Following the company’s official announcement of its redesigned corporate logo during last week’s ADA Annual Session, I took advantage of an opportunity to sit down with Komet USA CEO Klaus Rübesamen to discuss the redesigned brand, Komet’s current approach to the dental market and where he sees Komet heading in the future.
During his presentation at the press conference, Mr. Rübesamen shared the story of the family-owned company’s 90 year history from the brand of steel burrs being named after the sparks founder Peter Brasseler saw flying while he created the tools on his own in Germany in 1923 through today when Komet is a global leader in dental rotary instruments with a massive, computerized production and shipping facility in Lemgo, Germany.
While talking after his presentation, Mr. Rübesamen said he hopes the new logo gives customers and potential customers a sense that as a company Komet is modern and dynamic. Many people are surprised at the scale of Komet’s production facilities and the amount of automation used to produce such small instruments, he added while saying the company is happy to show off the facility to customers visiting Lemgo.
The company is very happy with the growth of Komet in the United States, and Mr. Rübesamen said it is tracking very closely to the company’s plan when it entered the market 5 years ago. Several of the company’s product lines are not yet available through Komet USA, and Mr. Rübesamen said this is because Komet wants to be sure the “market metrics” are pointing in the right direction.
“We want to see what is the best timing,” he said. “Once you start here you need to be sure everything is set up for success.”
Komet was founded on a platform of selling the products directly to customers rather than working through a distributor, and Mr. Rübesamen said this model continues to work well for the company in many of the markets it currently sells to including in the U.S. Still, the company works through distributors in some markets and is looking ahead to an eventual shift toward online sales.
Mr. Rübesamen said Komet does have online sales available in the German market now, but the web store currently makes up just a small percentage of the company’s sales. With that in mind, he said Komet is working to make sure it works out the best sales model for reaching customers via the Internet now, so it will be ready when its customers make a shift online.
“We are fully convinced that in the future it will be big, but for me it's just a question of time,” he said.