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HERMA
Investments for the future
2006
HERMA celebrated its 100th anniversary. The motto for this occasion expressed the company’s optimism: “100 years of HERMA. And many more to come.” To make better use of synergy effects it restructured its divisions: Adhesives, Labels, and Labelling Machines. With a workforce of approx. 800, the company achieved annual sales of 200 million euros. Late in the year, the advisory council of HERMA GmbH appointed Sven Schneller (2nd from right) to the position of managing director, joining Dr. Thomas Baumgärtner (right). At the same time Schneller became spokesman for the management board. The other board members included Thomas Thumm (2nd from left), director of finance, and Werner Rometsch (left), head of the labelling machines division.
2007
HERMA LabelAssistant online won the innovation prize, software category, of the German Initiative Mittelstand (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Initiative), which is backed by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. This free Web tool allowed users to design labels directly via the Internet and print them in the office or at home. Two years later the e-commerce package won the prize in its category. This free shop-in-shop solution, which was integrated into retailer Web sites, included several modules, including online label design tools, product finders, animated product presentations and prize competitions. It offered added value to customers and the opportunity to make quick online purchases
2008
HERMA GmbH said good-bye to its birthplace, the production plant on Ulmer Strasse in Wangen. The labelling machines division had shown above-average growth, and there was no space left for expansion of the facilities and hiring of new personnel. Thus the entire division was relocated to Deizisau, where one of the world’s most modern and efficient production lines for labelling machines was set up. At the same time the labels division, which had been split into three locations, was brought together in Filderstadt.
In Filderstadt HERMA inaugurated the world’s most modern coating facility in the presence of Minister President Günther Oettinger (centre). Through this expansion the company tripled its production capacity for adhesives, from some 250 million square metres to 750 million square metres per year. This was made possible by production speeds of 1,100 metres and more per minute. The plant implemented a shortest-route concept for the internal flow of materials that was unique in the industry. The first stage required an expenditure of 30 million euros, which was the biggest single investment in the company’s history.
2009
Despite the worldwide recession, HERMA operated with a profit. Although sales in the Group fell by 2.4 percent to 197.8 million euros (previous year: 202.8), improvements in manufacturing, organisation and logistics kept the profit from operations at the previous year’s level. At the same time HERMA was able to increase its market share in adhesives and A4 labels for PC printers. Its share of exports was 53 percent.
2010
HERMA again invested some ten million euros in its Filderstadt production plant for adhesives. A section of the building to accommodate a fully automatic packaging facility was scheduled for completion by 2011. Two new cutting machines, part of the same investment package, were already in operation. Depending on capacity utilisation, the coating plant was expected to create up to 70 new jobs with the very latest equipment.
HERMA launched an online service called HERMA Print that allowed users to design their own labels and stickers and to print them quickly at low cost. This service also included complex functions like saving of templates and mail merge options. In designing the user interface HERMA drew on its experience with the prizewinning LabelAssistant online, which set industry standards with its clear layout and well-conceived functions.
