8th TOP innovator award for GEZE
GEZE was again awarded the prestigious TOP 100 seal of approval, securing its position as one of Germany's most successful SME innovators. GEZE Managing Director Development Gerald Haas accepted the award from TOP 100 mentor and science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar at the Gala Evening to celebrate the 5th German Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Summit held at the Forum am Schlosspark in Ludwigsburg. In his welcome address Winfried Kretschmann, Minister President of the state of Baden-Württemberg, underlined the significance of the innovation competition.
The TOP 100 seal of approval
The event rewards Germany's most innovative companies: TOP 100 mentor Ranga Yogeshwar awards the TOP 100 Innovator certificate to GEZE Managing Director Development Gerald Haas.
The key competitive factors when comparing the different companies were 'Climate of Innovation', 'Innovative Processes and Organisation', 'Innovation-friendly Senior Management' and 'Innovation Marketing'. GEZE has long been part of the global elite of developers and manufacturers of innovative systems for door, window and safety technology, and this is the eighth time the company has been awarded the TOP 100 seal of approval – five of them in the past ten years alone.
Part of GEZE's mission is the continuous further development of traditional product segments, to expand their benefits, and to explore new avenues for outstanding solutions.
The award that we received today is further proof that innovation, both in digitalisation and in the traditional product segment, is both possible and desirable.
Gerald Haas, Managing Director DevelopmentGEZE Cockpit: Innovation in building networking
The first building automation system for smart door, window and safety technology. © GEZE GmbH
The newly developed GEZE Cockpit building automation system marks GEZE's successful entry into the 'Building Networking – Smart Buildings' market, one that will shape its future. "Massive investment in new development structures, as well as in highly specialised design engineers, have enabled us to create networking solutions for windows and doors that are unique in the global market, and that make buildings smarter, more efficient, safer, and ultimately happier places to be. This opens up unprecedented opportunities for our customers to automate their buildings," says Managing Director Development Gerald Haas. GEZE Cockpit is the first smart door, window and safety system, and is closing a gap in building automation. Automatic doors and windows can be integrated in a building system for the first time, so that completely new networking possibilities for various application scenarios can be achieved in building automation.
Strength of innovation: a new development centre
The development centre for the research and development sectors.
With digitalisation, GEZE has taken a bold step that extends from product development through to market launch. A key starting point was to create the right digital infrastructure for the development and operation of smart software products. The independent, family-run business has invested 13 million euro in a new, ultra-modern development centre, and has significantly expanded its research and development capacity over the past two years. Product trials and validation were completed using state-of-the-art equipment. The modular test stands are equipped with the latest robotic technology. Premium quality technical concepts and products can now be realised even faster and more efficiently.
An agile and interactive approach
The processes that lead to innovation determined the architecture and design of the new building. The engineers and test engineers come across optimal working conditions at every stage of development. Flexible working areas and workspace units equipped with sophisticated sound absorption, lighting and indoor climate concepts encourage exchange between the disciplines, and enable networking among the different fields of expertise as well as an agile way of working in the project areas. An in-house creative area provides space for experimenting with and testing new ideas, and for unconventional approaches to problem-solving.
Laboratory for smart opportunities – users share in the development
The new development building is a smart building in itself. All the product groups are intelligently networked, and it is designed such that new networking solutions can continually be applied and tested. The insights gained are used to further develop the intelligence of all GEZE products and expand and roll-out their benefits for users with the aid of the new GEZE Cockpit building automation system. As part of an interactive development approach, pilot customers were also involved in the GEZE Cockpit project. This resulted in the benefits of optimal, user-oriented product features and the time-to-market – the period from development to launching the new system on the market - was significantly reduced.
'Digital First' in communication
In line with its new digital direction, GEZE also explored new avenues in the commercial launch of GEZE Cockpit. A Digital First campaign, which was recently recognised with the German Brand Award, used the entire bandwidth of digital communication possibilities.
'Smart Talent' – global growth in employee numbers
Of the 300 employees appointed globally as a result of the GEZE Group's organic growth over the past two years, a significant proportion work in the technology and development field. Innovations do not just originate in Germany as the prime development and manufacturing location, but also in the GEZE subsidiaries in China, Spain and Great Britain. The international manufacturing network consistently applies the most stringent and sustainable production standards to deliver 'Made in Germany' quality – all over the world.
TOP 100: the competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal to small and medium-sized enterprises for exceptional innovative strength and above-average innovation success. Prof. Nikolaus Franke was appointed as Scientific Director in 2002. Franke is the founder and chairman of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation of Vienna University of Economics and Business. Mentor to the TOP 100 is the science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. Project partners include the Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research and the BVMW, the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses. As media partners, manager magazin, impulse and W&V support the comparison of companies. www.top100.de
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Julia Graf
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Email: j.graf@geze.com
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