AI Training at STIHL: When the Mittelstand Takes AI Seriously

When a Mittelstand company takes AI seriously and deliberately invests in training its people, one thing is clear: this isn’t hype, it’s strategy. That’s exactly what we got to experience at STIHL — the global market leader for chainsaws and power tools, headquartered in Waiblingen. Together we ran an AI training that focuses on where AI actually makes a difference in everyday work.

The full range was in the room: product owners, supplier quality engineers, assembly staff — across departments like production, engineering, logistics and office. The content covered AI fundamentals, the technology’s strengths and limits, live demos and, above all, hands-on group work on real use cases. Instead of lectures, we made AI tangible — with the participants’ real processes and real pain points.

The most striking part was the twist: it isn’t the employees who stand in the way of an AI rollout. Quite the opposite — they were hugely enthusiastic and, without ever being part of the AI bubble, came up with some of the most creative use cases we’ve heard so far. The models are already used privately and at work, just not yet systematically for productivity gains across the board.

For us, this day confirms what we believe: AI delivers its value wherever repetitive tasks, missing knowledge and fragmented data slow processes down today. And that’s almost everywhere. We’re glad to support companies like STIHL on this journey — from the first aha moment to a concrete use case.