What are your major tasks as a Product Manager?
The central task in product management is to be an interface for all matters relating to a product and thus to actively plan and shape the entire product portfolio. In particular to handle the requirements of customers, communicated by our sales department, and the technical implementation of those projects by linking our engineering and production team in a user- and future-oriented manner as well as economically. The balancing act between series and customized products in particular must always be weighed up in order to be able to present the best solution to the end customer.
For example, at the end of 2020, we demonstrated our closeness to the market and customer orientation with dry ice refilling and dosing systems for dry ice and vaccine logistics. Here, together with our network of partners, we translated customer requirements into optimally tailored products in the shortest possible time, which on the one hand can be used flexibly but at the same time are precisely tailored to the customer's capacities.
What are the trends in development?
One of the core modules of our products already is our "i-Series Pelletizer Line" and will be further expanded in the future. Since we equipped our machines with this future-oriented technology at an early stage, we were not only able to deliver our equipment but also ensure commissioning, troubleshooting and support via remote access, especially during the entire Corona pandemic and the associated lockdowns and travel restrictions. Therefore, this will remain a key issue even for the next few years and this is where we will focus on the expansion and integration of the functions.
Our recently introduced Spare Parts Manager is also an addition to be able to offer our customers fast, uncomplicated and reliable service for spare parts procurement around their ASCO dry ice machines.
What are the projects for 2021?
In addition to the i-Series expansion, we are of course also permanently working on the further development of our products. This could be seen in 2020, for example, in the newly presented P15i, BP425i and the new atmospheric evaporators with external control.
The focus for 2021 includes three main product developments among others. We will refine two of our most popular products, the P28i and the P15i, with a new user interface and thus be able to offer new functions. This will further improve the i-Series experience. The P450, which has proven itself over the years, is now getting a modern successor in the form of the P55i, which also boasts a larger capacity, a completely new design and i-Series integration. The more flexible and versatile APM140, which can pack blocks of up to 5 kg or more, will complement the range of packaging machines. In addition, we have always excelled in implementing our customers' individual large-scale dry ice projects, which will be another key element in the product management area.
Alex Schmidt
Head of Product Management