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The Handtmann Forum in Biberach hosted this year’s Ammerbuch Design Talk in July. This well-established dialogue format brings together leading figures from business, politics, and society to discuss current topics related to the future and innovation. With this event, the Handtmann Group underscored its role as an innovation- and dialogue-oriented technology company that actively promotes exchange between industry, technology, and entrepreneurship.
At the invitation of Dr. Mark Betzold, CTO/COO of the Handtmann Division Processing , decision-makers from well-known industrial companies came to Biberach. Other company representatives included Markus Handtmann, Co-CEO of the Handtmann Holding, and Dirk Seckler, Co-CEO of the Handtmann Divisions Light Metal Casting and Systems Engineering.
The discussion centered on the question of how companies can secure their future in an increasingly uncertain economic environment. Topics included technological developments, new customer requirements, and the importance of long-term investment decisions. Markus Handtmann placed the initiatives presented within the broader strategic context of the corporate group and highlighted how Handtmann has combined technological excellence, corporate responsibility, and innovative strength with a long-term perspective for more than 150 years.
A key highlight was the presentation of the “Morpheus” future study by Dr. Mark Betzold. It demonstrates how companies can assess key trends — such as digitalization, automation, and artificial intelligence — at an early stage and use them to inform strategic decisions. The study forms the basis for the further development of innovation and product strategies in the Processing business unit. “The future belongs not to the companies with the most ideas, but to those that make the right decisions early on. With Morpheus, we are creating a framework to better understand the customer needs of tomorrow and to derive innovations with real added value from them. Our goal is not to predict the future, but to actively shape it together with customers, partners, and employees,” explained Dr. Mark Betzold.
Another highlight came from the Division Light Metal Casting: Dirk Seckler demonstrated how companies in the automotive and supplier industries can successfully evolve with a clear strategic direction and a strong focus on customer benefits and value creation. As a concrete example, he presented the die-cast wheel developed in-house by Handtmann. Thanks to modern manufacturing technologies and optimized design, these lightweight aluminum wheels enable, among other things, material savings as well as improvements in efficiency and handling. Dirk Seckler emphasized: “For us, transformation means not waiting for the future, but actively shaping it. It is crucial to consistently align innovation with customer benefits, rethink value creation, and invest strategically where sustainable competitive advantages arise.”
The subsequent panel discussion was moderated by Jürgen Schmid, initiator of the Ammerbuch Design Talk. In an open and intensive exchange, the participants discussed the challenges of long-term innovation decisions, the role of customers as co-creators of future solutions, and the question of how companies can maintain and further develop their innovative strength in times of growing uncertainty. The lively discussions and diverse perspectives underscored the relevance of the format and once again confirmed the Ammerbuch Design Talk as an established platform for cross-industry exchange among decision-makers.
