Then we'll build it ourselves!

Ronny Bernstein

Ronny Bernstein is a doer through and through - young, ambitious, successful. With the company BMF GmbH, which was founded in Grüna in 2007 from virtually nothing, Bernstein is in the fast lane. In March 2015, BMF received the German Federal Innovation Award for the TWISTER sandblasting machine, which it developed together with the Steinbeis Transfer Centre.

You are a young and successful entrepreneur - you have to achieve that first. Did you dream of being your own boss as a child?
Ronny Bernstein: No, I did not. When I was six years old, I went to our carpenter here in the neighbourhood and told him that I would work for him after school. I always wanted to do something practical. I never dreamed of having my own business or being my own boss. I also don't see myself the way others from outside might do. We've been around for eight years now. They have been eight successful years. We have grown in terms of staff and operations during this time.

Was the company a lifelong dream?
I didn't spend my whole life dreaming of setting up my own company. At the time, it was more a result of the situation. We had good potential in three important areas. I'm more of a technician, my wife has a lot of experience in marketing and sales and her sister does all the bookkeeping. We pooled this expertise and then dared to set up something of our own. So it wasn't necessarily a lifelong dream, but a worthwhile goal to create a meaningful alternative for us with these skills.

You are here in a building where your father-in-law used to work. Are you continuing the family tradition? Was the choice here (in Grüna) a conscious one?
The building was and still is family-owned. Mechanical engineering has been carried out here for three generations. There was also a mechanical engineering company here in GDR times. From 1995, the building was temporarily used as a warehouse. In 2005, we were looking for a building that we could use for our purposes. The layout of the hall was not ideal at the beginning, but we were able to create suitable rooms by carrying out some remodelling work. That made sense for the start. The aim was to stay in Grüna at all costs.

Thanks to the location, Bernstein has created something special for customers with the company. Many come to BMF GmbH because the atmosphere is special. BMF is a very young company with young employees. Customers can also sense this dynamism and appreciate it. Bernstein knows that anonymity in an industrial estate is not always an advantage. Especially when it comes to customer proximity, speed and flexibility.

What does your company actually do?
First and foremost, we manufacture prototypes and individual parts here. Everything that can be made from plastic and metal is produced here. At the same time, we also do a lot of research and development. This means that we are always working on our own ideas, trying to develop our own machines and build new systems.

So you don't produce mass-produced goods here, but very small batches?
We manufacture from a quantity of one and try to cover niches that large companies cannot easily realise. As a rule, production starts from a significantly higher quantity. But there are many customers who only need individual parts. Here in the region in particular, we have a huge demand, for example in special machine construction or automotive engineering. You initially need ten or 15 parts to test the function. That was precisely the goal with which we set up our own business back then.

You won the German Federal Innovation Award with your innovative TWISTER sandblasting machine. How did the idea for this development come about?
We originally developed the machine for our own use. At that time, we gave our manufactured parts to a service company, which then had to process the surface of the parts. This was done by hand. However, this resulted in quality fluctuations, which led to problems with our customers. So we wanted to bring this process in-house and then realised that there was currently no technology that could perform this task. So we decided to develop our own system. At the time, we didn't realise that we were bringing a completely new technology to the market.

The TWISTER sandblasting machine was developed as part of a two-year research project in collaboration with the Steinbeis Transfer Centre for Drive and Handling Technology. BMF then invested another two years of work to get the system ready for series production. Bernstein says that this is typically Saxon. If you need something that doesn't exist, you build it yourself.

How successful is the TWISTER?
We are in talks with several new customers. We are currently selling one system every month. We have been officially ready to deliver since November last year. Until then, in addition to several trade fair appearances, we also installed two systems in the region so that companies could test the machine in practice. We already have a TWISTER in Switzerland, and there are also several companies in the region with this system. We expect to be able to sell 20 systems this year and have 50 systems on the market by 2017.

What does the future hold for you? Do you have any plans?
We are currently planning an expansion. We would like to create space here in order to centralise our production and assembly area here at the site. This will enable us to shorten our distances. We want to generate healthy growth and be successful in the medium and long term. Thirdly, we are doing everything we can to establish the TWISTER even more firmly and to make it better known and sold nationwide. We also want to grow in terms of personnel: due to the increasing demand, we are urgently looking for cutting machine operators and industrial mechanics to support us in mechanical production. Anyone who is interested is welcome to contact us. We look forward to every application we receive.

You have created a successful company out of nothing and invented a world first that has been very well received. What is the secret of your success?
(reflects) I think we have always tried to do our job as well as possible. It was never primarily about profit. We have tackled many things together with our customers. Although we didn't know beforehand whether we would earn money with it in the future. Nowadays, in many areas, people first check whether the project is profitable at all. We are more willing to take risks and have a certain ambition and pioneering spirit. So far, we've never had a case that didn't work out. We have always found a solution together. A big key to success is above all the team behind it.

What were the conditions like for setting up a company here in Chemnitz/Grüna? Is Chemnitz a suitable city in which to develop professionally?
We didn't encounter any problems from the city of Chemnitz. We also received support from the authorities when we expanded the company. From my point of view, Chemnitz is definitely the right place to develop professionally. Of course, I can't speak for other people, but I think that the choice of location is particularly important. There is a tendency for companies to be pushed further and further to the outskirts of the city. I think that's a shame. I would like to see us retain a little bit of the structure we used to have. That the craftsmen work and live in the centre of town. So that our children can get a connection to practical work again. That's what makes a region and promotes the next generation of skilled workers.

Co-operation with other Chemnitz companies is also what makes Bernstein so charming. Above all, the cooperation should be right. Collaboration is not necessarily primarily about profit, but about relying on each other. Regional companies are certainly a few euros more expensive, but the flexibility and speed are right.

Have you followed the development of the city in recent years? Especially in the area of start-up companies and the like?
There are developments that more and more companies are settling here. New companies are also being founded. However, start-ups are still not commonplace. Many prefer to take up a position in an established company.

Should Chemnitz residents, especially young Chemnitz residents, be encouraged to stay here?
Yes, definitely. However, as a mechanical engineer, I have to say that the city of Chemnitz could make better use of its roots. We have a great university here, many mechanical engineering companies and a lot of medium-sized companies and suppliers. In my opinion, in addition to the message "City of Modernity", Chemnitz's tradition and expertise in mechanical engineering should also be publicised. This is an important point for the further development of the region and for the next generation here in Chemnitz.