Interview

From Swabia to the World: How MARKT-PILOT is Rethinking Machine Manufacturing

From start-up to industry driving force: Tobias Rieker and Dr. Martin Ruth share insights and plans for next-generation machine manufacturing.

Five years that changed machine manufacturing: MARKT-PILOT celebrates its anniversary and looks back on rapid development. In conversation with company founder Tobias Rieker and managing director Dr. Martin Ruth, it becomes clear how innovative strength, courage and team spirit are behind the success of the software company. From the first manual price validations to international expansion, the two executives share insights into defining moments, challenges, and their vision for the future. 

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Manual Work, Passion, Flights of Fancy – From Start-up to Industry Trendsetter  

What have been the most important milestones in the company's history for you so far?

Portrait Tobias RiekerTobias Rieker: It's difficult to single out one particular moment. Certainly, the Series A financing in 2024 by the global investor Insight Partners was an outstanding event – as it confirmed the success of our business model. I still remember very clearly the first machine manufacturing company that decided to work with MARKT-PILOT at the beginning of 2020. I am still proud of this acquisition immediately after the company was founded.

Another milestone was our early expansion into the USA at the end of 2021. For an 18-month-old start-up, this was a bold move that has absolutely paid off.

 

Portrait Dr. Martin RuthDr. Martin Ruth: For me, what matters most is confirmation from our customers. The fact that we are so close to their needs and issues and develop solutions together is unique. Another important moment was when we established the PARTS SUMMIT, the leading aftermarket event for machine manufacturing in Europe. Every year, we bring together more than 500 experts and create a platform for exchange and networking that has never existed before in this form and size, especially for the service and spare parts business.    

The idea of "community building" is at the forefront – just like at the PARTS FORUM, the counterpart for the US market, which we successfully launched in Chicago two years ago. Here, too, we offer machine manufacturers from various industries a forum to talk to each other about current trends and new technologies for the parts business of the future. Both events are 'knowledge powerhouses' for the industry, characterized above all by a highly constructive atmosphere and a great deal of personal experience-sharing. 

What are you particularly proud of? 

Dr. Martin Ruth: On the one hand, there is the fact that we deliberately enter long-term partnerships with our customers and do not rely on projects for quick success. On the other hand, I am proud of how far we have already come with our software for market-based spare parts pricing and the real added value we are already creating for our customers today. The positive feedback and the tangible improvements in the work processes of our customers confirm this with us every day. At the same time, however, I am also looking forward to what lies ahead of us – we still have many exciting ideas and potential that we want to transfer into additional use cases together with our customers.  

Tobias Rieker: What is unusual is that we expanded into the USA very early on – that was certainly not a textbook. Our motto has always been: Have courage and then think about how we can implement it efficiently and successfully. This approach has helped us to surpass ourselves repeatedly. 

Audience PARTS SUMMIT 2024, Ludwigsburg

Paradigm Shift in Machine Manufacturing – the Vision of MARKT-PILOT

How has the vision of MARKT-PILOT developed over the last five years? 

Dr. Martin Ruth: Our vision has not changed at its core. From the very beginning, we wanted to bring market-based, automated pricing to the global machine manufacturing industry. Through many validations, we have noticed that we are getting closer to this vision step by step. We are still a long way from reaching our goal, but we are consistently working to enable a paradigm shift in spare parts pricing. 

Tobias Rieker: What makes us unique is scalable access to market data worldwide. We can "tap" tens of thousands of sources at the touch of a button, creating a database that no other company can offer. To illustrate: There are more than 33,000 shops in our database, and since our inception we have researched about 13 million data points. The volume of so-called crawling data is just under 360 terabytes per year. These figures demonstrate our expertise in market price research. It opens up many other use cases for us – even beyond pricing. However, our basic vision remains the same: to provide machine manufacturers with market information to generate added value for our customers.   

MARKT-PILOT has grown very quickly. Did it all go smoothly? 

Dr. Martin Ruth: Of course, growth always brings pain. For us, the biggest challenge was and is to unite the constantly growing team behind a vision and shared values. Communication formats such as our monthly all-hands meeting, regular employee surveys and feedback rounds as well as the "Ask me anything" sessions help to create transparency and cohesion. In addition, we have recently revised our corporate values, which reflect our self-image and corporate culture even better. They were created in extensive discussions and workshops in which all areas were involved from the very beginning – from HR and marketing to development and product management to sales and customer service.  

Image Team MARKT-PILOT US, PARTS FORUM, June 2025At the same time, we had to adapt to structures and processes repeatedly. What was relatively easy with ten employees becomes a completely different set of framework conditions with 150 or more. Externally, challenges such as Covid, supply bottlenecks, and new tariffs were added. It is crucial to identify these challenges at an early stage and use them as an opportunity to still offer our customers real added value. 

Tobias Rieker: It's always about constantly questioning and developing yourself. This is not a complete process, but an ongoing task that drives us repeatedly. Existing structures are therefore repeatedly put to the test and discussed constructively in various committees at all hierarchical levels. 

 

Global Market in the Fast Lane: Becoming a Global Pricing Authority with Courage and Partner Power  

What strategic goals are MARKT-PILOT pursuing in the next five years? 

Tobias Rieker: We are only at the beginning of a great journey. The market in machine manufacturing is huge, and we have only just begun to tap into it. We already have a strong presence with our subsidiaries in Italy, Scandinavia and the USA - and there is still great potential waiting for us. In addition, there are other markets that are embracing this expansion with the same curiosity and courage that has distinguished us so far. It is crucial for us to offer our solutions wherever they are needed. Internationalization is a major challenge, but also a huge opportunity. Today, we have more than 200 customers, but there are tens of thousands of potential customers around the world.  

