Successfully Defends The TOP100 Award For The Most Innovative Medium-Sized Enterprise
It can sometimes seem even harder to successfully defend a title than winning it. aluplast has succeeded in defending a somewhat different kind of title: for the second time, the system provider from Karlsruhe was delighted to receive the TOP100 award honouring the most innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany.
Following a multi-stage selection process, aluplast was presented with the award on 23 June at the German Summit for Medium- Sized Companies in Essen. COO Stefen Walter and the Head of Systems Engineering, Dr. Daniel Metz, were delighted to receive the coveted trophy from TOP100 mentor Ranga Yogeshwar. “Committed to innovation,” was the motto the aluplast management team committed itself to follow after their successful participation in 2016. And this is what made the team decide to enter the competition again this year. What followed, however, was another assessment that really put the company through its pace – including an enhanced questionnaire, and covering five different, success-oriented categories such as Innovative Processes, Innovation Marketing, and last but not least, Successful Innovations. The top innovator has meticulously analysed the success factors for the industry by means of innovation management. The company provides its customers with a precisely tailored portfolio of products, technologies and services and supports them in marketing matters. On request, aluplast also supports its customers with respect to digitisation in the areas of marketing and sales. This customer focus is also reflected in the Outward looking/Open Innovation category, which sealed the TOP100 deal for the family company founded in 1982 for the second time. The climate of innovation is also promoted by the fact that aluplast employees at the company’s 24 locations are granted a lot of freedom. “The engineers in particular work closely with customers and therefore have many creative suggestions,” confirms CMO Patrick Seitz. A recent example of this is the Multifalz sash, which enables different processing techniques and is based on the suggestion of a systems engineer. But it’s not only the systems engineers who develop new ideas: employees from all departments, as well as customers and suppliers are involved in the innovation process. Everyone at aluplast is delighted that the company has been honoured with the TOP100 award again this year – after all, it is one of the most prestigious company awards, and has already been presented 24 times. The jury included numerous personalities from the fields of politics and business, for example corporate consultant Roland Berger, TV reporter Sabine Christiansen, and the politicians Armin Laschet and Sahra Wagenknecht. Scientific director of the jury was Professor Nikolaus Franke from Munich University, one of the leading researchers on innovation worldwide, who has been investigating the factors driving innovation for a number of years. “To be honoured by such an expert jury for the second time is winning the ultimate accolade for us,” says CEO Dirk Seitz. “Our corporate strategy is clearly in tune with the findings of innovation research. We see the award as an inspiration for the future, because we are committed to innovation.”
