Although Dieffenbacher has been established in Singapore for over 10 years, overseen by the head office in Germany, the company has recently upgraded its presence there with the appointment of a full-time manager with an indepth knowledge of the panel industry in the Asian region.
Andy Heng graduated from the University of Wisconsin in the US, in 1989 and worked in the IT industry in the US for over three years before relocating to Singapore in 1992.
The next 12 years were spent in the wood based panel and high pressure laminate (HPL)  industries in Asia-Pacific and North America including, perhaps most significantly, eight years with the Bumi Raya Group of Indonesia. Here he was marketing, project manager and director involved with various wood based products and investment projects such as particleboard, HPL, plywood, impregnated paper and MDF, including the first short-cycle HPL press in Asia, at Kiara Kristal Sdn Bhd in Johor, Malaysia.
Dieffenbacher wanted to strengthen its position in sales and service in the Asia region and to this end, in April this year,Mr Heng became vice president, business development, of Dieffenbacher Asia-Pacific, with an office in the German Centre at the International Business Park in Singapore. From this base, Mr Heng cooperates closely with Tilman Helmer, area sales manager for Asia, panel division, who is based at the Dieffenbacher headquarters in Eppingen.
“We cover all markets from India to the Philippines and everything in between except China, where Dieffenbacher also has its Beijing office, and South Korea and Japan which are serviced by agents,” said Mr Heng. Since he joined the Singapore office, the company has adopted a new strategy for S E Asia and this month (December) is moving into a new facility in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia, where it will have a service and spare parts centre.
“We are strengthening our service to customers and bringing that service closer to them,” said Mr Heng. “We will also have an online service in KL so we will be able to solve most problems from there and, if it is necessary to make a service call in person, we will be closer to the customer.”
The KL facility is following the example set by Dieffenbacher’s operations in Windsor, Canada and Beijing, China. Exchange of information and inventory between Beijing and KL is also envisaged.
“The idea of having service centres worldwide is all part of Dieffenbacher’s strategy to strengthen our position as a turnkey supplier, not just a press supplier,” explained Mr Helmer. “We are now established as a supplier of complete systems and of course this makes the whole concept of service centres viable – we couldn’t do it if we were solely a press supplier.”
Mr Helmer also pointed out that the several companies which have joined Dieffenbacher – either as wholly owned subsidiaries or in partnership – in recent years have strengthened the whole company as a systems supplier. Those companies which spring to mind are the former Schenck company and Schenkmann & Piel, both now wholly-owned by Dieffenbacher.
Sister company Dieffenbacher Maschinenfabrik Zaisenhausen (DMZ) GmbH, run by Günter Dieffenbacher for the last 10 years, has always been responsible for the handling side of the Dieffenbacher short-cycle press lines, but since the beginning of this year has been responsible for the complete short-cycle lines. “Additionally we are responsible for the forming line and all the handling operations after the press on panel production lines,” said Mr Dieffenbacher. “This includes double-diagonal saw, star coolers, stacking, storage, sizing saws, handling on and off the sander, including conveyors and all controls.”
“We can see potential for the short-cycle market in Asia as well and this also will be handled by the KL office,” added Mr Helmer.
Intec Engineering is another associate company, offering all energy generation competence. The two companies have been working together in this field for over four years.
“So we now offer everything from the dryer to the finishing line from our own resources – everything except the green end and the sander,” said Mr Helmer. “Since we became a complete system supplier, it has proved to be the right move at the right time.”