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Automation & Human Minds Must Go Hand in Hand

The history of the subsidiary of the German holding KATEK SE began shortly after the Velvet Revolution in 1993. Over time, the manufacturer of mining electronic systems became a leading supplier of electronic systems to various industries, from automotive testing systems to medical technology. KATEK Czech Republic CEO Ernst Käppeler talks us through it all.

Next year your company will celebrate it’s 30th birthday. How do you remember your beginnings?

We started in 1993 as a supplier of mining electronic systems. Our first customer in the Czech Republic, and in Eastern Europe in general, was the František Mine.

In order not to have a one-way customer focus, or a single customer in fact, which was OKD, we started to focus on electronics assembly and EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services). We started with two employees, today there are more than four hundred of us.  The mining automation field is behind us and this year the chapter has completely closed (you could say it happened with the end of OKD). Now our main activity is the development and production of electronics. This is a prime example of how the company has changed along with the region - from a one-sided mining supplier to a multifaceted electronics specialist.

How would you describe your typical customer?

Our typical customers are specialists in various industries and technology leaders in their field. These are not manufacturers of mass goods (cell phones, refrigerators, televisions...) but companies that deal with industrial technology and automation. Another important focus for our company is electromobility, industrial drives, smart home applications, industrial machinery and medical equipment. 

On your website you write that you have perfectly mastered all phases of EMS production. How would you describe it to our readers? 

EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) include various activities. These are either the assembly of the circuit boards or the manufacture of the entire device. If we make the whole device, we must always be able to make the electronics for it. We can develop the electronics for the customer ourselves, but the customer can also come up with their own design.  The assembly itself then consists partly of a highly automated production and partly of handwork. We need skilled and reliable expert workers, technicians and engineers to operate the automated production machines for assembly, and for product testing. The assembly of such equipment is always a combination of manual work and highly developed automated technologies. 

You are a company with many years of tradition and experience. Do you find it difficult to stay in the market? What is most difficult for you?

We have enough orders at the moment. The biggest problem, especially in the last two years, is getting the necessary parts for our products. In terms of market position, all suppliers are struggling with the same problems, so customers tend to stay with suppliers that they already know. And you retain a customer by delivering the order on time, on price and in the quality you are supposed to.

Your business is largely in the electronics and electrical power segment. What brought you to this decision?

The energy theme is actually management of currents. This is a huge area today. We are mainly involved in e-mobility, producing charging stations for electric cars and current converters for solar installations. This market will continue to grow in the future.

Speaking of the future, tell us how you envision the future development of automation, which you are also involved in. 

Automation will continue to develop intensively, but in my opinion it will always be a combination of human intellect, human hands and modern technology. In the field of sensors and image processing, the development is very fast. It is essential to invest in the development of modern technologies and to be interested in them. All of us in the company have to identify with it and learn to work and live with it in order to stay competitive and retain customers. 


Mr Käppeler, thank you for the interview.

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