Startups, in particular, need custom-made parts in small batches. Many are wary of the challenges associated with manufacturing in the Far East or need support in specifying the required parts. The Munich-based company Techpilot has been connecting buyers with manufacturing partners for almost 20 years. We spoke with Rolf Hoffmann, head of the sourcing team at Techpilot and a member of the management team.
What does Techpilot offer? Where does the company originate?
Techpilot is the leading matchmaking platform for the manufacturing industry. We efficiently connect buyers and suppliers for drawing parts in four service areas:
1. We operate our own search engine for finding suppliers of manufacturing parts. We list over 21,000 profiles of suppliers from all over the world, and you can search and find them using various filters specifically tailored to your needs.
2. Buyers post their parts requirements, including drawings, material descriptions, manufacturing technology, and quantity, on our platform. Suppliers access these requests online and submit their offers.
3. On Techpilot, buyers receive a comparison and evaluation of the offers in the form of an Excel file. This can then be easily sorted according to their own requirements, such as price, performance, delivery time, quality criteria, and much more. The dialogue between buyers and suppliers can begin!
Techpilot established the contacts and is not involved in any subsequent business development. The Techpilot platform is financed exclusively through an annual fee paid by our suppliers to gain access to the marketplace. We do not charge any additional commissions.
4. On Techpilot, we also offer personalized consulting for buyers. With our help, they can deepen their knowledge of technology recommendations for their own parts. We also assist with cost estimates. Furthermore, buyers can explore a limited selection of suppliers.
“Finding the right company is an extremely big challenge, especially for a startup”
The original idea behind Techpilot came from our founder, Frank Sattler. He realized that every manufacturing component has its ideal machine. But where in Europe is it located? Frank Sattler had already enjoyed great success at Trumpf, a company specializing in machine tools, lasers, and electronics. As one of the sales managers, he had noticed that many of the manufacturing machines sold were not being fully utilized. However, buyers and manufacturing companies had no way of knowing where the right partner was at any given time. For this reason, Sattler founded Techpilot. Now, our platform brings manufacturers and buyers together, allowing them to fully utilize the machines' capacities. Only online platforms, with their computer-aided approach and global networking, can achieve this.
The most cost-effective way to manufacture a part depends largely on the manufacturing technology, labor costs, and machinery available. Finding exactly the right company is an extremely challenging task, especially for a startup. Even a good network with a handful of well-intentioned recommendations only brings partial success. But the internet makes it possible:
Some suppliers even specifically seek out orders with small quantities, typical of startups, to strategically build new customers. Other suppliers, in turn, try to fill gaps in their machine capacity planning. This allows for favorable prices, even within the Munich area.
Not everyone has to rush to Asia to get their order to get favorable manufacturing prices. Often, luck is just around the corner. And that's certainly an opportunity that Techpilot offers.
Techpilot offers “Sourcing 4.0”
Techpilot is a Munich veteran: You were founded shortly before the Neuer Markt crash in 2000. How has Munich changed and developed since then?
We were fortunate enough to find a financing partner for Techpilot before the crash, allowing us to survive the lean period of the dotcom crisis on our own. During this time, our business model naturally constantly adapted to new circumstances—which is also the strength of a startup: a flexible workforce, in-house programmers, changing pricing models, and a focus on the metalworking manufacturing industry. Until 2006, Techpilot finally turned a profit and became an established company in the platform business.
Then, as now, all the software for our platform is developed in-house, and we also provide customer support from our Munich office, both for buyers and suppliers. In this spirit, we've retained our startup character and work with absolutely flat hierarchies and a high level of personal responsibility. We still work in the heart of Munich – even though our team has grown. Now we're based in a slightly larger office, a bright loft in Sendling, where we feel completely at home.
What can you offer startups?
We offer startups free technology consulting for their manufacturing parts, a search engine to find their future suppliers, and, most importantly, an online service for submitting their request for proposals, which is read by our more than 21,000 registered suppliers. This makes procurement a breeze. Sourcing 4.0!
From what order volume can companies use Techpilot?
In principle, there is no lower limit on the order volume. However, it's advisable not to go below €500. There's no upper limit either. It's not uncommon for orders worth millions to be offered on our platform.
Why shouldn’t startups find their own manufacturing partner?
Just give it a try! (laughs) The results speak for themselves.
The reason for this is clear: For every manufacturing component, there is a specialist that not every startup can know in advance. This is why platforms are being developed today that utilize all the possibilities of the World Wide Web to bring together specific needs. The clear advantages are obvious: high transparency, speed of tenders, top results, and the large number of contacts that can be established through these platforms.
Platform event in planning
Which startup companies have you already brought together with the manufacturing industry?
Philipp Sinn, the founder of SINN Power GmbH from Gauting uses Techpilot. The network for Munich hardware startups, BatchOne, also uses and recommends our platform. The company LuvSide GmbH from Grünwald, which manufactures vertical wind turbines, is also very successful with Techpilot. These are just three examples from Munich, and of course, with the large number of over 13,000 buyers on the platform, not every company is known to us personally.
You're planning a platform event. What's it all about? How can startups participate?
We'd like to invite some startups and suppliers to our booth and show them how to conduct efficient and successful sourcing today. We also want to introduce manufacturing companies that are happy to engage with startups and aren't afraid of small and inexperienced companies.
With this special forum day, we also want to demonstrate the versatility of manufacturing processes and technologies. After all, we currently know of 280 of them. We'd like to share some of this knowledge and also report on it publicly.
For this occasion, we invite interested startups to contact us. I can be reached at the following email address: rolf.hoffmann@techpilot.net and head the sourcing department at Techpilot.
