DMG MORI has always placed maximum demands on technology and quality with its production solutions – from product development right through to application technology for specific customer requirements. The focus is always on integral technology solutions. In this respect the DMG MORI Qualified Products (DMQP) Program ensures the perfect synergy of the machine tool with especially recommended machine components, peripherals and accessories. The company has over a hundred partners and more than 2,400 DMQP products. In this interview, Christoph Grosch, DMG MORI Executive Director and the person responsible for the DMQP Program, explains the added value that the DMQP Program offers customers.

 

What aim was DMG MORI pursuing with the introduction of the DMQP Program?

We have bundled together the technology expertise of meanwhile over a hundred partners worldwide in the DMQP Program, which has its roots in the Japanese concept of Kaizen. These supplement our portfolio perfectly with their innovative products, excellent technological approach and maximum standards of quality. Expanding the product categories ‘Machining’, ‘Handling’, ‘Measuring’ and ‘Monitoring’ to include peripherals and accessories for additive manufacturing means we can now offer our customers integral solutions in all our areas of technology and product lines.

 

What are the distinguishing features of the DMQP partnerships?

The DMQP Program is founded on joint, trustworthy and sustainable cooperation. This applies to both new partners and to those who we have been collaborating with for many years. The aspect that all DMQP partners have in common is their technological and quality expertise, with which they have qualified for our exclusive DMQP seal of quality. It is true that DMQP partners benefit from the seal of quality, but customers benefit even more. While the partners are integrated in our global sales networks and systems, customers receive exclusive access to their technology and their know-how. As soon as a customer purchases DMQP products, it can also count on the support and advice of the DMQP partners.

 

Who selects potential DMQP partners?

The cooperation starts early on in the fields of R&D and engineering in the course of new machine development. Suggestions for new DMQP partner solutions also come from the field of application technology – in particular from the many diverse customer projects in our worldwide DMG MORI Technology Excellence Centers and showrooms. One example of this is the recent acquisition of Mikron Tool as a DMQP partner. With the internally cooled precision tools from the Swiss company the DMG MORI Medical Excellence Center at DECKEL MAHO Seebach was able to sustainably optimise the production of bone plates on a DMP 70. We have also awarded the North German company HWR the DMQP seal of quality for its 4-jaw chuck. This is used as a lightweight and compensating chuck for the machining of round and 

cubic workpieces.

 

Could you explain the benefits for DMG MORI customers in more detail?

Firstly – and this is the core element of the DMQP Program – our customers receive a high-tech and integrally designed production solution from a single source. The DMQP Program promises an excellent level of technology in all areas. There is a standardised guarantee for all DMQP machine and peripheral options selected with a new machine. In addition, we offer our customers an interesting financial benefit with the advantage program ‘DMQP Plus’. They benefit from so-called DMQP certificates for tools and tool holders from Haimer, Horn, Ingersoll, Kennametal and Sandvik Coromant plus powered tools from Algra, EWS, MT and WTO. 

 

How does the advantage program “DMQP Plus” work?

The principle can be explained quickly with the following example: a customer orders a tool package from an afore-mentioned DMQP partner with the purchase of a new machine and receives a price reduction for the package of up to 30 percent. The customer then cooperates with the experts of the selected DMQP tool partner to find the tools that it needs for its specific purpose. We also offer software products on the same basis, such as the manufacturer-independent service and maintenance platform WERKBLiQ, for example. Other EMEA states and selected countries in Asia have followed successively since the start of the advantage program ‘DMQP Plus’ in Germanyin 2018. 

 

What role does the DMQP Program play in the global orientation of DMG MORI? 

Seen globally, the DMQP Program is of great importance for all concerned, because we thereby synchronise and organise our activities uniformly and transparently. In other words, the same access to the technologies and the around 2,400 products of our DMQP partners is available in all markets.

 

What is the share in revenue of the DMQP Program and how will this develop?

DMQP products currently constitute ten percent of DMG MORI’s total revenues. As we are continuously developing the program and taking more and more new innovations on board, the share is expected to rise to 20 percent by 2022. We assume 30 percent by 2030.

 

One of these further developments is the already mentioned additive manufacturing, isn’t it?

Yes, exactly. This focuses on the free choice of powder on the one hand and the qualified and integrated powder circuit for the machines in the LASERTEC SLM series on the other. We also offer our additive manufacturing customers an extensive powder portfolio, that has been conclusively validated on a LASERTEC SLM in addition to the already extremely strict quality standards demanded. It is important for us to provide our customers with a ready-to-use powder package that includes the powder and the respective machining parameters. Our Additive Manufacturing Excellence Centers already practice the ordering and reordering of the powder plus the provision of machining parameters including powder recirculation and recycling with the new DMQP partner: Hereaus with the headquarter in Hanau. In a next step we will apply the processes to the powder for the LASERTEC 3D machines.

 

DMG MORI ranks as a driver of innovation in the digitization of toolmaking and machine construction.  What consequences does this have for the DMQP Program?

Our software solutions and digital products also play a key role, of course. WERKBLiQ, for example, as a DMQP partner helps our customers to manage the maintenance of their machine parks with the aid of a web-based and manufacturer-independent platform. While the different machine components, peripherals and tools are also an integral part of digitization. Our DMQP partners are incorporating more and more sensors in their products to supply the data for digital production. In this way, the DMQP Program also supports users on their path to intelligent networked production.

 

Where do you see additional potential for the further development of the DMQP Program?

All activities are currently focused on the initial equipment of manufacturing solutions. This is offered and selected during the configuration of a machine. Another area is retrofitting, where we intend to sell our DMQP products via our online shop in future.