With our experience of more than 50 years, we are also very credible in our expertise. Moreover, with our portfolio, we address a broad range of customer segments. Last but not least, we enable our sales partners to offer competitive products in the market."
20 Product Categories
PeakTech's range includes around 20 different product categories of handheld and tabletop measuring devices. About two-thirds of the portfolio is dedicated to testing and measuring equipment for electrical engineering, with the remaining third comprising devices for environmental technology. To complete its range, the innovative company also supplies power supplies and sources as well as measuring accessories and spare parts. For measurement technology, products such as multimeters, clamp meters, voltage testers, oscilloscopes, and signal generators are distributed, while products for environmental technology include thermal imaging cameras, sound level meters, infrared thermometers, coating and material thickness measuring devices, and wood and building moisture meters.
Exclusively B2B
The devices are distributed exclusively in the B2B sector, not to end customers. "We serve dealers in education, who supply our devices to schools, universities, and other educational institutions, as well as electrical retailers, tool dealers, and dealers for measuring devices. Large electronics distributors are also among our customers." PeakTech generates about half of its sales outside Germany. Geographically, the sales territory extends across core Europe with focal points in the DACH region, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Portugal, as well as South America.
Own Development
As a trading company, Heinz-Günter Lau founded today's PeakTech GmbH in 1957 in Hamburg and imported measuring devices and other electronics from Japan. In the 1970s, the company moved to Ahrensburg. After the sudden death of the company's founder, two employees took over the trading company. Another milestone in the company's history was in 1996, the initiation of PeakTech as its own brand and with its own design. "At that time, we entered the OEM business with Taiwanese production plants," explains Heiko Boysen. "From my point of view, that was a strategically good decision." Together with two investors, Heiko Boysen took over the company in 2013. "At that time, the company had a product portfolio of about 230 devices under the name PeakTech and with its own design," the Managing Partner clarifies. "Alongside the existing OEM business, I have pushed for our own developments over the past ten years. Currently, we distribute a mix of OEM devices and in-house developments, and the product portfolio now includes approximately 400 different testers and measuring devices." Since 2017, the subsidiary PeakTeach Iberia has been set up as a sales office for Spain, Portugal, and South America. With an increasing trend, PeakTech now employs 30 people.
Expanding Distribution
"We are in the process of further expanding our distribution, but it's very labor-intensive," knows Heiko Boysen. "We personally introduce ourselves to potential distribution partners, but also use the opportunities of digital exchange. Just as we have already established in Spain, we want to build similar distribution structures now in France and Eastern Europe." For marketing, PeakTech uses not only its website but also the opportunities of social media like YouTube: Users make short films about the products, test their usage possibilities, and also review the devices. Other activities include the newsletter, online catalogs, and presence at trade fairs such as Electronica in Munich.
Develop More On Our Own
"Our customers also hold us accountable," states the managing director on the omnipresent topic of sustainability. "For example, we need to ensure that our expired devices can be returned across Europe. This is sometimes not very easy and it also has to be paid for. But the new supply chain law and changing conformity requirements also need to be implemented. The new building erected in 2015 meets modern ecological standards and is also equipped with solar panels." For the coming years, Heiko Boysen focuses his company, which he describes as very well organized, on further development of self-engineered devices and increasingly less on OEM business: "We want to move more into high-quality measurement technology."