Strong progress for KUKA Nordic - growing both in terms of revenue and market share

The German robot manufacturer KUKA - which is well-known and well-established both domestically and internationally - has long been seen as an underdog here in the Nordics. But in the middle of the 2010s, a trend break occurred.
- Among other things, it's about ourselves. Our management changed and we have since invested extra heavily in skills development. This in turn has meant that we have become better at giving customers guidance, says Joacim Lorentsson, CEO of the Group's Nordic sales company, KUKA Nordic. Trends such as increasing automation of the general industry have contributed to this. Plus an increasingly strong movement to take home production from low-wage countries - a trend that has received extra impetus during the pandemic, when the weakness with excessively long supply chains became apparent.

For KUKA Nordic's part, their so-called channel management, with a focus on building system partnerships with customers, has been successful. The strategy is about working close to your partners, growing with them and contributing knowledge. Among other things, KUKA Nordic has invested in recurring webinars about the products - in both Swedish and English. There, they go directly into how robots, software, etc. are used, instead of getting caught up in overly detailed technical facts. The webinars are also posted on Youtube and have had a good impact.

How do you manage sales success?
- We have already done that, among other things by hiring a salesman on site in Vilnius. We will also recruit another salesperson in Sweden to strengthen that offer to customers.
What do you see as challenges ahead?
- Decisive factors are to continue to train employees and help to develop customers' skills. Anyone who manages it also succeeds with the sale.
But isn't everything with programming and operation becoming more and more user-friendly anyway?
- Yes, but even if some things get easier, you still have to fully understand how to work with the equipment. It is important to be able to give your customers good support, and that is something we have really invested in.