Juergen Dold was recently appointed Chief Executive Officer at Leica Geosystems. With a background in surveying and extensive experience in the company Geospatial Division, he is sure to bring new ideas and energy with a view to building on a strong product line. He speaks with V1 Magazine editor Jeff Thurston about the company, products and the challenges that lie ahead as he begins his new CEO position.
Juergen Dold was recently appointed Chief Executive Officer at Leica Geosystems. With a background in surveying and extensive experience in the company Geospatial Division, he is sure to bring new ideas and energy with a view to building on a strong product line. He speaks with V1 Magazine editor Jeff Thurston about the company, products and the challenges that lie ahead as he begins his new CEO position.
V1 Magazine: Congratulations on your new position as CEO for Leica Geosystems. Is this position something you thought about when you began with the company? What have you learned about the company since beginning to the present time?
JD: Thank you! 15 years ago, I joined Leica Geosystems as a surveyor, with the excitement to start working in the world leading company in measurement technologies. The company with its 200 years of history was continuously transformed into a modern, high performing and publicly listed company, providing best in class surveying instruments.
Nowadays, Leica Geosystems has the broadest product portfolio in the measurement world such as micrometer accurate industrial measurement systems; complete portfolio of survey equipments; solutions to automate construction machines; airborne sensors for country wide mapping; and hand held consumer type distance meters.
V1 Magazine: You have a strong surveying background, and you have worked as leader of the Geospatial Division of the company. How do these two connect in your view and how does that connection benefit Leica Geosystems going ahead?
JD: It is important to have a holistic approach regarding the challenges to manage the resources and infrastructure on our planet. Leica Geosystems serves all related markets from A to Z: it starts with the understanding and the planning changes; continues with solutions to stake out and construct infrastructure; and ends with solutions to manage resources and infrastructures, be them mining/agriculture, facilities outside/inside, large infrastructure factories or dams. With our technologies, the world can be captured, referenced, measured, analyzed and presented. Understanding customers’ workflows and needs in all applications means to better serve them.
V1 Magazine: Where do you see the company positioning its major efforts in view of the current worldwide economic situation – China, Brazil or India?
JD: Leica Geosystems is outstandingly positioned in those areas of the world representing significant growth markets. In all these countries, we have strong local organizations with local management that provide our customers not only our world class instruments, but also a wide range of services. With this approach, we not only focus on single regional markets, but undertake the same efforts in developed and emerging markets – thus, we are able to respond to the specific requirements of individual areas.
V1 Magazine: Sustainability is a key issue today. How does your company meet the sustainability challenge through its products? Do you have other areas in mind in terms of sustainability that you find attractive and would like to pursue?
JD: Sustainability is a broad subject today, reaching from environmental and social performance to sustainable product design and production, and also to what our customers can do to “save the world” with our solutions. Let me give you a few examples out of the countless where we are sustainable and provide sustainability:
Throughout the last decades, our company proved its sustainability by providing the newest technologies to the market right in time. We help our customers to master their measurement challenges efficiently, which also includes, e.g., the aspect of saving energy when the work is done more quickly. Sustainability at Leica Geosystems is proven by far more than 1000 patents we hold, process optimization such as ISO certification, best in class innovation processes and the responsible way we deal with environmental issues (which is ISO certified, too).
We also support sustainability through our products: our TPS, GPS/GNSS and Laser Trackers are used to support green technology initiatives such as power generation through water, wind and sun (and even more recent technology projects), and the Leica Geosystems’ remote sensing software and hardware solutions help to plan and manage the resources of our planet.
V1 Magazine: ‘When it has to be right’ – what does that mean to you? There is a growing question mark around quality issues related to data today, due in part to lack of tools that build metadata and support quality control in data. Measurement is part of the quality question, but data integrity is also important. Do you have thoughts on how improved data quality can be promoted and maintained?
JD: “- when it has to be right” is the platform we work on. Everything we do has to fulfil this promise we give to our customers. It refers not only to the hardware we deliver, but it comprises all our efforts – instruments, software, services and support, and data quality. We understand our customers’ workflow and constantly communicate with them to make sure that we know about their needs in order to fulfil them.
