Company Profile

CorporateStory

HOERBIGER can look back on a successful past that forms a strong foundation for the future. Still, no company will be able to rest on its laurels. In a changing world filled with new technologies, our customers’ expectations change.

Our owners have clear expectations for the HOERBIGER Group: to sustain the company in the long term and ensure a value-based corporate culture. To continue the HOERBIGER success story, our Business Units must be lastingly profitable and financially independent. For this reason, we have utilized the recent years to return to our strengths, based on our tradition, and review our strategic alignment. We have a clear but demanding agenda for the years ahead.

“We have a clear but demanding agenda for the years ahead.”

Dr. Jürgen ZeschkyCEO and Chairman of the Executive Board

HOERBIGER – MORE THAN A COMPANY

People & success

“ True high performance can only be achieved by teams. The essential prerequisites for this are an environment marked by trust and clear ownership.”

Michael MontjoiePeople & Culture, Member of the Executive Board

CULTURE

Leadership and cooperation

Complete commitment is only possible if we deal properly with one another. As a result, value-based leadership and cooperation as well as transparent communication rank highly in our day-to-day business operations and distinguish the corporate culture of HOERBIGER. We create an environment which allows our employees to develop their full potential and show initiative in their jobs.

People and success

It all starts with the people: HOERBIGER employees are the key to achieving our goals. They make our success possible in the first place since they shape the company, both internally and externally. Our activities center around the customers. A satisfied customer is the result of dedicated HOERBIGER employees who are committed, with all their energy, to provide an outstanding customer experience – by keeping HOERBIGER’s promises to the customer. Genuine customer focus means that our business partners can rely on us at all times. Our employees’ daily dedication is crucial to our corporate success. People and success go hand in hand at HOERBIGER.

Full potential

What conditions are needed for HOERBIGER employees to develop their full potential?

  • When they understand what our company is about and identify with this objective.
  • When the work environment is marked by trust.
  • When we enable ownership.
  • When they experience acceptance, appreciation and respect in every situation.
  • When they are part of a team that has the shared ambition to do their best.

Safety and health

People matter to us: all of us should return home just as healthy in the evening as when we arrived at work in the morning. To further increase awareness of safety matters in everyday life, HOERBIGER instituted the Group-wide SHE (Safety, Health & Environment) initiative.

EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE

WHAT IS YOUR MOST DANGEROUS HOBBY?

Peter Fink
Senior Partner, ERM GmbH

“What is your most dangerous hobby?” I often pose this question during leadership training on occupational safety, and did so too at HOERBIGER. The answers often come as a surprise to the attendees and provide insights into hazardous situations that individuals subject themselves to voluntarily: riding a motorcycle, diving, boxing, rock climbing – the list is long. Whereas everyone is quick to agree on the particular hazards, the associated risk is often rated differently by the individuals. What may appear “fine” for one is unacceptable to another. It is not necessary to settle this issue definitively – after all, it is a private matter.

But what about outside of leisure time activities, when it comes to hazards and risk situations you want to protect your employees from? Then, you have to talk to each other and agree on what is “safe” and what is not. This is the core objective of the Visible Safety Leadership (VSL) program: actively accepting occupational safety as a leadership task and making it an integral part of the dialog with all colleagues in the corporate culture.

This kind of cultural change requires support from everyone. My initial impressions from the VSL training sessions with HOERBIGER give rise to optimism – there is a clear sense of openness toward self-reflection. The key now is to have the perseverance to systematically and jointly move the change in culture forward.

VALUES & BEHAVIOURAL PILLARS

Courage

  • Taking carefully weighed risks.
  • Assuming responsibility and seeing the job through even in difficult situations.

Pioneering spirit

  • Overcoming your own boundaries.
  • Approaching new tasks without already knowing the solution.

Fairness

  • Toward employees, customers, suppliers and all other business partners.

Closeness

  • Worldwide presence, familiarity with all cultures.
  • Knowing the customers and their needs.

Integrity

  • Behaving in an authentic and transparent manner.
  • Communicating in an honest and open way.
  • Acting always in the interest of our company.
  • Acting with loyalty and decency.
  • Adhering strictly to our compliance rules.

