Jagst Valley Tradition and Turbo Compressors
ebm-papst in changing times: The company shaped by Gerhard Sturm has become a global player and is now repositioning itself with new technology while maintaining its deep-rooted corporate culture. A conversation with CEO Dr. Klaus Geißdörfer.
When Klaus Geißdörfer unpacks his accordion at this week’s ebm-papst Christmas party, there will be singing, and the team might grow even closer. “I had to experience for myself that Christmas celebrations here mean more than just a gathering of employees. They are a symbol of our corporate culture, which Gerhard Sturm significantly shaped,” says Klaus Geißdörfer about the man who turns 90 this Tuesday. In 2021, CEO Dr. Klaus Geißdörfer took over the leadership of the world market leader in fans and motors. Since its incorporation more than 60 years ago, the company has undergone impressive development. In the founding year, 1963, the state government was skeptical about establishing the company in the rural Hohenlohe area. They insisted on a limit of 85 employees to prevent the workforce from being drawn away from local farms. The restriction didn’t last. Today, ebm-papst is a globally operating company with around 14,000 employees—and not just the state government is grateful for the many jobs in rural Hohenlohe.
Think Big
The atmosphere in the Jagst Valley may be homely, yet the head of this corporation—with almost two and a half billion euros in revenue—looks far beyond the valley. “Thinking big and thinking ahead, those are key principles,” he emphasizes. The company’s size is also noticeable in its management. Gerhard Sturm used to walk through the plant daily, looking over his people’s shoulders. “I can manage that once a week at most,” says Klaus Geißdörfer. But his door remains open—and that’s a genuine invitation to enter.
That invitation is actively taken up. Just a few weeks ago, a production employee approached the CEO with a promising proposal. “It concerns product reuse, one of our key challenges,” explains Klaus Geißdörfer. “An excellent idea.” Now a small unit is being formed where the employee can take on a leadership role. Through this approach, Geißdörfer is fostering an entrepreneurial spirit within the corporation. The goal is to establish multiple agile teams capable of rapid prototype development. “We aim to cultivate even more entrepreneurial thinking.” This becomes increasingly crucial as new business models are expected to generate ten percent of revenue by 2030. The drive technology division was recently sold to Siemens to sharpen the focus on the core business of heating and air technology.
This direction is also supported by the company’s other shareholders. Heinz and Günther Ziehl each secured one-third of ebm shares at its founding. Today, Chloë McCracken and Jan Philippiak represent the interests of these two family branches on the advisory board, which Ralf Sturm, Gerhard Sturm’s son, completes. An old goal remains current: ebm-papst should set standards, as it once did with EC technology, which now accounts for more than 50 percent of the company’s revenue. The aspiration is to remain at the technological forefront.
Deep Dives
An example of this is the new high-speed turbo compressor, which leaves the competition far behind in terms of efficiency and noise development. For this, Klaus Geißdörfer immerses himself in the technical details when needed. “I really enjoy sitting down with our technical director Tomas Smetana to delve deep into things. That’s the way to develop new ideas.”
Like a common thread, Gerhard Sturm’s credo runs through the decades: each newly developed product must exceed the economic and ecological performance of its predecessor. Sturm’s direct successor, Hans-Jochen Beilke, therefore promoted the now almost universal “Green Tech” label for particularly efficient fans. The motto is a perfect fit with the company’s sustainability efforts. Just recently, ebm-papst received the German Sustainability Award in the Motors and Turbines category in Düsseldorf—their second win since 2013. This shows what foundation Gerhard Sturm laid here—and how it has been built upon.
The Potential of AI
The frontiers are constantly being pushed. When a product like the EC motor already has an efficiency of over 90 percent, optimization inevitably reaches its limits. Therefore, the greatest potential lies in the digital realm, especially in artificial intelligence. “With our fans, we will make the entire heating and cooling system intelligent,” says Geißdörfer. This could increase energy efficiency by 20, 30 percent, or sometimes up to 50 percent.
Klaus Geißdörfer has pushed AI from the beginning. For him, it is a stroke of luck that Europe’s largest AI hotspot—the IPAI—is being established in Heilbronn, practically at Mulfingen’s doorstep. ebm-papst became part of this innovation park early and is working together with partners on the “intelligent fan” product. Geißdörfer is convinced that AI could soon render additional sensors superfluous. The data collected will be used for new business models.
To this day, Geißdörfer remains fascinated by the company’s corporate culture. “I have never experienced such extraordinary warmth and humanity at any other company. It truly stands apart.” In Mulfingen, an employee’s naturalization is celebrated like a 25-year work anniversary would be elsewhere. As he observes, the hardworking Hohenlohe people, though sometimes rough around the edges but always welcoming, never do anything halfway.
Rooted in Hohenlohe
Speaking of Hohenlohe, the location’s apparent disadvantages—far from highways and major cities—have always proven to be an asset: a high quality of life and ample space for innovation. This won’t change, Klaus Geißdörfer is certain. “What’s more, we have a perfect ecosystem here for air technology.” Having competitors in close proximity energizes the business. These conditions, he notes, are nearly ideal for a company location.
This is important because a company like ebm-papst must constantly evolve. The Mulfingen team is currently focusing on their classic core business, working to minimize air flows around the fan blade while navigating economic headwinds in the markets. Currently, times are quite challenging for Hohenlohe’s second-largest company. In Mulfingen too, reduced working hours are being used to maintain the core workforce. In the coming months, forecasts indicate that things should finally start looking up again.
An important factor is the international orientation, implemented early under Gerhard Sturm: While Europe is currently weakening for known reasons, business in Asia is growing, explains the CEO. There is great potential in the USA, where EC technology is only now being increasingly adopted. Several large power plants could be saved if all AC fans were replaced with EC technology. Not least, the data centers emerging everywhere can make good use of the savings potential that the technology from Germany offers.
”Gerhard Sturm can be extremely proud of what he has built up here over the last decades together with everyone involved,” Geißdörfer acknowledges the life’s work of the company founder. The great strength of ebm-papst remains its innovative power. Sturm, in turn, sees his work in good hands. “I would really be happy if Klaus Geißdörfer continues doing this for many years to come.”
By the way: It may be coincidental, but the musical talent of today’s CEO, which emerges not only during the Christmas season, continues a tradition at ebm-papst. A cherished company anecdote recalls when Gerhard Sturm was asked to perform a German folk song in Korea in 2005, before an audience of high-ranking political and business leaders. As an enthusiastic singer, he couldn’t decline. With “Sah ein Knab ein Röslein stehn” (”Little Rose on the Heath”), he won the hearts of his hosts.
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