V1 Magazine: What technologies do you see Leica Geosystems particularly holding a leadership position in? Can you explain please. What are the challenges in measurement hardware and software ahead in your view?
JD: Being innovative often times has ensured Leica Geosystems’ leading position. On our website, we list an extract of our world firsts since 1921. These do not only relate to our traditional core competencies, such as TPS and GPS, but also to the more recent areas of metrology, machine control, construction, high definition scanning and aerial sensing where we had the first camera in 1925.
The challenges are numerous: time-to-market and speed of work in the customers’ workflows are important issues. We constantly work on making the instruments smaller, lighter and better affordable, by simultaneously providing more information in shorter processing times. Fusing sensors so that they provide more comprehensive data, supported by software for non-experts, and software solutions to manage and deliver results to those who make intelligent decisions based on these data.
V1 Magazine: How would you assess the current geospatial and surveying markets today? Where are they in need of more work and what challenges and opportunities are on the horizon?
JD: I see a broad range of challenges, but also opportunities in the markets. These are constantly evolving, growing into new niches, discovering new areas of use. The cross functional use of technologies is one of the big opportunities at Leica Geosystems as the world changes. Changes are caused by mother nature with unfortunately increasing numbers of natural catastrophes or changes of infrastructure on our planet by mankind. With our broad portfolio of solutions we do help to understand, plan and implement changes to ultimately better protect our planet, its resources and the mankind.
V1 Magazine: Leica Geosystems has a long history of product development. As CEO and holding the leadership position where would you like to take the company? What is it that you aspire to do with the company?
JD: Our company is already well positioned, being one of the market leaders and no 1 or no 2 in the majority of our businesses. We continue our investment in order to make our customers more successful in what they are doing today by providing new solutions which open them new opportunities. We want to maintain, and be their first choice partner to measure the world of today and tomorrow. This means that we continue to keep the strong contact with our customers to learn what they need, and – at the same time – continue to focus on our roots: developing strong innovative solutions that open up new opportunities.
V1 Magazine: The idea of models for Plant and City applications is leading toward a wide integration of technologies and awareness. How is your company positioned for this growing digital future?
JD: 3D plant and city modelling is a small but growing application field where scanning and point cloud technologies are getting applied and in many cases are a key enabler to bring this application field forward. Today, about every second scanner worldwide is a Leica Geosystems scanner. We are perfectly positioned to help our customers to grow this application segment with sensors and software solutions, and are actively investing in this field.
1) Congratulations on your new position as CEO for Leica Geosystems. Is this position something you thought about when you began with the company? What have you learned about the company since beginning to the present time?
Thank you! 15 years ago, I joined Leica Geosystems as a surveyor, with the excitement to start working in the world leading company in measurement technologies. The company with its 200 years of history was continuously transformed into a modern, high performing and publicly listed company, providing best in class surveying instruments.
Nowadays, Leica Geosystems has the broadest product portfolio in the measurement world such as micrometer accurate industrial measurement systems; complete portfolio of survey equipments; solutions to automate construction machines; airborne sensors for country wide mapping; and hand held consumer type distance meters.
2) You have a strong surveying background, and you have worked as leader of the Geospatial Division of the company. How do these two connect in your view and how does that connection benefit Leica Geosystems going ahead?
It is important to have a holistic approach regarding the challenges to manage the resources and infrastructure on our planet. Leica Geosystems serves all related markets from A to Z: it starts with the understanding and the planning changes; continues with solutions to stake out and construct infrastructure; and ends with solutions to manage resources and infrastructures, be them mining/agriculture, facilities outside/inside, large infrastructure factories or dams. With our technologies, the world can be captured, referenced, measured, analyzed and presented. Understanding customers’ workflows and needs in all applications means to better serve them.
3) Where do you see the company positioning its major efforts in view of the current worldwide economic situation – China, Brazil or India?
Leica Geosystems is outstandingly positioned in those areas of the world representing significant growth markets. In all these countries, we have strong local organizations with local management that provide our customers not only our world class instruments, but also a wide range of services. With this approach, we not only focus on single regional markets, but undertake the same efforts in developed and emerging markets – thus, we are able to respond to the specific requirements of individual areas.
