Kiekert AG

In our endeavors to make Kiekert great again after decades of difficulties and decline, we are rebuilding structures and processes … and correcting severe wrong decisions from the previous management. One was the decision to close our Heiligenhaus #tooling and special equipment department, a core know-how driver to speed up our innovation power with a logical complementary approach on the same site. An Olympic Athlete is running with two legs on the same body! Likely, the innovation team, manufacturing engineering, tooling & fixtures have to be on the same site working promptly together to achieve the best performance and quality.     The local tooling team in Heiligenhaus was mastering for decades the development and construction of special machines. Our self-developed and built machines, tools, and fixtures are indispensable to Kiekert's production process. The unique expertise we cultivated over the years was and still is a treasure trove for our operations.   Together with our decision to rebuild our Heiligenhaus plant by July 2021 (instead of shutting it down as planned by previous management), we also committed to preserving and expanding our existing know-how, especially in tooling – and started re-building our department locally. Over the past 1.5 years, we have successfully rebuilt the tooling and fixtures department where it should be: home.   We are excited that we are now redesigning and producing our first machinery, tools, and fixtures again; afterward, they will be dispatched to all Kiekert AG locations worldwide to deliver the best quality to our customers!🚀    A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed to this revival. Your hard work and dedication have made this possible! 🙏    More news to follow: stay tuned! #transformation #automotive #kiekertfamily #innovation #teamwork 

Last week, we truly embraced the spirit of teamwork at the #B2Run event in #Duesseldorf! With nearly 50 participants, our Kiekert team showcased enthusiasm and a true sporting spirit. It was fantastic to see so many colleagues come together walk or run the beautiful 5.8 km route — there was something for everyone! 🌞 Some of us even did the track below 30 minutes … what a great benchmark for next year’s training program! 😉 #kiekertfamily #automotive #transformation

We would like to extend our warm welcome to the #classof2024! This week, another nine new apprentices started at the Kiekert headquarters in Heiligenhaus – focusing on mechanics, mechatronics, and IT. Altogether, we are now accounting for more than two dozen trainee members of our #kiekertfamily in Germany. This is an important step for us as we had stopped our training activities altogether for several years – following former management’s decision to close production in Heiligenhaus by 2023. Today, the start of the new colleagues also reaffirms again our clear commitment to Stadt Heiligenhaus. We have not only decided to keep production here but also successfully relocated two production lines back to our founding city. And we are even intending to relocate additional activities from abroad back to Germany. If you also want to join a long-term vision, family spirit, and leading technology company, do check out our current vacancies in the first comment.  #automotive #transformation #relocation

Kiekert Group is proud to contribute to the manager magazin series "Why Germany is going up the drain". We have already successfully relocated production from Central Europe back to our historic headquarters in Germany in 2022 and in 2023. Additionally, we have committed to building a new plant and headquarters in Germany by 2030. By doing so, we are protecting and enhancing our innovative roots, strengthening our future, and respecting our local DNA and social commitment for the past 167 years to our employees and families in Heiligenhaus. We firmly believe that the foundation of our success lies in the adherence to our stable, traditional, family-based values in leadership, which forms the basis of our expansion plans despite the challenging business environment, thanks to our global footprint and resilience. Germany is characterized by family entrepreneurs with a long-term perspective, and our economic, educational, and regulatory foundations are very solid for future success. Read more following the link in the first comment below (paid content). #kiekertfamily #relocation #Heiligenhaus #automotive

We were delighted to host the German Members of Parliament Peter Beyer and Gunther Krichbaum in Heiligenhaus. They took time for an extensive exchange with our Executive Board. Our Chairman & CEO Jerome Debreu provided an insight into our 167-year industrial history in Heiligenhaus and globally, but above all into current developments and the future of the headquarters and plant in Heiligenhaus. They asked about hurdles and challenges encountered by entrepreneurs in Germany today, expectations, and suggestions. In the automotive industry, a change of the current political direction is urgent promoting technological openness, return to affordable energy, and promoting work collective values which can’t happen in a home office or working less, but like for any Olympic winning team only as a team training hard and regularly together! For Jérôme Debreu, Germany needs to focus on its virtues back on its roots such as sincerity, honesty, diligence, discipline, order, thoroughness, reliability, and tolerance. If we succeed in doing so, we will enter a new era of growth and prosperity. We reaffirmed our clear commitment to Heiligenhaus and our intention to relocate additional activities from abroad back to Germany. We have already successfully relocated two production lines from Eastern Europe to Heiligenhaus. We like to thank Mr. Krichbaum and Mr. Beyer for their kind visit, looking forward to meeting you soon again! #automotive #transformation #kiekertfamily

