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o associate the Black Forest in southwestern Germany only with cuckoo clocks and cake would be crudely stereotypical, but it is hardly a place one would immediately associate with style and elegance either. Frankly, most people’s washroom facilities are not temples of design perfection: the bathroom is typically the most utilitarian room in the house. What links these two thoughts? In a word, Hansgrohe. In 1901 the German engineer and entrepreneur Hans Grohe started a business that is still headquartered at Schiltach in the Black Forest, and a dynasty that is still very much involved in running the Hansgrohe Group, which today employs more than 3,100 people in its subsidiaries in 37 countries, on all continents. However, though it still owns 32 percent of the equity, control of the group passed in 2002 to the $1.5 billion Masco Group, based in Michigan.
Hansgrohe Inc
Proseals USA, Inc. We are proud to serve Hansgrohe’s rubber molded and O-ring needs. Proseals provides one rubber compound that meets all of the following global standards: NSF, KTW, WRAS and DVGW, thus eliminating the need for a different compound for each application. In addition to our engineered rubber solutions, we also specialize in inventory management systems to reduce our customers’ inventories and provide “just in time” delivery.
That’s a lot of growth from a business that focuses on a small niche, designing faucets, washbasin and bath systems. Hansgrohe is the premium brand for bathroom and kitchen fixtures, and a market leader in showers and shower
systems, as well as thermostat, pressure balance and ceramic cartridge technology. A winner of numerous awards throughout the world, Hansgrohe is regarded as one of the leading innovators in technology and design, with inventions such as the adjustable wall bar, multiple-spray hand showers and showerheads, the QuickClean function, AIR and water-saving EcoRight technology. These and other original products have helped reinvent the modern bathroom as a more functional, more comfortable and more beautiful living space. The company currently operates 10 manufacturing facilities, including six in Germany, as well as single plants in France, the Netherlands and China. In
addition, the company manufactures and assembles most of its Hansgrohe branded products for North America at its modern manufacturing facility in Alpharetta, Georgia, in the United States. The US operation Hansgrohe Inc. currently accounts for
“We have a very active kaizen team, as we believe that operational excellence and continuous improvement go hand in hand�
Hansgrohe Inc
about a tenth of the global business, both in terms of revenue, at around $80 million a year and people, with 250 employees. The Hansgrohe brands are not by any stretch of the imagination competing with the kind of product you’d buy at a hardware store or find in any but the most exclusive hotels. Axor, the designer brand of Hansgrohe, is regarded as the epitome of quality and design for the luxury bathroom. With a vast number of independent, comprehensive collections, which Axor develops in cooperation with internationally renowned architects and designers such as Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Jean-Marie Massaud, and Patricia Urquiola, the designer brand provides unlimited freedom and so allows the creation of highly individual bathroom solutions and personalized interior designs. Axor collections can be found in the Burj Dubai, the Yoo Apartments in Manhattan, and in the Bulgari Hotels of Milan and Bali. Axor collections are also featured on the Queen Mary II, in the Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Frankfurt, and in the Else Club in Moscow. The Axor brand manager is Philippe Grohe, grandson of the company’s founder. Not surprisingly, the North American market is key to Hansgrohe, though culturally it retains a European (or perhaps one should say international) ethos. The downturn of 2008 and 2009 was particularly pronounced in markets such as Spain, Great Britain and the United States, where the recession coincided with a severe crisis in the property market and the building industry. Fortunately, Hansgrohe is a niche player and not quite so exposed to the vagaries of the market. The Axor brand in particular has been wooing the A&D (architects and designers) community with the launch of the Axor Design Studio Program (ADS), targeted towards a limited network of high end decorative showrooms, which have the expertise to sell designer products to a clientele of architects, designers and consumers. Axor also plans to extend its partnership with industry associations (including ASID and AIA). As Nicolas Grohe, director of marketing and product development for North America explains: “We developed the Axor Design Studio program as a way to further emphasize our commitment to our clients and as another service for the specifier community. We have partnered with
world-renowned designers to help realize our design vision and have, as a result, developed outstanding designer collections. It is only natural to have a merchandizing program reflecting the same level of excellence.” Though the United States manufacturing facilities have not seen investment on the scale put into the German plants (in 2009 the bulk of capital spending, €19 million, went into the six plants in Germany, as these facilities produce about 80 percent of total output as measured in terms of sales) there have been some changes at the Georgia plant. According to vice president of operations Stefan Hammann, the focus has been on efficiency, manufacturing excellence and continuous improvement. Hammann came into Hansgrohe nine years ago as a quality manager before moving into manufacturing and thence into operations; he is a six sigma black belt and has led a number of projects. “We also have a very active kaizen team, as we believe that operational excellence and continuous improvement go hand in hand.” As part of the group strategy to improve its global carbon footprint while saving cost at the same time, Hansgrohe Inc. has achieved a cut of 75 percent in the waste it sends to landfill this year, and in the same period has reduced its consumption of electricity by a quarter. Attention has been paid to procurement as well, says Hammann: “We have been looking at how we can increase the proportion of locally purchased goods; it is a way of cutting our lead times as well as improving our flexibility and cost.” And some strategic investments have been made. Automation yields fairly rapid payback during a downturn, and the allocation of around $300,000 in robotic equipment accordingly went ahead in 2010. Such is the company’s confidence in the quality of its manufactured products, thanks to the work of managers like Hammann, that in September it announced a blanket voluntary guarantee of five years on all its products, far exceeding the legally required two-year guarantee, which applies to hand showers, wash basin mixers or kitchen mixers. “Thanks to strict quality management even during the manufacturing process, we ensure that only premium-quality goods leave our company,” said Hansgrohe CEO Otto Schinle. www.hansgrohe-usa.com
HANSGROHEINC. www.hansgrohe-usa.com