Just have self-confidence!

Micaela Schönherr

When you visit Niles-Simmons on Zwickauer Straße, you enter a centrepiece of modern value creation in Chemnitz and immediately sense the internationality of the company. A global player as it is written in the book, you might think, and not just because flawless English is spoken at reception. Niles-Simmons, known as VEB Großdrehmaschinenbau "8. Mai" even beyond the borders of the former socialist economic area before the reunification of the two German states, is also historically an essential part of the city's industry, which is characterised by mechanical engineering. It is therefore no surprise that the company's operational roots can be found here in Saxony and its complex company history in the United States and Berlin. All in all, the company in the Siegmar district is a maker's domain!
And it's a pleasure to meet Micaela Schönherr here. The greeting is pleasantly uncomplicated and yet business-like. The doctorate and the title of Dr.-Ing. are important in her life because she is proud to have achieved this in a relatively difficult subject. She doesn't make a big issue of it. It is much easier to come to an agreement with the "you" that determines the rubric, and you realise that although this is an energetic doer running the business, it is one who has retained an eye for down-to-earth and sincere things. You realise with respect that the busy mother of two grown-up children reads two to three books a month. She says this is how she relaxes and a more than interesting conversation ensues.

You said you come from Chemnitz. Were you born here?
I was born in Zwickau, not far away, but I've lived in Chemnitz since I was two years old.

How modern is Chemnitz for you?
For me, Chemnitz is actually very modern. I think it's a bit of a shame that many people in Chemnitz don't feel that way. This is perhaps due to the fact that when you travel a lot around the world - and you don't even have to go abroad for that, you can also be travelling in Germany - you get to know and appreciate Chemnitz in a completely different way. Chemnitz now has a great city centre and a great quality of life. I find it regrettable that this feeling is not recognised by the general population. And I also find it regrettable that these beginnings have fallen asleep a little. A lot of things were really good, including the art, culture and music scene.

Why is that?
That's a good question. I think there are a few factors. The first is that at the time, the city didn't understand how to keep venues and events that had already existed. There was the Splash and the VOXXX, we had the Bukowski and so on. And it wasn't understood that this is part of a lively city. A lot is being done today to revitalise something like that - but that's life: Once a location or a certain event is dead, it is very difficult to revitalise it in a similar way.

Are there any positive examples? And what is your attitude to life in Chemnitz?
There is a great art scene! With Mrs Mössinger, we really have a star in the city. She has brought exhibitions to Chemnitz that are absolutely worthy of international attention. We have a top infrastructure. Events are organised that not everyone knows about. You can live in a loft by the Chemnitz - nobody in Munich, Berlin or Hamburg could afford that. That's part of a good quality of life. I think the problem is that we haven't yet managed to communicate this to the people of Chemnitz.

How do the people of Chemnitz see it? Is that a problem with city marketing?
We generally had a problem with city marketing. It was like this: if you were travelling somewhere and were asked, "Where are you from?", you would first quietly say "Chemnitz" and then if the other person didn't really know where that was, you would say, "Well, near Dresden or Leipzig". We got rid of that because it's totally different in our industry. We mainly work internationally.
Chemnitz is a great city, the third largest city in the new federal states - you have to imagine that. Comparably large cities in the old federal states - you have to look for those that ultimately have such a structure. Perhaps this is not just a question of city marketing. It's a question, firstly, of city marketing and then you also have to look a little at the mentality of the people. The age structure of the people. We also have a down-to-earth attitude, a closeness to the location - I don't think many people have even come out yet so that they can draw a comparison.

The traditional mechanical engineering company NILES-SIMMONS is perceived as a major employer and as a company that has always been here. What points of contact does NILES-Simmons have with Chemnitz? Could NILES-Simmons be located somewhere else or does it need the city for that?
I don't think NILES could be anywhere else or would not have developed in the same way if we had been somewhere else. After all, we are NILES-SIMMONS-HEGENSCHEIDT and once NILES and we manufacture machine tools. This may not be clear to everyone: a machine tool is a machine on which parts for machines are manufactured. For example, we manufacture machines on which crankshafts for the automotive industry are produced. For example, if you drive a VW, an Audi, a BMW or a Mercedes, it is very likely that the crankshaft, which is the centrepiece of the engine, was produced on a NILES machine. Another example is the aviation industry: our machines - which are high-end technology - are used to manufacture components for the landing gears of aeroplanes. We also supply the subcontracting and railway industries worldwide.

You've already anticipated it a little, but I'll ask the question anyway: Why do you still need a lathe in an information and service society like ours?
Let me put it this way: we are not an information and service society. That's a fact for now. And the value-adding industry or, incidentally, the machine tool industry - and unfortunately Germany is no longer the world's number one in this area as it was until 2008 - or the development and production of machine tools is actually the centrepiece of any industry considered from a business perspective or gross value added. Without engineering services or value creation, general life and the development of consumption are ultimately inconceivable. Because this is the material-technical basis on which consumer goods - products that in turn create products - are ultimately manufactured. I see our add-on in Chemnitz in the fact that we are a modern industrial city. We will never become a cultural city like Dresden or a commercial and media city like Leipzig. Or a capital city like Berlin. Ultimately, we have to consider what our assets are for our own location. Our asset is the value-adding industry and we have brilliant conditions here. You won't find them almost anywhere else in the world. And without engineering, without science, nothing moves.

So would the unique selling point be that Chemnitz is a modern industrial city?
In my opinion, yes. We are a business location. The economy creates added value, generates per capita income, attracts young people and I would say that these natural sciences and the art of engineering are actually the crowning glory of creation.

Does that mean you have a lot of development opportunities if you come out of university as an engineer, for example?
In any case. But Chemnitz needs to focus on this modern concept of industry or this modern industrial location. Instead, value-adding industries need to be established here. That's why we have the Fraunhofer Institute here, we have the TU here. An industry like ours could not exist without universities and colleges. Before the Second World War, Chemnitz had the highest per capita income in the whole of Germany. How did that ultimately come about? Why were there so many industrialists in Chemnitz? There was an industrial association back then, and the first university in Germany, Freiberg University, was founded with an industrial background. The Industrial Association founded the Industrial School, which developed into today's Chemnitz University of Technology. That attracted young people. It brought education, it created an educated middle class, money was earned here. You certainly can't transfer that to the present day. But the idea behind it is absolutely right and must be given a modern guise.

Can that be the strategic vision for Chemnitz?
In my opinion, it must be the strategic vision.

Does it already exist today?
Well, we are trying to get that across in the industrial association. Young entrepreneurs, start-ups in the development sector, in the value-adding sector - they have to be located here. Then young people will come, income will be developed in the city and with it comes culture and patronage. We won't become Leipzig or Dresden, but we have to find our own way and that is quite simply where economic activity takes place and money is earned, that's where people go because the environmental conditions are right.

Is there a particular atmosphere that you associate with Chemnitz?
No, not really. There are so many possibilities. Of course there's the circle of friends, of course there's the family. I'm just saying: if you know the right people or locations, you can find your niche - perhaps not as broadly as in Berlin or Hamburg - and make your life here interesting, exciting and - if you want to - quiet.

How would you encourage the people of Chemnitz?
I wouldn't say courage at all. I would say: just have self-confidence and self-assurance. Because at the end of the day, it's a good city.