Press release

Demag Cranes Wins Top Place in “Best Factory” Competition

Award by International Jury for Wetter Production Location
Clear Customer Focus and Investments in Location Pay Off

Düsseldorf, 14 May 2010. Demag Cranes AG has come second in the “Best Factory/Industrial Excellence Award 2010”. An international jury granted the award to the Wetter/Ruhr production location for excellent production management. This acknowledges the company’s outstanding management quality as a basis for profitable growth. Thomas H. Hagen, member of the Management Board of Demag Cranes AG and responsible for business operations emphasises, “We are highly pleased with the outstanding place we achieved in this prestigious competition. As a world market leader for high-quality industrial cranes and components, we want to help our customers to achieve a significant lead in efficiency and quality with our products. This award confirms that we have top-quality production at our manufacturing location in Wetter and that we meet the market’s demanding requirements with our performance and flexibility.”

Investments Pay Off

In the face of the financial and economic crisis and the necessary restructuring measures, the Management Board acknowledged its commitment to the production location in Wetter at an early date and approved investments to the amount of some EUR 14 million for modernisation of the production infrastructure in recent years. This commitment has now paid off. Rainer Berthan, responsible in the Executive Committee of Demag Cranes AG for global production, explains, “The jury recognised that we addressed customer requirements at an early stage and that we have focussed our product range and consistently implemented improvements in our production processes.”

Major Role Played by Motivated Employees

Employee teamwork and motivation played an important role. Demag Cranes achieved very good ratings for aspects such as strategic product development, operative supply chain management as well as for organisation and human resources. Partner management and the continuous improvement scheme, in which the employees are actively involved, were also rated highly. “All employees – from procurement to shipping – were highly motivated and committed and contributed towards this terrific achievement”, states Dr. Rainer Harkort, manager of the factory in Wetter. “We prepared for the competition intensively as a team and ultimately received exceptional praise from the jury for our efforts.”

Added Value from Group Integration

As already reported and as part the on-going integration process, the operating functions within the Demag Cranes Group are being closely dovetailed to further improve efficiency. Since 1 May 2010, the new function-orientated organisation has come into effect beneath the Executive Committee as planned. Management Board member Hagen emphasises, “We have now clearly defined the global management structure according to functions and responsibilities throughout the Group. In this way, we will accelerate co-ordination and workflows become even more competitive.”

About the Industrial Excellence Award 2010

The “Best Factory/International Excellence Award” has been awarded since 1995. This competition is held by the French INSEAD School of Management and the Chair for Production Management at the Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar near Koblenz. Both institutes are supported by the German Wirtschaftswoche and French L’Usine Nouvelle business news magazines. Manufacturing companies are invited to compete with the best factories. A jury made up of international specialists for production management looks into a factory as an entire organisation unit in terms of growth and profitability. Operating strategy planning processes are reviewed to the same depth as the management of resources, skills and knowledge and the services to be provided. Besides the integration of suppliers and customers, the way in which employees are involved in the processes to ensure lasting competitiveness is of central importance for the jury. The prize winners are given their awards as part of a management conference to be held in Cologne in September.

About Demag Cranes AG

The Demag Cranes Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of industrial cranes and crane components, harbour cranes and terminal automation technology. Services, in particular maintenance and refurbishment services, are another key element of its business activities. The Group is divided into the business segments Industrial Cranes, Port Technology and Services and has strong and well-established Demag and Gottwald brands. Demag Cranes sees its core competence in the development and construction of technically sophisticated cranes and hoists as well as automated transport and logistics systems in ports and terminals, the provision of services for these products and the manufacture of high-quality components.

As a global supplier, Demag Cranes manufactures in 16 countries on five continents and operates a worldwide sales and service network that is present in over 60 countries through its subsidiaries, representative offices and a joint venture. In financial year 2008/2009, the Group, with its 5,934 employees, generated revenue of EUR 1,047.6 million. Since the end of June 2006, the Demag Cranes share (WKN: DCAG01) has been listed in the Prime Standard of the German Stock Exchange and is traded on various indices including the MDAX®.

About the Wetter/Ruhr Production Location.

The foundations of the Demag Cranes Group were laid with the establishment of “Mechanische Werkstätten Harkort” in Wetter an der Ruhr in 1819. Today, the company produces crane components and light crane systems for the world market at this location. Besides the KBK crane construction kit, these products also include the DR generation of rope hoists and DC chain hoists. Wheel block systems and geared motors are also manufactured and shipped all over the world from the Distribution Centre at this location.

We Can Handle It.

Contact person for media representatives:
Nikolai Juchem
Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing
Phone: +49 (0) 211 7102-1019
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