As an innovative specialist with exceptional expertise, FUCHS PETROLUB sets standards in the international lubricant business. Its special corporate culture, characterized by pronounced loyalty among its employees, is also a key success factor for the new members of the Executive Board, Dagmar Steinert and Dr. Timo Reister.
Although they are both new to the Executive Board at FUCHS PETROLUB SE, they are not unknown in the Group. The company promoted them to management level from within its own ranks. What does this tell us about the philosophy at FUCHS?
Dr. Timo Reister: FUCHS is a modern and open employer with great emphasis on structured staff development in an international family environment. My career since joining FUCHS in 2009 confirms that FUCHS with its performance driven culture is an attractive employer for motivated and talented individuals. It is not for nothing that so many satisfied employees remain with the company throughout their entire career. For those on the outside, such corporate loyalty may appear reminiscent of an age long past. However, it is actually an expression of mutual appreciation and remains a key success factor for FUCHS.
Dagmar Steinert: I can only confirm my colleague’s point of view. In my experience, family businesses value much more a lasting success and do not like to focus on short-term goals. In my over 20 years of working for other companies as well, I have experienced this first hand at FUCHS. It does therefore not come as a surprise that they would want to appoint employees to the governing bodies who do not only demonstrate their management qualities at the company, but also know the company well, understand its philosophy and seek to nurture it.
FUCHS sets standards in the worldwide lubricant business, which is also the motto of this year’s annual report. What is the basis for this success?
Dr. Timo Reister: There are a large number of factors that contribute to the company’s success. FUCHS has a stable shareholder structure that guarantees the company’s independence and facilitates both the pursuit of long-term strategies by the management team and maintains a keen focus on the lubricant business. Thanks to this approach, FUCHS has proven itself as an innovative specialist, reliable technological leader, and provider of holistic solutions. FUCHS also demonstrates a value-oriented corporate culture that revolves around the key values of trust, creating value, respect, reliability, and integrity. Our culture really encourages top performance and motivates everyone to improve and adapt themselves. The combination of these factors, coupled with an exceptional global presence, makes FUCHS the first choice in many respects and demonstrates its unique success model, which is extremely difficult to emulate.
Dr. Timo Reister joined FUCHS in 2009 and initially worked in the US – first with OEM responsibility and later also with responsibility for the specialty business and LUBRICANTES FUCHS DE MEXICO. Most recently, he managed the Asia-Pacific region from Shanghai as Executive Vice President. His responsibilities now also include the Africa and Middle East/Turkey regions.
Dr. Timo Reister // member of the Executive Board, Asia-Pacific, Africa region
Dagmar Steinert: Success continuously requires new ideas and challenges. At FUCHS, entrepreneurial minds are at work that examine and question the successful and sustainable business model on a frequent basis, continuously setting and then systematically pursuing new standards. We have demonstrated that sustainability is an achievable task for a lubricant manufacturer, which sets us apart from our competitors. Our strength lies in recognizing promising developments early on and acting on the findings. Our success is the result of our expertise in research and development and the continued exploitation of opportunities. None of this would be possible without our dedicated employees who are living our values. Here, too, things blend.
Where do you see the main challenges and opportunities in your new role?
Dr. Timo Reister: As a new member of the Executive Board, my goal is to provide fresh impetus and help drive the further development of FUCHS with my ideas. The fact that I know FUCHS very well, having held positions in Europe, North America and Asia, and that I am surrounded by an experienced executive team is obviously a massive plus. My regional area of responsibility, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, brings about cultural, economic, political and geographic challenges. At FUCHS, it is important for us to overcome these challenges more successfully than our competition and thereby further increase our market share. I see particular opportunities in having a sound foundation on which to build and a highly motivated team to work with. In addition, my region holds substantial growth potential for FUCHS due to the current market share situation, as well as the anticipated development of the lubricant market.
Dagmar Steinert held the position of Head of Investor Relations at FUCHS PETROLUB since 2013. Prior to joining FUCHS PETROLUB SE, her career embraced a number of senior leadership roles. Her division includes the following departments: Finance, Controlling, Taxes, Internal Audit, Legal, Compliance, IT and Investor Relations.
Dagmar Steinert // CFO
Dagmar Steinert: I managed the Investor Relations department at FUCHS for three years and I look forward to my new responsibilities for Finance, Controlling, Taxes, Internal Audit, Legal, Compliance and IT. My team and I intend to further demonstrate the company’s success story and daily sustainable actions to our shareholders, our customers, our employees, and the general public. There are many ways for us to have constant access to quality data from within the company but also from external providers and to have this data available at any time. Additionally, I have great confidence in the interlinking of modern information and communication media. However, the employees in my team and our entire corporate family, whose work ethic and commitment I trust, represent my most important tool to developing suitable solutions and discovering new ideas and opportunities.
