Success Through R&D and Trust in Employees
Delta Energy Systems (Germany) GmbH is part of the globally active Taiwanese Delta Group. With the acquisition of Delta Energy Systems in 2003, the world leader in the field of power and thermal management solutions has decided to invest in Germany. Delta Energy Systems develops and sells both standardized and customized power supply solutions for the telecommunication, IT and network industry, industrial and medical application, electrical vehicles and wind power turbines. Dr. Basile Margaritis, CEO of the Delta organization in Germany, among other things elaborates on the role of cooperation with research institutions both in Germany and abroad as well as on Delta's measures to find qualified professionals.
GSC: With a turnover of more than 387.7 million USD (2012), the success of Delta Energy Systems is undeniable. The innovative strength of the company certainly contributes considerably to this success. Can you name further factors for the company's success?
Dr. Basile Margaritis: New technologies as a driver of innovation and sustainability are certainly essential for the competitiveness of our company. With our power supply products and systems we are permanently striving after zero-defect-quality, cost optimization, increase of efficiency and securing environmental compatibility. This intention is in line with the interests of our customers. It is our strategy to built up and maintain long-term partnerships with our customers. Most of our products are integrated in different customer systems. This close cooperation and our early involvement in the development of future customer systems is a permanent challenge to design our products by implementing new ideas and technologies. The permanent customer's satisfaction is our guarantee of success.
GSC: Delta Energy Systems (Germany) was incorporated into the Delta Group in 2003. What are the factors that make Delta Energy Systems particularly valuable for the company group?
Dr. Basile Margaritis: First of all, the strength of our employees with their knowhow, immense experience and motivation as well as their readiness to go new ways to achieve the objectives. Our employees see in our company an interesting and secure job. So, we are able to keep them for a long time. Most of them have been with us for many years and they know all about the history of our company and how it has developed. The identification of our employees with our company is very strong.
The clear definition of processes is also very important. Furthermore, the discipline to develop and proceed accordingly is a valuable skill of our employees. I think, only a well structured design process ensures the stability, quality and reliability of our products. Thus we gain our customer's trust and confidence and this is, of course, highly appreciated also within the company group.
GSC: Research and Development enjoy high priority at Delta. With regard to innovations, what is the role of cooperations between the company and scientific institutions?
Dr. Basile Margaritis: We place high demands on ourselves to be extremely active and successful in the field of research and development. For this purpose, we cooperate both with own research centres and public research institutes and universities at home and abroad. Here, we have many new future-oriented studies examined.
In general, many new ideas are initiated during the development of products. However, due to the tight time schedules (time-to-market is very important for us) our engineers don't have much time to pursue such ideas. These ideas can be addressed and investigated by cooperating with research institutes and universities. A permanent implementation of the results in our products during the cooperation is our ambition.
GSC: One of the 54 worldwide R&D centers of the group is located in Soest, Germany. Power supply products and technologies for hybrid cars, wind turbines, or high-end servers are developed there. What locational advantages do you see in Germany as a location for innovation?
Dr. Basile Margaritis: Germany has an excellent position in science, research and development in Europe and all over the world. In addition, Germany has the capability to design innovative products for the market which are favoured and very popular worldwide. This is also reflected by the recent export figures of German products. You get especially aware of Germany's strengths as technology location while discussing with international business partners.
GSC: Many companies complain about a shortage of skilled labor. Especially for innovation-oriented enterprises qualified experts are essential. Does Delta Energy Systems also have difficulties finding suitable staff? And if so, how do you approach this problem?
Dr. Basile Margaritis: Yes, we are permanently experiencing the shortage of skilled labour. We are facing the greatest problems especially in new business areas where high-qualified and experienced employees are required. For our needs, we get too few job applications from interesting candidates from Germany. When we advertise job vacancies, it is interesting to see that 70 % of the job applications come from abroad. Today, engineers from more than 20 nations are working in our team. However, it is very challenging to convince well educated and experienced engineers from abroad to move to Germany.
We do not have a general solution to find qualified employees. However, a great support is provided by our long-term cooperation with universities. We are especially maintaining the cooperation with neighboured universities to offer young engineers of the region a long-term perspective in our company. A targeted early involvement of the students in our company and our products offers a good possibility to win young engineers. With continuous on-the-job-training and further necessary education in our company they get the required experience needed. A high number of our engineers come from this cooperation.
GSC: Thank you very much for your informative answers, Dr. Margaritis.
More information: www.deltaenergysystems.com/en