Respect

  • Being courteous, open and fair.
  • People are never a means to an end.
  • Understanding that people are different and that this is an enrichment to our lives.
  • An environment free of discrimination and harassment.
  • Appreciating different opinions.
  • Involving people who are concerned (directly and indirectly).

Team spirit

  • Helping and supporting our colleagues.
  • Giving and accepting open, respectful feedback.
  • Addressing negative trends at an early stage.
  • Developing a common vision – together!
  • Putting overall success ahead of our own interests.
  • Colleagues who are affected need to be involved.

Ownership

  • Taking full responsibility for a task, project etc.
  • Getting things done. Solving problems.
  • Thinking and acting end to end in the interest of the HOERBIGER Group.
  • Involving all relevant parties in the process.
  • Mitigating risks and developing contingency plans.
  • Building and / or contributing to high-performance teams.

STRATEGY

Healthy position

A balanced portfolio is essential for a company’s long-term success. HOERBIGER focuses on strong and profitable Business Units that are distinguished by a leading market position with high operational performance and follow a future-oriented strategy. HOERBIGER seeks to fully capitalize on the potential of these strong units.

At the same time, HOERBIGER utilizes its innovative strength and is ideally positioning itself strategically for the future. New high-growth business segments – as the most recent example of the Safety Division successfully demonstrated – will become additional pillars for the Group and open up important opportunities for the coming years.

Trust of our customers

Our goal is to create genuine added value through our products and services, to effectively contribute to our customers’ value added and to gain their trust.

As a result, we tailor our developments to the customers’ needs from the very start. We know our sectors and the changing conditions in the market. Strong technological know-how and long- standing partnerships allow us to make our customers successful.

Innovations play an important role when it comes to offering attractive solutions with added value for our customers’ business. This is how we create continued growth and secure our leading position in the market in the years ahead.

STRUCTURE

Structure follows strategy

HOERBIGER needs the appropriate structure to achieve these ambitious goals. The Group expects a great deal of ownership from the Business Units and relies on highly entrepreneurially minded individuals within the company – entrepreneurs in a holding company.

Ownership

Each HOERBIGER Business Unit is shaped by people who set themselves apart through their ambition, sense of responsibility, and entrepreneurial actions. Strong individuals, each offering differing strengths, complement each other and form high-performance teams. Together, each purposefully pursues the strategy of their area and crucially contributes to its performance, profitability and success. The employees who are in contact with our customers and who handle our products earn the money for HOERBIGER. It is the duty of everyone else to support these colleagues and make them successful.

Rules of the game – playing the game

A shared understanding of expectations, goals, values and desired conduct is a central prerequisite for creating an environment at HOERBIGER where employees are able to act independently. The Group structurally manages the Business Units and establishes universally accepted rules. It defines clear expectations and trusts that these are implemented responsibly and successfully. The Group offers support through professional standards and structures, as well as tools and training.

HOERBIGER – more than a company

HOERBIGER is more than a company – it is about employees AND success. It is the combination of our first-rate products and services with dedicated and professional employees that makes HOERBIGER unique.

EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE

LEADERSHIP & CULTURE AT HOERBIGER

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Jenewein
University of St. Gallen

HOERBIGER has a unique corporate story: a family-owned Hidden Champion with remarkable accomplishments over many decades. In a rapidly changing business environment, the key now is to translate this strong tradition into a successful future. This takes poise. The employees at HOERBIGER must be prepared to let go of things they have come to love and invest jointly in new models in order to give rise to new concepts. It is important to maintain sound judgment since this process requires not only the discovery of new potential, but also the continuous enhancement of existing core competencies and successful business models.

This mature balance is one of the greatest challenges that a company can face. Accomplishing this feat necessitates a strong, positive corporate culture – a community that objectively and constructively searches for the right avenue, and senior managers who involve their employees. It should not be a position, function or status, but the best argument, that prevails in these discussions. This company has the knowledge and the expertise. It takes courage and flexible, fast decision-making channels to utilize these abilities purposefully. I see all of this at HOERBIGER: highly qualified and experienced individuals who identify with the company and are used to pulling their weight. The story of HOERBIGER is a story of pioneers who, time and again, have conquered new business segments. It is a story of a special community. I am convinced that a great future lies ahead for HOERBIGER.