The CEO Magazine Asia - 10.2018

38 | theceomagazine.com

IMPROVING

HAVE

W

hen Jürgen Ries first joined

ASYS Group, he brought with

him a valuable lesson from

his previous role at Siemens.

He explains that he had been

working at Siemens’ digital

factory, which was famous for its slogan, ‘If you stop

improving, then you stop being good’.

“After I left Siemens, that became the main

theme I used in my work,” Jürgen tells The CEO

Magazine. “It’s always about improvement in the

way you work and how you educate yourself.

And it’s something that has always driven me.”

“YOU HAVE

TO KEEP

IMPROVING.”

ASYS GROUP CHINA MANAGING

DIRECTOR JÜRGEN RIES

SHARES THE CHALLENGING

BUT REWARDING JOURNEY

HE TOOK TO BUILD THE

COMPANY’S TECHNOLOGY

BUSINESS DIVISION IN CHINA.

WORDS SHARON MASIGE • IMAGES DANIELE MATTIOLI

After 12 years with Siemens, Jürgen moved on to

Germany-based technology company ASYS Group,

focusing on Key Account Management. The company

manufactures a range of equipment for the solar,

electronics and life science industries, including

automatic label applicators and printing platforms.

While in Germany, Jürgen saw an opportunity to

expand the company’s base in China. He would later

take up the role of Managing Director of its Chinese

division in 2011.

At the time, ASYS Group’s main business in

China was in the solar industry, and Jürgen recalls

that when he first moved there to enhance the

business, the market crashed. “It was fairly challenging

because when I came over to set up the company,

our complete business model in China crashed

because we didn’t have other industries like

electronics or semiconductors yet,” he says. “So

I had to more or less run a company without

any active solar projects.”

But Jürgen persevered and worked hard to make

sure the company succeeded. “Within the time that

I’ve been here, we’ve grown to 12 times our original

size and are now a reasonably big and profitable

business in China,” he says. “It was definitely a huge »

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