Highlights of 75 years - Hettich

Appliqués provide orientation on fashionable kitchen fascias.
ProDecor
an international
brand
Hettich Strothmann‘s three-tier product strategy
Strothmann GmbH & Co. KG had been
part of the Hettich Group since 1977.
In January 2003, the change of name to
Hettich Strothmann signposted a change
of approach. The company has been
systematically integrated into the Hettich
Group, profiting from synergies within
the Group‘s worldwide operations.
Hettich Strothmann is now a competence
centre for decorative fittings, coordinating
the activities of production plants in
Germany and Brazil and making maximum
use of the potential of the Group‘s
international procurement networks.
Operational integration in the worldwide
sales activities of the Hettich Group has
placed decisions about product strategy
on a broader footing. In this wider market,
Hettich Strothmann has added to its
reputation as market leader for innovative,
high quality handles. Access to international
networks is opening up opportunities
for sourcing cheaper trend items at
competitive prices and in proven quality.
The company has developed a new three
tier product strategy. Tier one is a core
catalogue for industry customers. This
contains a subset – around 200 knobs
and handles – of the complete range.
The core range is available ex stock in
relatively large quantities. The complete
product portfolio is naturally also
available to industry customers, but not
necessarily ex stock. This portfolio of
2,000 models and 8,000 variants has
been expanded, but its underlying structure
and breadth have not changed.
Hettich Strothmann also works intensively
on product development in cooperation
with major customers, creating exclusive
designs to enhance the customer‘s furniture
products.
Intensive use of the ProDecor name as
the lead brand for the handle collection
has its basis in tradition. Hettich Strothmann
has been using the ProDecor brand
for over ten years to sell handles, knobs
and other external decor fittings to distributors
and professionals, like cabinet
makers. Today the ProDecor brand is
established throughout the worldwide
Hettich Group. Tier two is Hettich
FurnTech‘s ProDecor catalogue for distributors
and professionals offering the full
product range, with the fittings packaged
in small units to suit requirements.
In other words, ProDecor catalogues offer
product ranges produced in volumes
to suit different customer groups and
available ex stock. The “core“ products for
industry customers are produced in large
volumes, while the wider product portfolio
is produced and packaged in smaller
volumes for professional customers and
innovation
Hettich Strothmann, a member of the Hettich
Group, has a reputation for manufacturing
excellence, for outstanding surface finishes and
for creative handle ideas. Two years after the
name change to Hettich Strothmann, the
company has perfected a new three-tier product
and brand strategy. It offers a fast-track
ProDecor core range for the furniture industry,
the full ProDecor range for distributors and
professionals, and Hettich Strothmann for
exclusive decorative fittings.
dealers. The ProDecor collections are
sold around the world by all the Hettich
sales companies. And Hettich Strothmann
continues to develop customer-specific
decorative fittings ranges for major
industry customers.
The company‘s design strength and
creativity are also evident in its annual
innovation brochure of new products.
Then there‘s the ProDecor configurator at
www.prodecor.com. This unique tool lets
designers display different handles, in the
available surface finishes, against a wide
range of furniture surfaces. They can
experiment with all possible variations
on-screen before making their choice.
ProDecor has proved an easier brand to
market worldwide than Strothmann. This
has improved the company‘s ability to
meet its sales targets. Within the Hettich
Group, the name Hettich Strothmann
stands for a competence centre for all
decorative fittings, responsibility for inhouse
production in Germany and in
Brazil, for bought-in ranges and for any
future production plants. Selling the
ProDecor ranges worldwide through the
Hettich Group has given the company
access to sales activities and markets,
with a positive impact on sales volumes.
It will inevitably take time to communicate
the three-tier sales strategy to all
concerned. Actually it‘s perfectly easy:
the ProDecor core range for industry
customers, the complete ProDecor range
for dealers and professionals, Hettich
Strothmann for exclusive decorative
fittings.
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