Send this page / Print this page Home / Composites News / In Brief

15 Jul 2008  -  Germany

SGL Group honoured as one of Germany's most innovative companies

© SGL Group

The SGL Group has been awarded as one of the “Top 100” most innovative German companies in Düsseldorf on July 4, 2008. This is the second consecutive year of the company’s wining the same prize due to its excellent innovation management activities. The prize was awarded by Lothar Späth, the mentor for Top 100 and also the former premier of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. SGL Group was ranked the fifth out of 340 candidates firms in total.

SGL Group wins this award due to its outstanding innovation management based on the close intercommunication with academic research institutes and universities, establishment of the innovation marketing department within the company, as well as the company’s involving customers into innovation activities at an very early stage. Concerning quality management, the SGL Group keeps pursuing the SIX SIGMA methodology (Design for SIX SIGMA - DFSS).

Dr. Hariolf Kottmann, Member of the Executive Committee of SGL Group: "This award gives us encouraging incentive to keep striving for innovations. Growth is ultimately driven by innovation, for which reason we are working closer than ever with universities and research institutes. This is also the purpose of our sponsoring the professorship for carbon fibers and carbon fiber composites at the Technical University of Munich."

The SGL Group has bundled its global research and development activities, named as “Technology & Innovation (T&I)”, at the Meitingen site (near Augsburg) . The new Technology & Innovation Center (T&I Center) has been inaugurated in Meitingen in the end of May, where around150 T&I experts are engaged in developing new products and materials to enter future markets.

The annually held cross-sectional comparative study Top 100 evaluates innovation capabilities of mid-sized German companies in five main areas: Top-Management’s support to Innovation, innovation climate, innovative processes and organization, innovation marketing as well as innovation success. In the last three categories, the SGL Group (2008) ranked among top ten out of all candidates.

This comparative study “Top 100” is conducted by innovation experts of Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration under the supervision of Professor Nikolaus Franke. The experts begin by assessing the innovative potential of the applicants by means of a questionnaire and use a second questionnaire to evaluate the central aspects of innovation management. Franke then compiles individual studying results in a detailed benchmarking report respectively for each award-winning company. 

About SGL Group
The SGL Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of carbon-based products. It has a comprehensive portfolio ranging from carbon and graphite products to carbon fibers and composites. SGL Group’s core competencies are its expertise in high-temperature technology as well as its applications and engineering know-how gained over many years. These competencies enable the Company to make full use of its broad material base. SGL Group’s carbon-based materials combine several unique properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity, heat and corrosion resistance as well as high mechanical strength combined with low weight. Due to the paradigm shift in the use of materials as a result of the worldwide shortage of energy and raw materials, there is a growing demand for SGL Group’s high-performance materials and products from an increasing number of industries. Carbon and graphite products are used whenever other materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, plastics, wood etc. fail due to their limited properties. Products from the SGL Group are used predominantly in the steel, aluminium, automotive, chemical and glass/ceramics industries. However, manufacturers in the semiconductor, battery, solar/wind energy, environmental protection, aerospace and defence industries as well as in the nuclear energy industry also figure among the Company’s customers.
With 38 production sites in Europe, North America and Asia as well as a service network covering more than 100 countries, the SGL Group is a company with a global presence. In 2007, the Company’s workforce of around 5,900 generated sales of € 1.4 billion. The Company’s head office is located in Wiesbaden/Germany.

Source : SGL Group