My ZEISS Moment

Kevin Wissing is cylinder head machining engineer at Dmax Ltd. in the USA. A few months ago, when the company ordered a ZEISS CONTURA measuring machine, Kevin experienced a special moment – his ZEISS moment.

In early April, the President and CEO of ZEISS, Dr. Michael Kaschke, received a piece of news from the USA which gave both him and many other people at ZEISS the satisfied feeling of a job well done. Kevin Wissing is a production engineer at Dmax Ltd., a company that produces Duramax diesel engines for General Motors in the USA. Wissing was so pleased with his experience of ZEISS during the service call that he wanted to tell ZEISS about his ZEISS moment.

"A few months ago we ordered a CONTURA coordinate measuring machine from ZEISS," Wissing recalls. The aim was to keep up with ZEISS technology and the current production requirements. The business relationship with ZEISS goes back to the early 2000s, and some older coordinate measuring machines have been in use at Dmax since then. "I was responsible for installing the machine, working closely with a ZEISS team comprising Brian Johnson, Patrick Callanan and Eric Pentland from Brighton. Every one of them was extremely helpful and pleasant to work with." Since he is not part of the quality department, he was somewhat unfamiliar with the machines. So he asked ZEISS for some support. "I’ve dealt with several machine suppliers over the past couple of years, but have never worked with such a great team of people," he says. The Zeissians explained everything to him, resulting in a smooth installation. I just wanted to make sure and let you know how pleased I was with the service and support from ZEISS, and to tell you that it is greatly appreciated."

Patrick Callanan

Interview with Patrick Callanan

Patrick Callanan, Strategic Account Manager in the Industrial Metrology business group in Brighton, USA was one of the Zeissians who provided Kevin Wissing from Dmax Ltd. with comprehensive support and service, thus contributing to a positive customer experience.

ZiB: How long has the relationship between Dmax and ZEISS been in existence?

Callanan: The relationship with DMax goes back many years – to the early 2000s. DMax owns some older ZEISS coordinate measuring machines and thought to retrofit them to keep up with the latest ZEISS technology and the current production demands. Kevin Wissing, Manufacturing Engineer at DMax, recently came to us for some assistance. Logically enough, the ZEISS Sales and Project people to rose to the challenge. As ZEISS is highly influential in Powertrain around the globe, we were happy to help. The project itself was a little unique, but the relationship was strong from the very start.

ZiB: What support did you give Kevin in order to help him solve his problem?

Callanan: Kevin came to us needing some help and advice on a machine for his current measuring and production demands. We asked a lot of questions up front, and we listened closely to find the optimal solution for his situation. The solution we came up with was the ZEISS CONTURA coordinate measuring machine. Kevin asked a lot of questions on site at DMax as this was new to him. We were very responsive to him and explained in as much detail as we could to make him feel comfortable. We wanted to offer DMax a tailor-made solution, fulfill our promise of providing optimal customer focus, and deal with Kevin's situation. And it worked out excellently!

ZiB: Were you expecting the customer to give such positive feedback?

Callanan: I'm delighted that Kevin had such a great experience dealing with ZEISS, and that's the way it should always be in the future too. Nevertheless, I don’t think I treated Kevin any differently than I do other customers. Providing positive customer experiences is our job! I want the customer to feel comfortable and be able to come to me and the team even after project has been completed. This success story is the result of true team effort. From Brian Johnson who is the GM Project Manager, Chris Besinger in our traffic department, our customer care personnel and deployment, to Eric Pentland who installed the machine – everyone involved played a vital role in making sure the experience was positive.

29 Jun 2015
by Patrick Widinger