In this interview, Mr. Thomas Hagenlocher, Bock’s director sales and application engineering for stationary compressors, shares his worries on the changing market demands and unveils a light at the end of the tunnel when facing today’s global crisis.

1 – How has Bock grown into the company it is today? Which were the most important turning points?

Bock started as a family owned company, managed by Wolfgang Etter, Heinrich Reuß and Udo Klaußner and as manufacturer of compressors and condensing units. Today, Bock has grown with high quality products, outstanding customer support and alignment of the product portfolio including innovations to the market demand.

2 - As a leading manufacturer of refrigerant compressors, what’s the importance of the HVACR market for Bock (sales, product innovations, market share,…)? 

Besides of gaining market shares a loyal customer base is important for us. Furthermore we are preparing our self to the changing market demands.      

3 - How would you characterize the refrigeration market in Europe and abroad? What solutions do you propose for its current problems and how will it evolve?

Due to the economical crises customers have difficulties to finance their orders and insurance companies are also very restricted to cover them. This requires time consuming handling and evaluating possibilities for protection of payments.    

4 – Being a company that has already expanded to various countries including India, what is the company’s strategy for the international market? 

In certain areas we need to get closer to the customers and to adjust the support what is requested from the market. Especially high technology products such as variable speed drives and new technologies like CO2 transcritical systems require a higher level of knowledge to handle it.

5 - In your opinion, how will the German and the global HVACR market evolve? What will be the trends of the future?

For years we had constantly growth in our industry and became used to it. Now we are going through a hard time and have not passed the rock bottom yet. There might be seen a light at the end of the tunnel but it is too soon to confirm. In sense of trends we have to focus on energy saving technologies and natural refrigerants where applicable.   

6 - Can you describe to us a project where the company’s products are being successfully applied?

You can image – with thousands of compressors in the field there are quite a lot projects we could talk about. Let’s pick out our EFC system. With our EFC System we offer system builders the most convenient solution in the market for using an ecologically worthwhile variable speed drive. These systems are installed in hundreds of supermarkets, cold chambers, industrial applications and others.

7 - Is Bock taking any specific measures to face today’s global crisis?

We are a medium size company where we have the advantage to react fast and most flexible. Of course we are taking measures to adjust the production capacity to the effective work load and to keep the expenditure under close control. However our target is not to reduce our service and support to the customers and to keep delivery times on the same short level as before.

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