18.02.2025
How do Bavarian SMEs implement the strategic approach of "customer centricity"?
In practical company portraits, we show how companies consistently place the customer at the center of their activities - including BizLink elocab GmbH. This best practice shows how customer centricity contributes to entrepreneurial success.
Interview with Thomas Deubel: Customer centricity at BizLink elocab
elocab was founded in 1988 in Georgensgmünd near Nuremberg and has been part of the BizLink Group since 2022. The company produces customized cable solutions and cable systems for specific applications, such as aircraft seats, submarines or biomass plants. In addition, elocab is active in the fields of railroad technology, endoscopy & inner body and semiconductor technology. Customers require individual solutions that are not covered by standard products - elocab helps to meet these special requirements.
Thomas Deubel, innovation enthusiast and Managing Director, told us in an interview how customer centricity is lived in his company.
"Joint development with the customer and acting as a development partner is valuable: you learn something new yourself and have a completely different position with the customer when you develop solutions together instead of just working through specifications."
Thomas Deubel
Managing Director at BizLink elocab GmbH
What strategic goals have you set for your company?
Thomas Deubel: Our core philosophy is customer-specific solutions. We develop solutions together with our customers. We are planning one of our next strategic steps in the area of "Inner Body". Up to now, our products have remained in the human body for a maximum of 30 days. In the medium and long term, we will also offer solutions for permanent implants. Artificial organs or, for example, permanent heart support systems that patients live with in everyday life - outside the controlled environment of the hospital. This means that the cable must remain in the body for years and be biocompatible, without poisoning the patient or causing other problems. It has to be able to withstand the patient nervously playing with the cable while watching soccer, for example - these are challenges in their own right.
What does customer centricity mean at BizLink elocab?
Thomas Deubel: We have to listen to the customer, there is no other way. The entire company is geared towards the customer's problem.
We produce in Middle Franconia. This is a high-cost region. For us, it is essential to convince customers by offering them benefits, because it is difficult to convince them by offering the cheapest price for products that suppliers from other regions can also manufacture.
For us, this maximum customer focus means engaging with the customer, understanding what they really need and then making it possible.
Customer centricity in the innovation process: Where and how do you involve your customers?
Thomas Deubel: Our customers are always involved because we develop everything with and for the customer. Here are a few examples:
We have developed an innovation in the field of semiconductor technology: The world's first and only cable meter production in a clean room. These cables are used in an ultra-high vacuum in highly complex machines that cost several hundred million euros. In other words, a very sophisticated innovation for one of our customers.
In the area of sustainability, we are proactively driving forward another innovation for our customers. This involves certain chemicals that are currently under discussion because they do not dissolve in nature. Nevertheless, some of these substances are extremely important, e.g. for high-temperature resistance. We approach our customers and ask how we can work together on development.
We discuss what is important to them and what compromises would be possible in order to develop prototypes. We then take feedback on board. This is how we learn to improve in order to build up the necessary modular system. Because so far there are no 1:1 substitutes. That costs money on both sides. But joint development with the customer and acting as a development partner is valuable: you learn something new yourself and have a completely different position with the customer when you work on solutions together instead of just working off specifications.
One innovation that we would never have thought of came from our medical sector. The customer came to us with a completely new requirement. Together, we developed a promising approach. Although we initially thought, "That doesn't make any sense at all." Now the customer is testing our prototype - let's see what comes of it. Without this open exchange, we would never have found this highly complex solution. And the most important thing is that we are obviously the partner that the customer goes to because he has confidence in us or at least sees the chance that we will find a solution.
What is your process for accompanying and supporting the customer during innovation?
Thomas Deubel: We have a standardized process for smaller developments. For complex projects, we put together a team from the field sales force, project management and product technology and clarify all requirements step by step. Regular meetings and prototypes help to find the best solution. Every project is different, but the process - from understanding the customer's needs to reaching a joint decision - always remains the same at its core.
What role do existing customers and new customers play in your business?
Thomas Deubel: We see faster growth with our existing customers - if there is already a basis of mutual success and we know each other, we are happy to work together on new projects. We are then exactly the "trusted advisor" that we want to be and where the customer then says "Of course I'll go to them. It worked last time too."
We work with spill overs. For example, we have our cleanrooms for semiconductor technology. We can use them to produce high-purity and extremely low-outgassing cables that cannot be found anywhere else. This also helps us gain the trust of other industries, such as medical technology, because we can show that "if we can do this, we can also solve your problem."
Skills are very important - also in acquisition. LinkedIn is a relevant channel for us: We show which problems we solve and thus simply give a feeling that it could probably be good to just knock on our door and have a look. True to the motto: "Tell us about your problem and then we'll find a solution".
What visions and plans do you have for the future of your company and how do you see your industry developing over the next few years?
Thomas Deubel: Our business model is based on four markets and is therefore particularly resilient. As a multi-niche company, we have to constantly reinvent ourselves: If small projects become large, we relocate production to other sites, e.g. in Slovakia or the Czech Republic, if the customer and product allow it. We have been driving innovation in Georgensgmünd for over 30 years. We are constantly growing. This constant change challenges us, but is deeply rooted in our DNA and is our great strength. Sometimes the organization might want to take a break and not immediately move on to the next big project. But that is exactly what we must not allow to happen; we are always looking for the next innovation in cable with our customers.
Interview for Bayern Innovativ, conducted by Dana Arzani
Founder and shareholder, THE SPARKLE ACADEMY GmbH, on 30.01.2025
Successful in the market through customer centricity
We are convinced that companies with a clear focus on the customer are more successful in creating the optimal solution for their
target group. In our opinion, customer centricity is more than just an optimized process - the ideal "customer journey". It is a
company-wide attitude - the customer-centric mindset: We want to maximize added value for our customers. We
focus on long-term customer relationships. We place the "voice of the customer" at the center of everything we do.
As Innovation Management (TIM) at Bayern Innovativ, we show you the path to customer-centric innovation - using selected
company examples. In short portraits of Bavarian SMEs, we shed light on how customer centricity works in practice: from understanding
and defining customer needs to designing products, testing and obtaining feedback.
