Interview with Bomler Founder Andreas Roth
Andreas Roth
Hello, Andreas.
Thank you for taking the time from your busy day to answer a couple of questions for me.
Question: How did you wind up in manufacturing? What is your background or what interests of yours paved the way for your business today?
Answer: I have spent thirty years in the chemical industry and watched hundreds of small and medium businesses, been involved in many technical discussions as well as business growth discussions. During this time, I have been fortunate to join in the development of many products and introduced many technical processes.
Unfortunately, the focus of the chemical industry moved away from technological advancement and became nearly exclusively about “cost savings”. Systems designed to improve efficiency and speed were either not approved by management or development was stopped shortly before the tool has been completed. It was enormously frustrating.
In 2004, I decided to start a new company so that I could use my energy and motivation to build the many things I thought could help the industry.
Fifteen year later, I am proud to see that Bomler, although still young, contributes, across the board, to so many requirements of today's manufacturing industries.
Question: Ever since Fridays for Future made a name for themselves words like "sustainability" and "eco-friendly" seem to be on every tongue, not to mention the color green on every packaged product somewhere. How much transparency is really necessary for a successful brand in today's retail environment and how has this changed since you started in the business and manufacturing world?
Answer: As I see it, the level of transparency required is given by the legislator, the consumer and by NGOs supporting sustainable production. How much transparency is necessary obviously changes over time.
One thing we have learned is that the Genzer Generation (Gen Z: in the range of 5 to 24 years old in 2020) have a distinctly different behaviour in how they shop. This new consumer clearly prefers brands which demonstrate social and ecological responsibility; by that I mean brands that provide information about supply chain transparency and supply chain compliance.
Today, I would say that the more transparency a manufacturer or brand can demonstrate to these shoppers and business owners the better the brand's chances of success will be.
And yes, “green” and eco-friendly” used to be marketing catchwords without much impact on sourcing. Tools to get the necessary information from the supply chain were simply not available. That began changing about the time we started the development of Bomler.
Thank you, Andreas Roth of natific for taking the time to answer our questions this month. We look forward to the opportunity to hear your thoughts on the subject of the modern supply chain in February.