Innovationskraft der Hansgrohe Group 2022 erneut mit dem TOP 100-Siegel ausgezeichnet
Schiltach, June 30, 2022. The Hansgrohe Group, headquartered in Schiltach/Black Forest, has once again impressed as a think tank in the 29th round of the TOP 100 competition. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar, who has been mentoring the competition since 2011, honored the Hansgrohe Group with the TOP 100 Seal 2022 at the German Summit of medium-sized companies in the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt am Main on June 24, marking the fifth time in a row that the innovative strength of the faucet and shower specialist has been awarded the coveted trophy.
"To what extent is a company focused on innovation? How consistently do its structures follow this goal? In TOP 100, we examine that," explains Professor Dr. Nikolaus Franke, the scientific director of the competition. "The most innovative medium-sized companies receive the seal. It shows that they are excellently equipped to meet future challenges." On behalf of compamedia, the organizer of the comparison, the innovation researcher and his team examined the Hansgrohe Group on the basis of more than 100 indicators from five categories: Top Management Promoting Innovation, Innovation Climate, Innovative Processes and Organization, External Orientation/Open Innovation and Innovation Success. In principle, the TOP 100 analysis is concerned with the question of whether a company's innovations are just a product of chance or are systematically planned and thus repeatable in the future. Special weighting is given to the question of whether and how innovations and product improvements succeed on the market.
With passion to sustainable innovations
In fact, for years now, the Hansgrohe Group has been generating more than a quarter of its sales with new products that are no more than three years old. "People and nature are at the center of our daily work," says Jan Heisterhagen, Vice President Business Unit hansgrohe. "We aim to make life easier or more comfortable with our innovations and to treat our environment responsibly." In this regard, the passion for innovation is firmly anchored in the corporate culture. "Close collaboration with globally recognized designers leads to inspiring and challenging exchanges with research & development, internal designers, and product and marketing management. This results in new products and marketable innovations with competitive time-to-market cycles that enable the Hansgrohe Group to play a pioneering role in international markets," says Vice President Research & Development at Hansgrohe, Jürgen Groß. It is also crucial that the Hansgrohe Group is always open to new paths and structures in product development. In 2017, the company founded the "Innolab" pilot project in Schramberg, a think tank a few kilometers from its headquarters. In a kind of creative workshop, employees enjoy free space away from daily routine and entrenched streams of thought.
Innovative thinking and action were already the focus of the company's founding in 1901, when Hans Grohe tinkered with his first hand showers. At that time, he developed products for the bathroom at home, a market that had not existed until then. Klaus Grohe, son of the company founder and CEO for many years until 2008, continued the company's tradition of innovation with his inventive spirit and commitment to the environment. This became the model for today's innovation team: courage, the necessary degree of risk-taking, and the right feeling for people's needs are essential foundations for the required creativity.
In this context, water, the elixir of life, has always been at the heart of the innovation process at Hansgrohe. "For us, water means life and passion," confirms Jan Heisterhagen. "That's why we protect this resource and consistently implement all measures necessary to achieve our ambitious sustainability goals." Today, Hansgrohe already has showerheads in its portfolio that use up to 60 percent less water than conventional products - with the same showering experience. The entire product portfolio will be converted to water- and energy-saving in the future.
About TOP 100: the competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal of approval to medium-sized companies for special innovative strength and above-average innovation success. Since 2002, scientific management has been in the hands of Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke. Franke is the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. The mentor of TOP 100 is the science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the BVMW association of small and medium-sized enterprises. The magazines manager magazin and impulse accompany the company comparison as media partners. More info at www.top100.de.
About the Hansgrohe Group – Setting the Beat of Water. Since 1901.
With its brands AXOR and hansgrohe, the Hansgrohe Group, based in Schiltach/Southern Germany, enjoys a reputation as a leader in innovation, design and quality within the bath and kitchen industry. Founded in 1901 in the Black Forest, the company gives water form and function with its faucets, showerheads and shower systems. The 120-year history of the company is marked by innovations, such as the first hand-held shower with multiple spray types, the first pull-out kitchen faucet, and the first wall bar to hold a hand-held shower.The company holds more than 18,500 active property rights. The Hansgrohe Group stands for long-lasting quality products and for responsibility towards people and the environment. Sustainable production of resource-conserving products is central to the company’s business activities around the globe. With 34 subsidiaries and 20 sales offices supplying products in 152 countries, the globally active company in the sanitary industry is a reliable partner to its customers in all regions of the world. The Hansgrohe Group, its brands and products have won numerous awards, including more than 700 design prizes since 1974. The products of the Hansgrohe Group are found worldwide: on renowned cruise ships, in luxurious 5-star and boutique hotels, in international metropolitan cities, in extraordinary spas, exclusive bathrooms of lodges and luxury villas, public facilities, as well as in countless private homes. The Group’s high quality standards are ensured by seven wholly-owned production facilities: four in Germany, one each in France, the United States and China. In 2021, the Hansgrohe Group generated a turnover of EUR 1.365 billion. It employs around 5,400 people worldwide, about 60 percent of whom work in Germany.
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