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Wörthsee – Heinz Soyer Bolzenschweißtechnik GmbH is one of the 100 most innovative small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Germany. So say the results of this year's "Top 100" corporate benchmarking competition - a cross-sectoral business initiative covering the entire country. One key element of the firm's success in this, the 17th year of the renowned contest, was its finely-tuned innovations management. Lothar Späth, former state premier of Baden-Württemberg, will present Heinz Soyer with the prestigious "Top 100" seal of approval at an official ceremony in Königswinter's "Gästehaus Petersberg" this Friday evening.
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As patron of the SME initiative, he will be recognising Heinz Soyer's achievements in the five key categories of "Innovation-friendly Senior Management", "Climate of Innovation", "Innovative Processes and Organisation", "Innovations Marketing" and "Successful Innovations". The company, which has already been in the top 100 three times, even made it into the top ten in the final category.
Heinz Soyer Bolzenschweißtechnik GmbH is a family business run by Heinz Soyer senior and Heinz Soyer junior. It has a workforce of 78 and generated revenue of €18 million in 2008. Innovation is a top priority for its directors who devote 70 per cent of their working time to it. The management team also gets actively involved in the innovation process, setting clear objectives for innovation projects and monitoring their progress. At the same time, the management delegates plenty of responsibility to the teams responsible for the projects and supports them in every way possible. The management team believes that expertise and efficiency are key to commercial success in the SME sector, and that continuing professional development is vital for meeting these requirements. As a result, not only do their employees attend training courses for an average of 14 days a year, the management team itself devotes 20 days to CPD every year. Technical managers are fully integrated in innovation activities and they steer all development projects centrally, as well as taking responsibility for networking with technical colleges, universities and welding laboratories. Process innovations enabled Heinz Soyer GmbH to reduce its overall costs by a quarter in 2007 and radical innovations developed in the past three years now account for half of the company's profits.
To qualify for the award, Heinz Soyer had to undergo a stringent, two-stage process devised by the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. "Our results show that the 100 top innovators generally tackle challenges head on and are thus well-equipped to deal with the current economic situation, for example. Innovation is a matter of priority at management level for most of these companies" commented Professor Nikolaus Franke, head of the research team, on the analysis. In the past three years, these award-winners generated two thirds of their revenue from innovations and innovative improvements, compared with 30 per cent in a sample of similarly-structured German SMEs. In addition, Top 100 firms were able to shave some 12 per cent off their costs through process innovations, compared with a paltry 4 per cent on the part of "average SMEs". As a result, this year's "Top 100" contains 54 German market leaders, 22 of which are global leaders in their field. Heinz Soyer senior is jubilant about the firm's success: "We are now officially classed among the most formidable innovators in the German SME sector. This is a great boost to our credibility and will inspire our employees, partners and, of course, customers with confidence. We could scarcely have hoped for better news in these times of crisis." Overall, 319 companies entered the "Top 100" competition this year.
All of the 100 top innovators are featured in the book "Top 100 - the 100 most innovative companies in Germany's SME sector" edited by Lothar Späth, and featured on the website www.top100.de. The project is organised by compamedia GmbH, Überlingen, Germany. Companies interested in entering the competition can apply as of now via the website. The deadline for entries is 30 October 2009.
Mentor and partners
The project's patron is Lothar Späth. Partners in the project are: Bayern Innovativ GmbH, the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research, the German Centre for Productivity and Innovation (RKW), the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE) and the Association of German Engineers (VDI). Its media partner is the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Project management
The project is coordinated by Dr Nikolaus Franke, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. The focus of his research is on entrepreneurship, innovation management and marketing. He is one of the world's leading experts in user innovation.
Organiser: compamedia GmbH
compamedia specialises in organising benchmarking projects and creating networks for small and medium-sized enterprises. The agency concentrates on promoting its projects in the media, leaving technical implementation to its specialist partners. In addition to the Top 100 innovation project, compamedia coordinates two other prestigious projects that highlight the achievements of Germany's SME sector: the Top Job employer benchmarking competition under the mentorship of Wolfgang Clement and Ethics in Business with Ulrich Wickert as patron.
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