Hoffmann Group Celebrates Centennial
Their growing $1.1 billion business now has over 3,000 employees.
Posted: March 11, 2019
Hoffmann Group USA (Knoxville, TN) is celebrating the centennial of the company’s founding, and is doing so in great form: In 2018, Hoffmann SE (Munich, Germany) and their subsidiaries achieved record sales, topping $1.1 billion for the first time; their workforce has reached a record level of over 3,000 people; and the business continues to grow organically. “The fact that our business is doing so well today is thanks primarily to our highly committed staff,” asserted Nicola Bleicher, the great-granddaughter of the company founder and a shareholder in Hoffmann SE. Her sister and co-shareholder, Verena Heinrich, added, “Our employees are the driving force of our 100-year-old company. Their vision, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit enable it to adapt flexibly to changing times.”
The foundations of Hoffmann SE were laid by Josef Hoffmann on March 11, 1919, in Munich. His son Franz joined the business in 1932. In 1936, he created the Hoffmann catalog that is now published in 18 languages and is also available in the form of an online e-shop at www.hoffmann-group.com. Starting in the 1950s, Franz aligned the business firmly towards the selling of quality tools supported by high-level expert advice. He was also responsible for launching product lines under the GARANT brand name back in 1973. As the long-standing head of the company, he molded and embodied their culture and values more than anyone else.
“We are still today putting into practice the values by which we first gained our success, now formulated by the slogan ‘Pioneering, Precise, Personal’,” explained Siegfried Neher, an executive board member and the director of technology and transformation of Hoffmann SE. “That approach incorporates a strong sense of quality awareness, as well as adherence to the three key criteria of keeping things simple, focused and useful, a firm commitment to continuous improvement, and long-term planning. Our system of values is the compass which guides us and keeps us on course.”
The third generation of Hoffmann merged the company with the Gödde, Oltrogge and Perschmann family businesses to form the Hoffmann Group – a respected system partner in Europe for quality tools. Now headed by the fourth generation of the Hoffmann family, this company and their partners have 69 subsidiaries in more than 50 countries around the world. A key legacy of Franz Hoffmann is their commitment to getting ‘ever better’ — the driving force behind the innovative strength of the company. “We are investing massively in the future in order to drive innovation,” noted Bleicher. “At present, our focus is on the development of digital products and services. Also, we are undertaking the largest project our history with LogisticCity.”
LogisticCity is currently under construction on a 21.5 hectare site in Nuremberg, and will become their global distribution center. Some 900 people in total will be employed at the new facility in Nuremberg. “We are sure that we are well set for the next hundred years,” concluded Heinrich.
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