Insights and Perspectives - KNOLL Maschinenbau

Editorial
The company magazine KNOLL 21
mirrors the special autumn publication
that appeared in various daily
newspapers. In addition, we have sections which
devote attention to our employees celebrating anniversaries and
those entering retirement. In our magazine preparation, we have
focused our attention on three main areas: growth, products and
employees. In 40 years, our company has evolved into a leading
supplier of conveying and filtration systems within the industry.
First and foremost, we have to thank our customers for this growth.
Our company‘s founder Walter Knoll showed incredible foresight by
developing and investing in the right products in the right place at
the right time. That is why we are dedicating this publication to our
father: it is „his history of success“. We wish our chief a speedy
recovery and the best of health. We at KNOLL all hope to see him
again soon.
This past year has been one of fundamental change: although the
great economic and financial crisis has left a lasting impact,
the majority of companies experienced an unexpectedly strong
upsurge in growth.
When we lay our revenue curves for 2009 and 2010 over one
another, we see a clear „X“. In fact, this year we have again climbed
back up to the level from which we fell last year. We are again
operating at full capacity thanks to a heavy intake of orders,
particularly in the second half of the year.
During the crisis we refused to consider compulsory redundancies,
and introduced short-time work as a means of holding on to our
staff. It was the right decision, because we still have our loyal core
workforce at our disposal. You can‘t get more flexible than that. For
that we are indebted to our employees, and to our government,
which allowed this instrument.
In 2011, we expect to achieve similar results to the second half of
this year. Stronger investment will allow us to react even more
quickly and flexibly in future. However, we are conscious of the fact
that the crisis is probably still not over. Spiralling national debt is
one aspect. Moreover, there are many who still think short term
and are driven by profit, greed and shareholder value. But it is
precisely these factors that brought about the crisis in the first
place. There is, therefore, a high risk that the crisis will continue.
The onus is now on the government to deliver consistent and viable
policies – that is the only way to achieve sustainable stability.
Like many other medium-sized businesses, KNOLL owes its
success to long-term thinking and action. That is why we ask
ourselves the same question every day: what do we have to do to
stay competitive and keep our customers happy We are prepared
to make substantial changes.
2
Matthias Knoll
Jürgen Knoll