In 1962 Kurt Kern founded his company with the same name. Today, Kern Microtechnik GmbH, Eschenlohe, Germany, is a leading developer and manufacturer for highly precise machining centers. But when and how did decisive developments take place? And what will the future be like? The majority owners and managing directors Simon Eickholt and Sebastian Guggenmos provide insights.
60 years ago, Kurt Kern started with a job shop for highly precise parts for the up-coming high-tech industry. Even then, quality and reliability were the center of the company’s philosophy. Over the years, Kern established an excellent reputation with extremely precise parts. Only the availability of machining centers limited the precision, again and again. A situation, that the founder ‘s son, Günter Kern, no longer wanted to accept in the early 1980s.
Since there was no milling machine on the market that was precise and productive enough for Kern, he made a far-reaching decision in 1982: his company would develop and build a suitable machining center itself. Two years later the time had come. The first Kern CNC micro-drilling milling machine was put into operation. It reliably achieved accuracies in the range of 0.001 mm.This amazed the customers of Kern’s job-shop. They were excited about the new possibilities, and it didn’t take long until the first three customers wanted to buy such a machine. Kern built six, then ten machines and all were sold in no time. The first Kern machine was awarded the Bavarian State Prize in gold in 1985, only one year after its launch. This is how the second part of the company came into being.
In 1999 Ekkehard Alschweig took over from Kern and a new wave of energy took over. Under his leadership new machines were developed which took over the market under the names Kern Evo and Kern Pyramid Nano. A new milestone followed in 2011 – the launch of the Kern Micro. This was the basis for many designs and developments to come, like Kern Micro Pro, Micro Vario and Micro HD. At this stage it was known on a global account what machine manufacturing of Kern Microtechnik can achieve.
2016 turned out to be another year of great importance. With Simon Eickholt and Sebastian Guggenmos Ekkehard Alschweig took two young top professionals on board. Kern Microtechnik was tob e prepared for the future. In 2018 the time had come: Alschweig sold the company to the two young managers. The two took Sebatian Wühr, manager of the Job Shop, and Matthias Fritz, head of Research and Development, as shareholders on board.
Healthy Growth
Meanwhile, Kern’s high precision machines are established worldwide. The company’s philosophy remains unchanged: Quality and reliability are in the focus as well as always pushing the limits a little bit further out.
New innovations help Kern’s customers to obtain highest precision, outstanding surface quality as well as a very high productivity. A combination which actually excludes itself. Nevertheless, Kern has succeeded earlier and still succeeds today with exactly this combination. One among many other proofs of success is the repeated successful participation in the TOP 100 contests. The most innovative companies in Germany are receiving awards from an independent jury during the contest.
But Kern offers more than „only“ high precision machines which mill µm-exact. Specialists of the company advise and accompany the whole integration of the machining center with the necessary know-how. Thus, in the end, all customers are capable to achieve best possible productivity, which ensures are very high customer satisfaction rate and a great demand.
Because of this, Kern has been growing for years in a double-digit percentage rate and generated over 40 Mio Euro turnover only in 2021. Employees, managers, and executives are very well aware that this is not a matter of course. When asked for the recipe for success, CEO Simon Eickholt explains: „As an owner-led company we have always worked and considered on a long-term basis in all areas. This has proven to be very helpful in many aspects. At the moment, there are more than enough brakes on growth – from the lack of qualified personnel to cancellations from suppliers and shortage of material and all the way to market uncertainties in various industries.”
Good Relations with Employees and Partners
So, what is Kern doing? According to Eickholt top qualified and top motivated employees are an indispensable basis. Five years ago, Kern had about 180 and with on-going growth about 240 employees today. To hire and to keep is an important challenge for Eickholt: „We offer apprenticeships in various professional areas, and we offer internships and positions for working students. Everybody who finished his or her education can look forward to an exciting job with us. This way we support our region and counter the lack of qualified specialists.”
A good work environment as well as the possibility for further development, to achieve something and to get credit for is for many enough motivation to remain with Kern. In addition, a worker’s compensation program increases the incentive – the program ensures profit sharing for the employees. As a result, fluctuation has remained at a very low level for many years
CEO Sebatian Guggenmos relates to a high degree of vertical integration as another important success factor for Kern Microtechnik. However, under the current circumstances, even this is no guarantee that production can take place. “If material or parts are not available, we are also affected,“ confirms Guggenmos, „but other companies are affected at a much higher level than we are. We have worked together with our key suppliers – by the way, all of them are European companies – for many years. We have always treated them fairly and paid them well, speak to them openly and honestly as equal partners. I believe this is the main reason why we have comparatively few delivery failures to complain about.”
Latest Innovations
Kern is therefore still able to reliably deliver and to expand the product range. For example: The Upper Bavarian company has been offering a new machine technology since this year. With the Kern Femto E3 laser processing center, press stamps made of sintered carbide can be produced in an extremely process-stable and productive way.
And there are also innovations when it comes to machining: Based on intensive research, a new cutting mode was developed which takes milling of technical ceramics to a new level. This means that a multitude of the previously possible material removal rates is now achievable with the accustomed Kern precision.