We are thrilled to share that Kiekert Mexico has been recognized as a Socially Responsible Enterprise by the Mexican Center for Philanthropy (#Cemefi)! 🏆 This reflects our ongoing commitment to making a positive impact on our community through sustainable and socially responsible practices. According to the requirements of the award, a company is considered socially responsible when it promotes honesty, transparency, and integrity in its operations; is concerned about the well-being of its employees, clients, suppliers, and the community to which it belongs, as well as the improvement of the environment, and society in general. Because we have a long-term vision and are building a legacy that will last, this is a must and a matter of course for us. 🌍 It is an absolute honor to receive this award, especially this year, as the beautiful trophy was handmade by Wixaritari artisans from the Mezquitic community in Jalisco. 🎨 Their craftsmanship truly embodies the spirit of social responsibility and sustainability. 💪🏼 #SocialResponsibility #Sustainability #Kiekertfamily 🌟

Nearly two centuries of high-quality, highly customer-focused innovation are paying off for Kiekert: we are happy to announce that we have been selected to an incredible FIRST PLACE in the overall ranking of Germany’s most innovative small and medium-sized enterprises by stern.de GmbH magazine and the DtGV - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verbraucherstudien mbH. 🎉 🥇 🙌 💪   The study takes into account all German companies up to a turnover of one billion euros a year and focuses on their “patent performance”, i. e. all patents granted during the study period and their relevance for the innovation activity of the economy. This latter can be deduced by the “forward and backward citation” within the R&D community, meaning how often patents of a company are cited in other patents or how often other patents are mentioned in granted patents.   Of course, we have also been selected first place in our own #automotive supplier sector … but as we've been awarded here already last year and are since long by far outperforming our peers with almost 4,000 patents registered that’s something that was almost to expect 😉!   Congrats to our highly creative, professional, globally set-up and advanced R&D team! 🥂   #Kiekertfamily #Greatagain #Innovation #ShapingTheFuture 

From April 17 to 19, Kiekert CEO Jerome Debreu attended the annual congress of the AKJ Automotive Germany initiative on ‘Best Practices in der Supply Chain Automotive’ in Saarbrücken. Over 300 key personalities of the political, corporate and other major spheres of society followed the open, interesting and well-organized program of this unique event.    Mr Debreu took part in a panel discussion addressing the theme titled “Wirtschaftswunder: the hut is on fire !” ('Die Hütte brennt') and called for urgent changes in German and European industrial policies.    In this exchange with Prof. Dr. Klaus-J. Schmidt, Felix Kuhnert (PWC), Dr. Albrecht Köhler (Schaltbau Holding), Dirk Dreher (BMW) and Dr. Marcus Ewig (Rhenus Automotive), he reminded the audience that the automotive industry in Europe is suffering significantly, whereas in other parts of the world (United States and China), the industry was heavily supported and protected.    Only in Europe is it burdened with bureaucracy and political shortsightedness. Governments must establish reliable and stable long-term frameworks based on proven facts. Wishful thinking and generous ideals unfortunately play into the hands of competitors who act differently, do not apply the same market rules and discipline, and promote technologies that will at best represent a small proportion of the automotive market. Meanwhile, a long-standing European-wide economic pillar is being threatened and eroded. Bankruptcies of suppliers are increasing. So are transfers of activity and industrial locations out of Germany and Europe   Kiekert continues to prove that despite current adverse conditions that German manufacturing and engineering expertise is still a leading force in the automotive market and that duly selected operations in Germany can be profitable. Success has been and will be achieved through the development of innovation and intellectual property. Kiekert is thus committed to its headquarters in Heiligenhaus, where two production lines have been relocated. By 2030, a new headquarter site and an expanded production facility are to be built in Heiligenhaus. More on TV, take a look yourselves.

We are honored that German leading business publication #ManagerMagazin is featuring the New Kiekert, its renewed management team, the turnaround of the Group and #CEO Jerome Debreu. In a two-page article of the current May issue, the magazine highlights our bold decision beyond the rulebook to reverse the shutdown of our historic German plant wrongly decided by previous Management, and to relocate production back to Germany instead, based on a clear vision to enhance a benchmark top performing factory for premium customers and revitalize both this plant and our headquarters. Jérôme Debreu’s strategic commitment to the company's home base in Heiligenhaus has not only stabilized the company but also set the Group on a path to success and doubling sales revenue with a high single-digit profitability. Read the full story to learn more about the remarkable transformation of Kiekert in the latest issue of 'Manager Magazin' (Link to the paid content in the first comment below). #leadership #automotive #transformation German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) Wirtschaftsrat der CDU e.V. Nordrhein-Westfalen Internationaler Wirtschaftssenat e. V. (IWS) Stadt Heiligenhaus

Once a week it’s #apprentices-lunch at the Kiekert headquarter in @Heiligenhaus – and it’s always good to meet at least some of our young talents when stepping out of the office around noon. We’ve been successful in convincing 14 new potentials at the start of this apprenticeship year. By now, they have all well settled into the company and are about to (certainly successfully 😉) pass their mid-term exams! These days we are also starting to recruit the next generation who wants to contribute to getting a great company with a strong tradition back on track. We’re heading for at least as many new talents as last year, ideally even more! Get ready to join the journey … and check out our current job offers at the first comment below! #leadership #transformation #development #kiekertfamily