Podcast #238 Unlocking Digital Leadership

TRANSCRIPT

Ken:

Good day, and welcome to episode 238 of our Momenta Industrial Impact podcast. Today, we're pleased to welcome Dr. Christian Bartsch, former VP of Digital Solutions at KraussMaffei Technologies. Christian is a recognized expert in digital transformation with multiple awards and over 20 years of experience driving innovation and IT excellence across the automotive, chemical, and pharmaceutical sectors. Most recently, he led the global digitalization strategy as Global Vice President of Digital Solutions and Chief Digital Officer at KraussMaffei Technologies. Before this, he led Global Digital Transformation for Linde PLC, where he fostered collaboration with startups and spearheaded projects introducing innovative technologies such as Industrial IoT, augmented reality, and predictive maintenance across the organization. With that, Christian, welcome to our Industrial Impact podcast.

[00:01:37]

Christian: Thank you, Ken. Thank you for the invite. It's a pleasure to be here and be part of this excellent podcast series.

[00:01:43]

Ken: You certainly make an excellent addition to our incredible lineup of speakers, all focused on digital transformation and industry, and you fit in these areas. You know, I always let off by understanding digital threads—in other words, the defining interests and experiences that have brought you to this point in life. What would you consider to be your digital threads?

[00:02:08]

Christian: That's an excellent question, prompting me to reflect on various stages of my life. I developed my first genuine interest in digital technology as a teenager through music. I experimented with signboards and computer programs and composed electronic music at that time. I was fascinated by the possibilities at those times that arise when you combine different hardware and software solutions and creatively orchestrate them to build something new. Creating a new sound or doing something unique certainly shaped my mindset.

As I reflected, I eventually decided to study Information Engineering and Management because I saw myself as an orchestrator and mediator between two worlds. In other words, my goal was to bring together innovative digital possibilities with the challenges and requirements of often still-analog business environments. This mindset was also a driving force during my work and doctorate at the Research Center for Information Technology, where I focused on business process management, IT management, and automation.

As you can see, the concept of orchestration continued to guide me. I transitioned into management consulting, bringing this orchestrator mindset to life in various international client projects. My drive to create something new led me to co-found my company, specializing in process consulting and digital product development. After leaving the company, I took on an exciting role as a digital manager.

As you mentioned, at Linde PLC, I had the opportunity to build and globally oversee everything related to digital acceleration, startup ecosystems, and innovative technology portfolios. Ultimately, the combination of being an orchestrator between business and IT, my entrepreneurial mindset, and my passion for disruptive digital technologies brought me to KraussMaffei Technologies as the VP of Digital Solutions.

[00:04:19]

Ken: I've had people with various backgrounds answer that question. You're the first to start with music, and the fact that you've interwoven orchestrator into all of that is important because it defines what stands out in your CBM experience base. That's pretty cool. We first met when you were on a panel discussion that I moderated at the IoT Solutions in 2019, aka pre-COVID, if you will. At the time, we were discussing industrial IoT as a critical enabler for business models. I remember you were early in your role at KraussMaffei, leading their digital transformation. Perhaps you can tell us about the company and your role there.

[00:05:05]

Christian: Absolutely. You were right. I remember it well. It was a very insightful panel discussion, allowing me to present my early digital ideas for KraussMaffei Technologies to a broader audience. KraussMaffei is one of the world's leading manufacturers of machines and systems for producing and processing plastic and rubber. Their range includes products and services covering all technologies: injection molding, extrusion, reaction process machinery, and additive manufacturing; when I joined KraussMaffei, the global Digital and Service Solutions division had just been founded, consolidating the entire service business across all portfolio technologies, involving around 700 to 800 people worldwide.

During this time, I established the new digital division, a Greenfield approach. I rebuilt the global digital area with a small cross-functional team, from IoT connectivity for machines to cloud infrastructure services, data strategy, and product portfolio development. From my perspective, the challenge was integrating this fast, agile digital startup mindset—handling petabytes of machine data and patented machine learning algorithms—into a traditional mechanical engineering company. Of course, we had to demonstrate the added value of digital. From my point of view, this was only possible by scaling pragmatically, anchoring the digital approach simply and practically throughout the organization. Over time, this step fostered a digital transformation mindset among employees. Looking back, we started as a small, fast-moving digital team and became a supercharger for a somewhat cumbersome container ship.