4) Sustainability is a key issue today. How does your company meet the sustainability challenge through its products? Do you have other areas in mind in terms of sustainability that you find attractive and would like to pursue?
Sustainability is a broad subject today, reaching from environmental and social performance to sustainable product design and production, and also to what our customers can do to “save the world” with our solutions. Let me give you a few examples out of the countless where we are sustainable and provide sustainability:
Throughout the last decades, our company proved its sustainability by providing the newest technologies to the market right in time. We help our customers to master their measurement challenges efficiently, which also includes, e.g., the aspect of saving energy when the work is done more quickly.
Sustainability at Leica Geosystems is proven by far more than 1000 patents we hold, process optimization such as ISO certification, best in class innovation processes and the responsible way we deal with environmental issues (which is ISO certified, too).
We also support sustainability through our products: our TPS, GPS/GNSS and Laser Trackers are used to support green technology initiatives such as power generation through water, wind and sun (and even more recent technology projects), and the Leica Geosystems’ remote sensing software and hardware solutions help to plan and manage the resources of our planet.
5) ‘When it has to be right’ – what does that mean to you? There is a growing question mark around quality issues related to data today, due in part to lack of tools that build metadata and support quality control in data. Measurement is part of the quality question, but data integrity is also important. Do you have thoughts on how improved data quality can be promoted and maintained?
“– when it has to be right” is the platform we work on. Everything we do has to fulfil this promise we give to our customers. It refers not only to the hardware we deliver, but it comprises all our efforts – instruments, software, services and support, and data quality. We understand our customers’ workflow and constantly communicate with them to make sure that we know about their needs in order to fulfil them.
6) What technologies do you see Leica Geosystems particularly holding a leadership position in? Can you explain please. What are the challenges in measurement hardware and software ahead in your view?
Being innovative oftentimes has ensured Leica Geosystems’ leading position. On our website, we list an extract of our world firsts since 1921. These do not only relate to our traditional core competencies, such as TPS and GPS, but also to the more recent areas of metrology, machine control, construction, high definition scanning and aerial sensing where we had the first camera in 1925.
The challenges are numerous: time-to-market and speed of work in the customers’ workflows are important issues. We constantly work on making the instruments smaller, lighter and better affordable, by simultaneously providing more information in shorter processing times. Fusing sensors so that they provide more comprehensive data, supported by software for non-experts, and software solutions to manage and deliver results to those who make intelligent decisions based on these data.
7) How would you assess the current geospatial and surveying markets today? Where are they in need of more work and what challenges and opportunities are on the horizon?
I see a broad range of challenges, but also opportunities in the markets. These are constantly evolving, growing into new niches, discovering new areas of use. The cross functional use of technologies is one of the big opportunities at Leica Geosystems as the world changes. Changes are caused by mother nature with unfortunately increasing numbers of natural catastrophes or changes of infrastructure on our planet by mankind. With our broad portfolio of solutions we do help to understand, plan and implement changes to ultimately better protect our planet, its resources and the mankind.
8) Leica Geosystems has a long history of product development. As CEO and holding the leadership position where would you like to take the company? What is it that you aspire to do with the company?
Our company is already well positioned, being one of the market leaders and no 1 or no 2 in the majority of our businesses. We continue our investment in order to make our customers more successful in what they are doing today by providing new solutions which open them new opportunities. We want to maintain, and be their first choice partner to measure the world of today and tomorrow. This means that we continue to keep the strong contact with our customers to learn what they need, and – at the same time – continue to focus on our roots: developing strong innovative solutions that open up new opportunities.
9) The idea of models for Plant and City applications is leading toward a wide integration of technologies and awareness. How is your company positioned for this growing digital future?
3D plant and city modelling is a small but growing application field where scanning and point cloud technologies are getting applied and in many cases are a key enabler to bring this application field forward. Today, about every second scanner worldwide is a Leica Geosystems scanner. We are perfectly positioned to help our customers to grow this application segment with sensors and software solutions, and are actively investing in this field.
