Thursday 2023-12-07

​​​​​​​​Ludger Rembeck, known in the BG Lighting as 'Mr. Rear Combination Lamps', has – and this can be said with certainty - shaped the development of the BG Lighting, in particular the development of the rear combination lamp business, like no other. For 34 years, he has dedicated himself to lighting at the rear of vehicles. He is now leaving the company at the end of the year. On this occasion, he looks back with us on his time at HELLA, tells us about great successes and how important the HELLA team spirit has always been to him.

​Mr. Rembeck, in a nutshell: What were your most important positions at HELLA?

​In summary: once rear combination lamps, always rear combination lamps. I started as a rear combination lamps designer in the lighting division in January 1989 and never left it. My first project: the Seat Ibiza, model year 1991 - back then it was still created on a drawing board (see also our picture gallery below). Having held various management positions in the area of rear combination lamps, I have now been part of the GL Board as Head of the Rear Combination Lamps Product Centre since May 2020.

​When you look back on your career: What seems unthinkable today, but was possible back then?

​Something that is certainly no longer possible today: being able to support the development of so many HELLA locations. Over the past 34 years, HELLA has grown rapidly and expanded worldwide. It all started for me in 1997, when I was able to set up and help shape the development of interior lighting at the HIS Wembach site. This was followed by the HELLA Leuchtensysteme GmbH in Paderborn, where we merged and built up development and production. In 2003, I co-founded the development department of the lighting division in Mexico City, in 2010 the one in Nanjing and in 2021 the one in Slovakia, HSK-B. For more than ten years, starting in 2005, I also built up India as a development location and, as Chairman and Director on the Board India, accompanied the establishment of our development organization in Chennai and Coimbatore.

​What do you like to remember?

​Phew, I could name a lot of things. But what I still remember vividly is the spirit of optimism when we had the courage to leave Lippstadt for Paderborn in 1999. How euphoric everyone was back then. I still have the right music in my head to this day: "Major Tom... Completely detached...". Everything was rebuilt in Paderborn, a very modern location, a separate legal entity - as they say today - with development and production under one roof. And we grew so quickly. As the product manager responsible for the rear combination lamp program and a perceived co-entrepreneur of the site, it was also new for me at the time to be so close to production. I saw with my own eyes and experienced at first hand the suffering that my colleagues there went through when development didn't get something right. An experience that I still benefit from today.

​What has been your greatest success in the 34 years of HELLA?

​For me personally, my own career in this company. When I started as a design engineer, I never thought I would make it to the GL Management Board. That was never my goal either. I always wanted to make great products, work with great colleagues and be an entrepreneur, the master of my own decisions. I think I've done a decent job - others can judge that much better, of course (laughs). I always tried to bring new ideas into the company, and I had bosses who supported me, were advocates and trusted me with projects. For me, my career developed in this way without forcing it.

​What do you still have to laugh about to this day?

​About this photo here:

​​In 2019, we won the rear combination lamps project for the VW ID Buzz electric van. A friend of mine had a 1959 Bulli, which I brought to the company premises for the project kick-off meeting in June 2019. A gag to take a photo with the core team. Frank Huber, Managing Director of BG Lighting at the time, was walking across the yard at that very moment. We got him to join us straight away. The BUZZ is back was our motto (laughs).

​In 3 words: What does HELLA mean to you personally?

​I have a lot to thank HELLA for. I have always been a car enthusiast and have always been very passionate about lighting. For me, HELLA therefore means firstly: technology. We also always know a few years in advance what will be on the roads in the future. I'll miss that, this look into the future. That's my number two. Thirdly: HELLA means team spirit to me. I will miss this solidarity, the great colleagues not only at Rear Combination Lamps, but everywhere at HELLA. For me, it was always this HELLA family, the team spirit, that characterized HELLA as a company.

​Let's take a look into the crystal ball: How do you see HELLA in 30 years' time?

​I am a ‘child’ of the BG Lighting and would therefore say: there will always be lighting. And I believe that we will become even more stylish with our products. I'm already looking forward to seeing lighting technologies from HELLA that you wouldn't even think possible today. And of course I'll be wondering how the engineering team managed it. I can already see how my wife will be amused when I want to dismantle the headlamps, rear combination lamps or interior lightings (laughs).

​Where will Ludger Rembeck be soon?

​Those who know me well know that, in addition to HELLA, I am committed to renewable energies and electromobility. So, in future I'll be pushing this topic privately with all my strength. We have not only converted everything at home and are driving electric vehicles. I am also involved in an association that promotes the expansion of renewable energies. In addition, I will certainly be travelling with my wife. We used to travel extensively in Europe, but that has not been possible in recent years. We would now like to make up for that: Travelling somewhere and discovering the surroundings on our bikes.

​What else would you like to pass on to the HELLA world?

​Continue to believe in the importance of lighting and uphold the team spirit. Despite all the stress, please don't forget to work together. This has always characterized HELLA and I am convinced that this is also a reason for the company's success.

​Thank you very much for the interview, Mr Rembeck.

Take a look at various stages in Ludger Rembeck's 34 years at HELLA.