Klingelnberg expands to Asia and becomes global gear market leaders

Klingelnberg relied on local market insights to successfully position its premium-priced gear manufacturing solutions in a price-sensitive environment.

Klingelnberg is an international market and technology leader in the gear industry. Founded in 1863, they build machines to produce measure bevel, cylindrical gears and high-precision gear components. Their products are used by global customers in the automotive, truck, aircraft, agriculture, construction, power tool and marine industries.

Challenge

In 1992, China was producing approximately one million light vehicles per year. By 2019, that figure had increased to more than 280 million, indicating the high-growth automotive industry that fuels demand for gear production.

Back then, Klingelnberg already spotted an opportunity to grow their business that could not be missed. The company was not present in Asia at that time, so one of the key challenges for Klingelnberg was to position its sophisticated gear manufacturing solution – which commands a premium price tag – in an extremely price-sensitive environment without having insight into the market itself.

Approach

They worked with us to understand the potential market’s unique requirements and found the most cost-effective path to successfully penetrate this Asian market. This eliminated the time risk of learning about the needs of the market and finding out what works and what does not.

By outsourcing sales, marketing and services to us, they were able to prevent market fluctuations and minimize risk exposure.

Through the local market insights that they gained, Klingelnberg realized that to create long-term success and competitive advantage, selling the latest products alone was not enough. They therefore positioned themselves as a total solutions provider by offering not only gear production machines but also technical and commercial pre-sales consultancy, software integration, after-sales services and training seminars.

Result

Klingelnberg saw an increase in order intakes and quickly became leadersin the spiral bevel gear machines and gear measuring and grinding markets. By choosing to focus on their core areas instead of over-stretching their in-house resources, Klingelnberg achieved an effective market strategy around their product and services portfolio.