Leo Zirkler, Festool North America's VP Marketing, says his firm is radically altering how power tools work, and how they are used.
"We have always tried to introduce new, disruptive ways of woodworking compared to the traditional ways. One prime example is our Domino System, which has revolutionized joinery. Another example is the Conturo system, which has changed a way of edgebanding in the woodworking segment. That's also the way we want to go going forward.
"We see other smart companies in the industry like Shaper Tools and SawStop, who follow the same route, introducing new ways of woodworking, new disruptive ways and new methods which in the end help our end users to get to better results."
Zirkler, who is based at headquarters in Lebanon, Indiana, says Festool's goal with its portable power tools is to make the cordless versions perform at the same level as corded ones. "There should be no compromise between a cordless product and a corded one. Our track saws, for example, look identical and they provide the same quality and the same performance no matter whether it's cordless or corded," he says.
"The biggest challenge we see is competition between our end users as the market trends into two sides. One side is the mass market, basically bigger end users having a high level of optimization and providing a mass product.
"And then we see the other side where individualization is key, and you can just meet this individualization by providing the highest quality and separating yourself with high-quality individual work from this mass market. And that's where we come in."
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