[00:07:05]

Ken: I understand how hard it can be to introduce digital technology into a company with hardware DNA, which defines almost most industrial spaces in which we operate. But what's interesting is that your background is that you didn't do it just once; you did it at least twice. This was a repeat performance for you, as you had previously co-founded and led a global digital transformation program at Linde. These spearheading initiatives empowered employees with new digital skills and processes. Perhaps you can also tell us about Linde and your mandate there. 

[00:07:39]

Christian: Absolutely. Linde PLC is a leading global industrial gas and engineering company serving various end markets, such as chemicals, energy, food, beverages, electronics, and healthcare. You'll find Linde gas more or less everywhere, and together with a tiny team, we evaluated new digital approaches, working methods, and skills at that time and introduced them to the organization as part of a programmatic digital transformation program, including associated learning journeys for employees. These learning journeys were around three months, not full-time, just several days in these three months. This range of skills we've trained to the people helped drive the transformational mindset here. One of the critical success factors for the acceptance of the whole thing was that we only used use cases from the direct Linde context within the framework of the program, which we had implemented in practice before by ourselves. But to give you an example, these ranged from the productive use of smart glasses in customer service or the total acceptance test of the construction progress of an industrial plant. We used augmented reality and the installation of gas cylinders, custom housings, or even drones in conjunction with cameras and AI to inventory thousands of gas cylinders in a filling plant. This was one of the critical success factors in all these cases; they were not theoretical or from any training books. I don't know from other companies; it was really from the company itself, and this showed the participants what is already possible and actually, it's in their daily work environment. This was one of the critical success factors for the whole thing. 

[00:09:26]

Ken: Your accomplishments have ranged from developing digital infrastructures and customer-centric services to creating new revenue streams for digital products. How do you organize or how did you manage at both these companies for such widespread digital transformations?

[00:09:45]

Christian: There's no perfect blueprint, to be honest. You can only plan so much in detail. Ultimately, success depends on having the right people with the mindset to challenge the status quo, drive innovations, implement them hands-on, and make their success visible throughout the organization. These are the roles of digital champions or ambassadors who help make the change tangible to everyone. Over time, this generates curiosity and acceptance, and ideally, it encourages others to start implementing new things. The transformation becomes an evolutionary process if this dynamic is maintained. The difficulty lies in sustaining it.

[00:10:47]

Ken: Much of it comes down to having deep support within the organization and, hopefully, a clear mandate. But I agree with you: It's hard to game-plan something like this past the first couple of steps. It does become a very iterative exercise, at least from what we've seen of working with other companies like your own. What are you most proud of in your digital transformation role at both companies?

[00:11:15]

Christian: Well, at Linde, we have managed to turn those affected into participants, so really, making the employees part of the whole thing and letting them drive the transformation. It's one of many approaches, but everybody was involved. Today, several thousand employees have gone through the whole digital transformation program and generated a measurable impact for the company through the new digital skills. That's what I'm very proud of. On behalf of KraussMaffei, I think we have created an absolute pioneering role in mechanical engineering with our consistent focus on service in conjunction with digital. With the new digital customer solutions alone, we have measurably increased customer satisfaction and, at the same time, created a real differentiating factor from the competition. Here, too, the mindset has started to change across the organization. We earned two or three external awards as digital and transformation champions. This is also quite an objective confirmation of the whole approach. That was quite nice.

[00:12:21]

Ken: It sounded like the benefits were both internal in terms of culture and capabilities and external, including customer and such. What are some of the most significant advantages of the digital transformation efforts?

[00:12:39]

Christian: Good question. You can see that people's minds are starting to change. What I then feel is how the energy changes across a company. This motivates me and makes me proud that something started to work. If we manage this transfer of the spirit that we give into the company as initiators, that's one of the greatest successes because it starts to scale. As I always say, digitalization is not about technology but the mindset. If this point is reached, that's the most significant benefit you can get by perspective.

[00:13:19]

Ken: Mindset. That's interesting because we often talk about digital, right? The first word implies technology and digital transformation. Technology and mindset, if you will. What are some of the general challenges hindering industrial companies from better leveraging digital technologies? 

