Thorsten Koldehoff (Pöppelmann): "We make new developments every week and sometimes every day"

Plastic caps and closures often go unnoticed, but Thorsten Koldehoff, Global Sales Director and Division Head Pöppelmann KAPSTO, gives us an insight into the contribution to efficiency and sustainability of these parts.

AutoRevista.- Pöppelmann KAPSTO has a wide experience with several OEMs and Tier 1 in the automotive industry, ¿what added value is the company offering currently?

Thorsten Koldehoff .- Currently our most important added value is a holistic approach to find the most sustainable solution for our customer during the life cycle of our parts. We are the leading manufacturer of high quality plastic caps and plugs – they are used as temporary protection of sensitive industrial components during storage or shipping. Probably not everyone would agree immediately to this, but we are convinced that plastic is the most sustainable material in the world – provided that both industry and private consumers are handling plastic and it’s waste in the right way. This includes all aspects of the products lifecycle: purchasing of raw materials and energy, development, production, transport, usage and recycling. Our customers can always rely on us. In the past 10, 20 or 30 years it was important to have a really good quality in processes and products, a high reliability with regards to delivery time and a good service. We keep on providing reliability in these aspects – in addition they can now rely on us that we can find together the most sustainable solution.

AR.- How is the electrification trend impacting in the Pöppelmann KAPSTO activity?

T.K.- Our customers are facing massive changes. They more or less need to “re-invent” their business models and find totally new product solutions. And for their new battery modules, inverters or electric engines, they need new plastic protective caps and plugs. So we are investing high values into our portfolio. Recently we added more than 30 new products for protection of High Voltage connectors. And there are new developments for our standard range every week and sometimes also every day. Beside the new shapes, we also see that the requirements have increased: customers know that especially in Europe there will be a huge switch to electric cars, so they want to be sure that their first projects in e-mobility go well. They set a high focus on planning and quality. The requirements on cleanliness, material properties and documentation have significantly increased.

AR.- It seems Chinese automotive and mobility industry is emerging Which opportunities are opening to Pöppelmann KAPSTO related to the new players outside and inside China?

T.K.- Due to the fact that we are present in Europe (4 manufacturing sites), USA and China we have a quite good view on the global developments. We see that Chinese companies are entering the European market. Even if foreign Automotive investments in China are not increasing, the market volume in China is still very high – it’s still the no. 1 country of Automotive production. We see that our approach with sustainability, high quality and reliability matches to the Chinese requirements. As a European company, we learned that business in China works different. Many of our European colleagues now understand Chinese behaviors, but others are still on their way. One example: If a Chinese customer is sensing an enquiry, he expects a first feedback immediately, which means within a few minutes, maybe an hour. But he would not accept a first answer after 8 hours or 2 days or so, what might still be okay for many European colleagues. Some Chinese OEMs are now investing in Europe. This speeds up competition amongst the car makers and tier 1s.

AR.- Current automotive and mobility sector cannot understand currently without sustainability and digitization, how is Pöppelmann KAPSTO working on in these fields?

T.K.- We implemented two strategic initiatives: PÖPPELMANN blue and PPdigital. They are initiatives which are implemented in many parts of the company, you can say both initiatives are now part of Pöppelmann’s DNA. Within the division Pöppelmann KAPSTO we have several colleagues in production, logistic, sales, customer service and project management who are co-ordinating and working on all topics and projects with regards to sustainability and digitization. At Pöppelmann we always have a hands-on mentality, so let’s talk about some specific examples:

• PPdigital: Our customers can very soon receive their order conformation 24/7, because we implemented an AI tool in customer service – the AI tool is entering the order automatically into our ERP system and sends the order confirmation by e-mail to the customer.
• PCF-calculator: we have installed an online tool, which shows our customer the PCF of our parts – this helps to understand the impact of changing from virgin (fossile-ressources based) plastic products to recycled plastic products.
• We have saved appr. 1 mEUR by implementing digital solutions instead of manual processes.
• Sustainability / PÖPPELMANN blue: With several OEMs and Tier1s we have set up a closed loop. They return the used caps and plugs back to Pöppelmann. The used parts are shredded and regrinded. This regrinded plastic material is called post-consumer-recyclate and  is saving 100% fossile ressources.
• Solar panels have been installed on many of our buildings – and more panels will be installed. This reduces CO2 emissions. Until end of 2024, we will have installed 6000 kWp.
• Re-use of used cardboard boxes for external use: Until 2 years ago, we have only used brand new boxes for the consignments to our customers. Since 2 years we are also sending used boxes, which still do the job, but which have small ditches, because they have been used for internal processes. A small label (“reused packaging”) tells the customers why the cardboard bx might look “old” or a bit damaged.
• Substitution if normal lighty by LED light: higher light quality and up to 50% less energy consumption by LED light.

 AR.- Several years ago, Pöppelmann KAPSTO created the product line Blau. How has this strategy evolving and how can it be in the future?

T.K.- It can be evaluated as a great success so far. We now have mor than 2000 parts made put of post-consumer-recyclate (PCR). This material is the most sustainable – it saves up to 100% fossile ressources and reduces the CO2 impact by up to 45%.We have had the biggest expansion of our product portfolio ever. Almost every standard series can now be offered in a PCR option. We have mainly two different options: One option is the 100% PCR, which contains 100% post-consumer-recyclate within the plastic used. The other option is a mix of PCR and virgin material. Within the group of PE the mix of PCR-PE and PE-LD virgin material offers the possibility of bright colors like yellow or orange, which are important for many of our customers because of visual management (signal color for packaging parts).  Beside PCR-PE we also implemented several other materials into our portfolio, like PCR-TPE, PCR-PS, PCR-PE-HD. For sure this is the most sustainable programme in the market of plastic protective caps and plugs.

Interview published in AutoRevista 2.389

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