Berghof GmbH: Changes to Central Management

05-Aug-2014 - Germany

As of 1 August 2014 Stefan Stemmer is the new CEO of Berghof GmbH, taking over in the post from Nikolaus Rombach, who was previously in charge of the holding company and the five subsidiaries (Berghof Auftragsanalytik + Umweltengineering, Berghof Automation, Berghof Fluoroplastic Technology, Berghof Membrane Technology and Berghof Products + Instruments). Although Nikolaus Rombach is now retiring from management after a career in our family-owned business spanning 38 years he will continue to fulfil an advisory role.

Experience that enriches Berghof

So far Stefan Stemmer has held various managerial positions in a medical technology company with worldwide operations. His last position was as Global Marketing Vice President, responsible for the acquisition of new business areas and their integration in existing structures and corporate cultures. In addition, the internationally experienced expert was in charge of transferring technological innovations from the research stage right through to marketability. This covers, for instance, the evaluation of market opportunities, the opening up of new business areas and, where appropriate, the gaining of strategic partners and new customers.
Nikolaus Rombach is convinced that “this wealth of experience is extremely valuable in relation to our aims for growth and our forward-looking vision, positioning Berghof in the market as ?your innovation hub’.

“I see enormous potential for Berghof that is just waiting to be exploited, ” says Stemmer. “With its corporate network of multifacited business divisions and external partners Berghof offers the perfect platform for the exchange of the specialist knowledge that we have at our fingertips. I am certain that many synergies can be generated through a skilful combination of interfaces, and not only for Berghof but most particularly for our business partners too. I am greatly looking forward to this new challenge.”

A network as the basis for innovations

For Stemmer the consolidation of the corporate“innovation hub” vision and the further development of network thinking is writ large.

“Berghof is a very dynamic company, a technology park which is still in its teenage years, with a common infrastructure, common values and principles. While Berghof has already achieved a great deal there is huge scope for development. I find this a tantalising prospect,” says Stemmer.

Against the backdrop of increasing globalisation, the ensuring of innovative advances, as well as growing pressure from the competition, has moved the goal posts for medium-sized firms over the last few years. The company group has been restructured, a flat and transparent network organisation has been created and the corporate design modernised.

“Its wide variety of product areas places Berghof in a unique position,” Rombach explains. “No other comparable business in the market can offer this. Moreover, the fact that we began life as a research institute provides us with an enormous reservoir of expertise. Developing innovations has always been anchored in our corporate history.”

“On the basis of this knowledge,” adds Stemmer, “we create innovations that generate profit, securing for ourselves - and more especially for our customers - a competitive leap forward.”

Creating the new as a motivational spring

The strategic holding company of the Berghof group takes over a controlling role in this “innovation hub”. All the (corporate) threads run together here. As the driving force it brings to light new business opportunities and ideas, uniting the professionals that we need and the know-how that derives from the various operational areas in the network. Together these generate marketable, high-quality innovations, principally for niche markets.

“Every time there is a sense of satisfaction – and motivation too – in coming home from work at the end of the day with the feeling of having created something new, to have set in motion something in processes and people which has developed over the years and which has remained unquestioned for a long time”, Stemmer says enthusiastically.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/149480/berghof-gmbh-changes-to-central-management.html