What role do partnerships with other companies play in this context?  

Tobias Rieker: For us, cooperation is a key lever for implementing our vision faster and more sustainably. The partnership with SAP is a highlight, as it enables us to seamlessly integrate our technology into the existing system landscapes of many of our customers. This creates trust and accelerates implementation enormously. In addition, we work with many other technological and consulting partners to constantly expand our ecosystem. Our aim is to work with strong partners to create benefits for the industry that goes far beyond the spare parts and service business.

Dr. Martin Ruth: Especially in machine manufacturing, it is crucial that technologies do not work in isolation from each other. Integration into existing IT structures is often complex – here we benefit enormously from our partner network. Whether it's connected to ERP and CRM systems, in the field of AI or scaling internationally, our growth in this form would not be possible without strong collaborations. And we are convinced that cooperation with partners, who in turn are market leaders in their industry, will become even more important in the future to really bring innovations to the masses. 

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Data as Fuel – MARKT-PILOT Drives Digitalization 

What current trends do you see in the service and spare parts business in machine manufacturing? 

Dr. Martin Ruth: One thing is certain: the market is in a state of upheaval. Today's customers of machine manufacturers expect transparency, speed and prices in line with the market – this is a paradigm shift. At the same time, competitive pressure is increasing because more suppliers – including those from abroad – are pushing into the market. Many machine manufacturing companies are therefore faced with the task of adapting their pricing strategy and setting up digital services. The biggest challenge for them, however, remains to make sensible use of the enormous amount of data and to derive concrete recommendations for action for the optimization of their parts business. This then goes beyond the market-based pricing of spare parts. This also involves the use of valid spare parts master data for innovative service models such as predictive maintenance or the conversion or expansion of machines and systems for end customers.   

Tobias Rieker: In general, the increasing importance of data-driven business models is an important trend. Those who do not align their spare parts prices with the market quickly lose competitiveness. At the same time, expectations for service quality and availability are increasing. We see that companies that are now investing in digitization and market-based pricing have a clear head start. But change is not a foregone conclusion – it requires courage, know-how and the right tools. 

You spoke of an impressive product development at MARKT-PILOT. What distinguishes it?

Tobias Rieker: It is absolutely customer centric. We regularly obtain feedback from our users and actively involve them in the further development of our solutions. Many features are created directly from conversations with our customers – be it at our events such as PARTS SUMMIT, PARTS FORUM and MP Insights, in direct contact at various industry forums, trade fairs and congresses or in daily support. In short, our goal is to develop products that are technically convincing and offer significant added value to service and pricing managers, as well as C-level management at machine manufacturers and, in the future, other areas such as purchasing and logistics. 

Dr. Martin Ruth: A good example of this is the automation of our price validation and the associated higher data quality in the service and spare parts business. Data enhancement, i.e. the enrichment and standardization of parts master data as the basis for extensive automation of pricing as well as upstream and downstream processes, plays a decisive role for us. But here, too, we are not resting on our laurels. The requirements in the market are constantly changing, and we are continuously developing our product – from data integration to new analysis functions and innovative pricing algorithms. Our aim is to always be one step ahead of the general industry trends. 

Team Spirit, Talent, Pacesetter – the People Behind MARKT-PILOT 

Innovative products are one thing – the other is capable, highly motivated people. What does the corporate culture at MARKT-PILOT look like?

Dr. Martin Ruth: Our employees are at the heart of MARKT-PILOT. We attach great importance to your personal development. We provide targeted impetus for this - for example through individual training opportunities, various mentoring elements or regular exchanges in changing formats such as our monthly “Ask Me Anything” session. There, colleagues can express their suggestions, ideas and wishes, but also their criticism of management, which does not only have to do with their respective field of activity. In this way, we create an environment in which learning and growth are actively promoted and everyone can develop further. It is important to us that everyone takes responsibility and contributes. We live in an open feedback culture and encourage personal initiative. 

Image Team MARKT-PILOT Europe, July 2025

Tobias Rieker: What makes us special is our team spirit. We celebrate successes together but also tackle challenges together. Especially in the growth phase, it is crucial to have the right people on board and to give them creative freedom. Our culture is based on trust, transparency, and the courage to break new ground. And: We enjoy what we do – you can feel that every day. 

Dr. Martin Ruth: One aspect that is particularly close to my heart is the diversity in the team: employees from more than 30 nations are on board with us. Different perspectives help us move forward and make us more innovative. We are actively committed to a diverse and inclusive working environment – this is a real competitive advantage for us. 

Tobias Rieker: And finally: We are proud that many of our employees have grown with us in their professional careers – on the way from a start-up to an international company. Accompanying this development and seeing how talents blossom with us is one of the best aspects of my work for me. Ultimately, it can be said that the combined expertise of all our colleagues corresponds to more than 290 years of experience in machine manufacturing and pricing.  

Dr. Martin Ruth: What unites us is the courage to think differently, to act quickly and to build solutions that really count. We create innovation where it has not yet existed – with market transparency, industry understanding and international growth. Our team works across locations in Europe and the USA – diverse, pragmatic and with real freedom of decision. Those who not only support big goals, but help shape them, will find no limits with us – but back-up and fast routes. Because what we intend to do can only succeed together. 

 

 

 

 

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