Values

HIGHLIGHTS
1959 Entry into the services sector,
starting with book distribution
1966 The founding of AZ Direct sees
the beginning of direct
marketing business
1969 Start of IT business activities
1978 Collaboration with ADAC
publishing begins
1992 Deliveries of mobile phones
begin (for Mannesmann D2,
later Vodafone)
1993 Taking care of Lufthansa’s
Miles & More program,
including call center activity
1995 Collaboration with Microsoft
begins
1996 Founding of Bertelsmann
financial services
1999 Various Bertelsmann production
and services activities are
bundled together under the
Arvato umbrella
2004 Entry into the government
services sector in the U.K.
2005 Widening of services for the
healthcare sector
2008 Launch of the DeutschlandCard
multi-partner program
Arvato’s central storage
facility is located directly
on the motorway linking
Dortmund and Hannover.
From here, books, CDs,
videos, games and more
are shipped worldwide.
was in 1960 and the relationship lasts to
this day.
By 1961, the distribution service
was working for more than 10 publishing
houses, and the client base continued
to expand over the coming years.
By 1977, some 100 publishers were
using the services of what had by then
become the “Vereinigte Verlagsauslieferung”
(VVA), or United Publishing
Distributors. Now, clients from outside
the publishing sector were using its
services – the fi rst among them being
automakers Volkswagen and Ford.
The printing presses had to be updated
in order to serve the needs of
these new customers. At the end of the
1960s, Bertelsmann invested in new
offset printing machines that could
produce brochures in color. Since then,
VW and Ford have been putting their
new models on paper at the printing
presses in Gütersloh. The job doesn’t
just end there, however. “We had to deliver
the brochures directly to the car
dealerships,” says Günter Wilmsmeier,
who worked for Arvato for 30 years,
most recently as chief fi nancial offi cer.
“Naturally, we were up to the task.”
Printing boss Multhaupt suspected
that VW and Ford, two competitors in
the automotive sector, were not overjoyed
at the thought of getting their
brochures from the same provider. The
astute manager found a solution: he
gave a 24-year-old employee 20,000
Deutschmarks to set up a subsidiary in
the vicinity. Now the car dealerships
would be serviced by two distinct
companies: one at Bertelsmann headquarters
in Gütersloh, the other
30 kilometers away in Versmold.
Soon enough, Bertelsmann was to
take on business from other carmakers.
Banks and insurance companies
quickly followed. “Our sales people
went to potential clients and asked
them how much they were paying for
the delivery of brochures to their outlets,”
says Wilmsmeier. “Most of them
didn’t know and when they calculated
the cost, they were surprised to see
how expensive it was. Our people told
them that we could do it more cost effective.”
In the days before outsourcing
was a buzzword, the approach was revolutionary.
On a Sunday in November 1979, a
devastating fi re broke out in the technical
facility at Bertelsmann. The blaze
destroyed large parts of the distribution
center. Reinhard Mohn decided to rebuild
at another site. The new facility
came to life right beside the Dortmund-
Hannover motorway and it boasted
huge capacity with the biggest storage
racks in Europe. It was the cornerstone
of a global infrastructure that consists
of distribution centers across the world.
They ensure delivery of not just books
and brochures, but of high-tech gadgets
and other consumer items.
Right alongside the warehouse with
the high-rise racks, Bertelsmann’s new
computing center came to life. Thirdparty
clients can now make use of the IT
services here. “It continuously surprised
me, just how much energy was
released when staff quickly moved from
serving internal users to serving external
clients,” says Wilmsmeier.
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