[00:13:37]

Christian: Good question. There are not many, but I have one special one in mind, especially in the industrial environment. I sometimes think that the term' speed,' especially when discussing digitalization, is, unfortunately, still often equated with inconsistent and risky action. To make an example here, to put it bluntly, an 80% digital solution that could be rolled out directly and improved incrementally must typically reach a post-maturity level of 98% through months of additional internal alignment workshops before it's even considered for external customer testing. Yeah, it's way too long. In my experience, in many industrial companies, the term 'slowness' is often equated with the terms' safety' and 'quality.' I'm not talking about technology in terms of safety or security. I'm talking about people's feelings, feeling safe, thinking that's the right quality, and so on. To simplify, speed is a risk, slow is secure, and this will not work. I mean, especially when, in the long run, it does not work when we're dealing with an almost exponentially growing digital progress. We need to speed up and better explain digital technologies to people, show them these possibilities, and enable them to deal with new methods and solutions. The speed, from my perspective, can be learned. This is one of the key topics which we still need to work on.

[00:15:07]

Ken: You're well-familiar with a concept in the startup space called 'minimum viable product.' The idea is to get something out there you can start with and iterate upon and measure feedback, primarily around product market fit. Some of those concepts would also apply to incubated efforts within large companies. Sometimes, it's a matter of capturing people's attention. The half-life of a sponsorship in a company is about nine months. You usually get a good 18 to 24 months to prove yourself. After that, a budget change or reorganization usually causes one to reassess again, so I agree with you. Speed is almost critical in these kinds of things, and many of it is about contained pilots that ultimately demonstrate real value.

[00:16:04]

Christian: Absolutely.

[00:16:05]

Ken: You're familiar with the concept of a "minimum viable product" (MVP) in startups, which allows for iterative development based on feedback. Some of those principles apply to large companies, too. Speed is crucial for pilots to demonstrate real value. If you could go back and restart either of these efforts with today's tools and technologies, what would you do differently?

[00:16:22]

Christian: With the experience I've gained, today's technologies would not have made a significant difference in the digital transformation journey because it's still a people-centric approach. However, access to technology is faster and easier now. For instance, we would have saved much time and money on industrial IoT cloud services, which we had to develop ourselves, taking six to twelve months. Today, you can get many services off the shelf from AWS or Microsoft Azure. That would have sped things up, but the transformation itself. I'm not sure it would have made a big difference.

[00:17:18]

Ken: You wisely detected. I wanted to throw you off on the technology versus culture issue by throwing ChatGPT out there. That was a tongue-in-cheek effort because no matter where we turn, it's the first thing people tend to think of now when they think digital. "Hey, can I get a ChatGPT interface on my machine, plant, or process?" Indeed, some technologies enable that, but it still becomes a pool for all of the data infrastructure that needs to support something like that- large language models, etc. Ultimately, it only amplifies the gaps to begin with, right? So, while there's maybe a different incentive or pool, you still have to develop all the foundation, and a lot of that is, as you say, mindset and culture. Good answer. We're going to pivot. You've mentioned consulting practice and such several times. So, I understand you've now taken this wonderful digital transformation experience and launched your own business, serving as a fractional leader, an interim manager, and a board advisor. Can you share how you help clients? Who would be the ideal client for you?

[00:18:29]

Christian: True. The startup gene is still active. I'm currently helping small and medium-sized enterprises to realign their organizational structures in the context of digital, so understanding how organizational structures might have or have to change, that precisely the speed can be faster than it is today. In addition, I advise executive-level industry companies on digital strategy development and sustainable implementation. I also occasionally support companies that need temporary digital management support, so in the context of an M&A process, digital innovation, and acceleration, it's a broad portfolio I tried to bring in. That's it.

[00:19:12]

Ken: If somebody wants to learn more about your consulting work, how can they do so?

[00:19:18]

Christian: Well, they could go to my website, it's chiba.digital, and then directly contact me.

[00:19:24]

Ken: Great. We'll include that link with this publication. Lastly, how do you maintain your edge as a leader? Do you have any recommendations?

[00:19:37]

Christian: Networking is vital. I'm an active member of a digital leader's community, and we meet monthly to exchange knowledge, issues, and trends. I also stay in touch with inspiring friends, managers, and startups. I enjoy listening to podcasts and scanning news sites like "Super Innovators," "Alpha Signal," and "Greater Good Science Center." Occasionally, I take exciting courses, like "Empathy and Emotional Intelligence at Work" on edX. I take in anything that might help me grow.

[00:20:30]

Ken: Excellent. Thank you again for sharing this time and insights, Christian.

[00:20:36]

Christian: Thanks for the invite, Ken. It was a great conversation.

[00:20:40]

Ken: This has been Dr. Christian Bartsch, Digital Industry Advisor. Thanks for listening to the Momenta Digital Thread podcast. We welcome your comments and suggestions at momenta.one, where you can find archived podcasts and resources for your digital industry journey.

[The End]