<aside> 🤖 Exotec is a global robotics company, building warehouse robotic solutions for the intralogistics. Exotec’s solution, the Skypod system, utilizes robots that climb a height of 36 feet to enable high-density inventory storage. The system is fully modular allowing customers to deploy in a matter of months and easily expand their systems by simply adding robots, stations, or racks. The systems drastically improve working conditions for human operators by reducing highly repetitive, physically intensive tasks such as excessive walking, lifting, and bending.
“Germany being a strategic market for Exotec, it seemed obvious to us to set up a team and an office there to support our growth quickly and locally on a European scale. Joining forces with a local intralogistics partner that is a reference in its market has been crucial for our commercial conquest, to support our credibility and ensure the visibility of our solutions among our targets.” Romain Moulin, CEO
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With the help of Business France, we took the necessary time to identify the most strategic partners and figured out the market potential and potential partners/integrators.
Germany is a very special market for us. Automation rates are among the highest in the world and the country is home to many traditional automation players in our industry. It is a very advanced region with a strong engineering culture, which we at Exotec particularly appreciate!
“Germany is a country of engineers, and customers like to know the technical details of the solution they are buying. To generate trust, you need to show references of work and give German customers clear, logical benefits. In addition, it is very important that you show in the first projects that you can keep your promises.” -Markus Schlotter, Managing Director Central Europe
Landshut, in the Munich area of Bavaria, was chosen because the area provided flexibility to rent office space and the potential to expand early on. Bavaria is also considered to be a very innovative and economically strong region in Germany. In addition, Munich airport is well connected and close to both Austria and Switzerland. The area’s infrastructure, renowned universities and a high quality of life, which translates into high quality potential hires, are additional advantages.
We first hired a Managing Director for Central Europe, Markus Schlotter. A recruitment agency (Korn Ferry) supported the process. He started in November 2020. He worked for a few months in his home office. The office in Landshut was opened at the beginning of 2021.
Markus received a recommendation for the current office by "Wirtschaftsförderung Landshut". The economic development department of the Landshut district office supports entrepreneurs and investors as a central contact point for all economic questions.
The first wave of colleagues to join were acquired through personal recommendations and were often past colleagues of existing hires. In addition, several headhunting agencies were commissioned by our French headquarters to find additional employees for the German office.
It was crucial that we build strong connections within the German market. This is why we partnered with Klinkhammer, a logistics solutions integrator with expert knowledge of the market. Klinkhammer is also well known and trusted in the locality, and offered us a new sales channel to complement our direct sales strategy. It was also important that we worked with a dedicated member of the team at Klinkhammer who aligned with our mindset, and could manage the relationships with our suppliers and customers locally.
The German culture is different from the culture in France, so it is important to have a local subsidiary to really penetrate the market. Moreover, Germany seems to be more hesitant towards new technologies than Switzerland or other European countries.
Most legal issues (official opening of a subsidiary, etc.) are easy to solve but sometimes require a long administrative process. A service provider like Pramex can be of great help in the beginning. It is also important to have a dedicated team that is able to study our needs and challenges in advance.