Our strategy

The HOERBIGER Group is at a point where it must reinvent itself in many areas. Many of the traditional business segments in which our company operates today are undergoing fundamental change. This is why we want to promote the transformation of the Group and expand our strong market position in niche markets with a future. In the midst of change, it is important to focus on our own strengths and transfer the success factors of the company’s 129-year history into the future. Only in this way can the HOERBIGER Group continue to successfully contribute to the sustainable value creation of its customers.

Entrepreneurial success and growth are an inseparable pair for HOERBIGER – because growth is the prerequisite for continued existence as an independent, healthy company. At the same time, as an unlisted company, HOERBIGER must generate the liquidity for investments, acquisitions, research and development from its own earnings power. The strategic goal for leading HOERBIGER successfully into the future is therefore growth with sustainable profitability. 

To achieve this, the Group is working to further develop its existing businesses and establish new business segments, both organically and through M&A. HOERBIGER consistently relies on a multi-pillar strategy to avoid being dependent on individual markets and business segments. The Group’s declared goal is to occupy a top competitive position in each niche market.

The following five enabling platforms define the focus points where HOERBIGER applies leverage to bring about and proactively promote effective transformation:

Customer- and market-centered innovation
To achieve long-term growth, HOERBIGER must be innovative, tap into new markets and create new business models – tailored to the needs of customers and their business segments. Customer centricity means moving away from inward-looking innovation. Instead, it is about understanding which solutions really offer customers added value and then providing these at competitive prices. HOERBIGER has launched a Group-wide initiative to strengthen its innovative power to use customer-centric innovation – be it new products or new business models – as an effective lever for more growth. Market focus means focusing on attractive industries of the future and business segments with high growth potential.

Digitalization
Digitalization plays a decisive role in the transformation of HOERBIGER. In product and service development as well as in sales, the use of cutting-edge technologies will fundamentally change the way products and services are developed, manufactured, and sold. To drive this process forward, a fast, agile, and data-driven way of working is being promoted within the company. A modern infrastructure makes it possible to digitize processes, harness data and facilitate collaboration and communication between teams. Another key aspect is cybersecurity. Its consistent expansion is essential to protect digital systems from potential threats and ensure customer trust in the company’s digital services.

Talent development
HOERBIGER has initiated comprehensive organizational and personnel development measures to ensure the transformation into sustainable growth markets and continue to be an attractive employer. After all, successful change requires an employee-centric culture, talented employees, good managers, and internal career prospects. Based on the Leadership Capabilities introduced in 2021, which serve as the basis for expectations of managers and their development, HOERBIGER is placing a special focus on the development of talent and managers. With the Talent Pool and the Leadership Campus, two new tools were recently developed and have been rolled out Group-wide as an integral part of personnel and leadership development since the beginning of 2024.

Operational Excellence
Operational excellence as a generic term for operational optimization aims to produce high-quality solutions as efficiently as possible and at competitive costs, while always keeping customer needs in mind. Excellent processes increase productivity, reduce costs and thus contribute to the long-term success of the company. HOERBIGER has achieved strong market position and competitive cost structure in many areas – the Automotive Division in particular has been able to build up extensive expertise in value analysis projects (VA/VE) over decades, which is now gradually benefiting other areas through the Groupwide exchange of experience. After all, competitive solutions and lean processes form a central pillar in the development of new markets. The further strengthening of HOERBIGER’s global presence and the digitalization of business processes create additional prerequisites for greater competitiveness.

Sustainability
Profitable growth and change for a better tomorrow go hand in hand. In the fight against climate change and for a cleaner environment, solutions for reducing emissions, electromobility, renewable energies and hydrogen are key future fields in which HOERBIGER is already active today. However, HOERBIGER is not simply assuming social responsibility by enabling more and more customers to improve the performance, efficiency and safety of their products and operations, save energy and reduce emissions: On top of this, the Group adopted a CSR framework program in 2023 that defines, among other things, the scope and focus of the commitment. HOERBIGER has set itself the goal of being climate-neutral along the entire value chain by 2039.