Assembly at emco in the Corona era. Here the mirror cabinet assembly in Lingen. Photo: Helmut Kramer
Christian Gnaß, Managing Partner of the emco Group, is relatively satisfied with the past year 2020, which was marked by Corona.
Home office and new products
Lingen, March – Christian Gnaß, Managing Partner of the emco Group, is relatively satisfied with the past year 2020, which was marked by Corona: “Since 2016, we have developed a new, internationally oriented strategy and changed our internal structures to create a basis for expansion and focus. This has allowed us to implement many measures, especially in recent years, which has benefited us in the Corona crisis so far.”
More than 150 mobile workplaces – moving to a home office was no problem
About 150 employees currently work entirely or partially in a home office. The company had already created the technical prerequisites before the Corona crisis, so that a move could be completed quickly for emco. “We had to create numerous mobile workplaces from scratch. At first I was sceptical that all the hardware and software could be alternately moved to a home office at short notice. But our IT did an excellent job,” Christian Gnaß is pleased to report. “However, the course for a quick move was already set in 2019 as part of the strategic orientation. IT was well prepared.”
Adaptation to new product needs of customers could be implemented quickly
Another strategic change that has benefited emco Group in the Corona period is the conversion of the product development process. Since then, the company has been able to react much more quickly to changing customer needs and adapt its products or develop new ones. Last year, for example, emco was able to sell entrance mats with Corona information in 45 languages to many countries around the world. Disinfection collection mats are now also new to the range, as are respiratory protection walls for office workplaces or disinfection dispensers for entrance areas in large and public buildings. “Our employees in all divisions who work in the product development processes have responded excellently and accepted the new challenges. True to the motto of the Federal Government ‘Together against the Corona Crisis’, we have reacted and identified new needs. Thanks to the new structures we changed several years ago, our processes are lean and therefore fast,” Daniel Sabandi, CFO and Managing Director of emco Group, comments on the background.
Less susceptible to market fluctuations – broadly positioned in different business areas
The emco Group is active in four business areas and thus remains broadly positioned and less susceptible to market fluctuations than many other companies. Emco operates in the fields of construction technology for entrance mats (emco Bau), high-quality building equipment with state-of-the-art lighting technology (emco Bad), everyday office technology from hole punchers to desk staplers (Novus Dahle) and in the development and production of electric scooters (emco e-scooter). Worldwide, emco employs more than 1200 people – 600 of them at the main site in Lingen alone.
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