​​​Maintaining and expanding competitiveness is what matters now, emphasizes Bernard Schäferbarthold in his first letter as the new HELLA CEO. What is important to him: reducing bureaucracy, expanding the customer base, shortening innovation cycles.​

Monday 2024-01-29

​​​​Dear colleagues,

​I hope you all had a good start into the new year. Personally, I'm very much looking forward to 2024, because we have a special year ahead of us: HELLA turns 125. Since 1899, we have been shaping automotive mobility with our lighting and later also with our electronics products. Today, we have 125 locations in around 35 countries. Our product portfolio from the Business Groups Lighting, Electronics, and Lifecycle Solutions is in greater demand on the market than ever before, our customer relationships are strong, and our reputation worldwide is excellent. Also, thanks to the immense commitment and close cooperation of our employees worldwide, we are currently in a better position than many of our competitors. We all can be proud of this.

​The basis for this success has always been our innovative strength: We have always been a few years ahead with our developments; we have anticipated what customers expect from the next generation of vehicles. We have helped shape automobile’s transformation. However, one thing has changed in recent years: the market is developing faster, innovation cycles are becoming ever shorter, and competition is intensifying. 125 years of HELLA therefore not only fill me with pride, but they are also an obligation for me. An obligation not to become sluggish, not to rest on past successes. More than ever, it is important that we adapt, that we keep up with the speed, with the constantly changing market conditions to maintain and further expand our competitiveness. There are a few things we can and should change to make it easier for us to do just that. Three levers are particularly important to me:

​First, we should speed up our decision-making processes. Because as the company has grown, so has bureaucracy. We must remove complexity. This applies on both a large and small scale. Each of us should use the start of the year to check: Which process or decision-making steps are unnecessary? What can everyone decide individually, what should a manager decide? Where do things simply take too long and why? Each of you knows best where we can become faster and how.

​Second: In order to maintain our position in the automotive market, we need to keep up with the changes and expand our customer base. While the well-known manufacturers remain important, we want to establish or intensify partnerships with OEMs in China, Japan, and the USA in particular. This offers us the opportunity to exploit existing growth potential.

​Third: Precisely because innovation cycles are becoming ever shorter, our focus should also be on maintaining and strengthening our innovative power. We should therefore constantly examine how we can shorten our internal innovation cycles and how we can make our development work even more effective and efficient. One starting point is our development processes. Another is the use of artificial intelligence. Here we are for example currently testing Microsoft Copilot – as one of the first companies in the world.

​As you can see: The changing market conditions not only confront us with challenges, they also open up opportunities. At the same time, they apply to everyone; the conditions of the competition are the same. And our starting point is good: Discussions with customers show that we are excellently positioned with our technologies. Together with Faurecia, we can push the boundaries of what is technically possible even further, we can learn from each other and thus become better.

​Whether in development or production, in the Corporate Functions or Global Business Services, in Lighting, Electronics or Lifecycle Solutions: Together we have been strong for 125 years and together we will also master the challenges ahead. I am very much looking forward to taking this path together with you. And I look forward to continuing to develop many ideas together with you to maintain and expand our technological leadership. With this in mind: Here's to the next 125 years.

​Yours

​Bernard Schäferbarthold​