Inside Dräxlmaier’s digital drive: COO Arno Güllering on AI, mindset shifts and global smart factory strategy

In this insightful conversation from the Automobil Produktion Kongress, Arno Güllering, chief operating officer at Dräxlmaier, outlines his first-year priorities leading production and logistics for the global supplier—and why digitalisation is central to every step forward.

Visiting sites from Mexico to Tunisia, Güllering was struck by the digital maturity in some of Dräxlmaier’s so-called “best-cost” locations. “You would not guess how far advanced in digitalisation Tunisia is,” he notes. “It was an eye-opener.” These locations are now shaping best practices across the wider plant network.

He stresses that digitalisation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s essential for global competitiveness. “We have to make use of it to keep up with China,” Güllering explains. “You have to give it space to grow.”

Dräxlmaier has already connected nearly every plant to the cloud and built highly tailored shopfloor dashboards. But the next frontier, Güllering says, is leveraging generative AI. One high-potential area: maintenance. “You just talk to your phone… and it tells you when the machine was last repaired, how often it fails, and what to do differently.”

Driving this transformation requires not massive headcounts, but focused expertise. “It’s amazing how small the number of specialists in a plant is—just 3 to 5 people,” he explains, “but they form the backbone of the digital push.”

To succeed, Dräxlmaier is investing in IT/OT connectivity, AI integration, and the skills to future-proof its manufacturing network.

As Güllering concludes: “If you have 100 machines and only 10 are connected, you will not improve the whole plant.”