Tymphany: Audio z kopřivnického Sillicon Valley (6. strana)

BUSINESS INTERVIEW Audio From the “Silicon Valley” of Kopřivnice The managing director of Tymphany Acoustic Technology Europe is Pavel Merhout. A man with many years of experience in leadership in the audio business says his job is to inspire. “Without results, the company would not survive, and they consider themselves to be the product of quality people with quality values.” Mr. Merhout, how do you react to new trends and requirements, after all Tymphany develops products and technologies in a very dynamic business? As a company, we are still on the road. Long ago we tried to satisfy all our customers’ demands, and by that I mean B2B or Business-to-Business--owners of the brands that wanted to cooperate with us. They were coming to us with demands on what we should develop for them--and we did. We innovated something they invented. Because of that, we were jumping from one thing to another; the number of customers grew and each of them requested something completely different. About a year or two ago, we sat down to think and we came to the conclusion that this is not the best way. It made more sense to us to understand the end customer and devise innovations that are one step ahead of our B2B customers’ ideas. To clarify--we devise a concept in the audio sphere, we implement it and when others get to know about it, they want to have it, too. We are therefore moving to the position where we do not react to requirements and trends. Instead, we succeed in setting the trends. That makes me extremely happy. Before, we presented ourselves as a selling company. Now we proudly say that we are a leader in the industry. The whole company structure is based on the space where an audio product is used. For example, we don‘t have a logistics division. We have a division that takes care of audio at home--i.e. home hi-fi systems. Also, we have products on the go, on the stage: all of these are completely different products and therefore they need different approaches. We break ourselves down based on the way the product is used by the end customer. These specifics are organizationally reflected in the so-called business lines. You present yourself as the most innovative company in the region. In what areas exactly did you invest this year? The year 2020 is very specific for known reasons; for example, to us it brought a significant limitation of investments. But I wouldn‘t say it is only about investments; innovation can be done even without them. We try to innovate in multiple areas, not just products, though of course the largest focus is on them. During this process we cooperate mainly with the customers. Our business model is very smart, so it is not necessary to invest in product innovation much. Our company income comes in two waves. The first comes when the customer pays us for the research and development. The second comes when the product is developed and ready for sale--in this case, it is the margin. The innovation of products is therefore prepaid by the customers, so we don‘t need to create an investment budget. Innovations also concern the manufacturing process. We implement robots and automation. Recently, we invested in a huge acoustic room. We built a so-called “house” in our company, which is unique due to the acoustic signal measurement accuracy. We continuously transform ourselves. We don‘t have divisions that would be the same for five or ten years. We significantly restructure once a year, which is very dynamic, and it isn‘t really for everyone. Conditions outside are changing and we need to adapt very quickly. We build teams based on activities, not functions. If we find out that in a particular moment investment in human resources is needed to keep our business successful, we do it. When we fight for business, we always try to come up with a way to win. Two years ago, we built a validation lab, which was a great move. This means only one thing for us: when we develop a product, we don‘t need to validate the design outside our factory and wait for feedback; we can do it ourselves “in house.” This significantly speeds up the development cycle and moves us another mile forward in our competitiveness. I cannot fail also to mention our efforts to reduce our ecological footprint. In this case, this is visible largely on the start, when you are planning what the whole business will look like. As for our products, the components we use will always be global. We can order the parts from China, which is cheaper without a doubt. But we prefer to import from Europe, or in the best case, of course, delivery from the Czech Republic, so that we prevent unnecessary transportation. Ecology and economy go hand in hand here. Where do you see the future of audio business and, by extension, of Tymphany? Our company falls into the Primax Group. This is a company that deals with everything that enables people to communicate with a computer or other machine. During this process, we are all naturally in contact with audio technology. Technological trends, such as artificial intelligence, will always need audio.You will open a fridge soon and it will tell you that you have meat that’s about to expire. When you get into a car, it speaks to you already today. Almost everything connected to the internet needs to communicate with you. Take the POSITIV 4/2020 ǀ 15