Gerhard Kratzer passes on the managing directorship of KRATZER AUTOMATION AG to new hands. The company extends its executive board.
Munich, 1st July 2013. Effective from 1st July 2013 KRATZER AUTOMATION AG has a new management structure. Since the company was founded in 1980 by a three-man software team it has transformed into an international global player with a workforce that has increased continuously over the years to more than 250 employees. Each KRATZER AUTOMATION AG business division is presently on a winning streak: the company is market leader in the sector of test benches for the development of turbochargers and is one of the leading providers of operational transport management systems in Europe.
KRATZER AUTOMATION was founded in 1980 by Gerhard Kratzer and Paul Balz as Gerhard Kratzer GmbH Automatisierungstechnik München. From the outset, the company focused on creating industrial, process-related software. Projects in the company’s early years addressed a wide range of industries: in addition to developing the software for Ruhrgas’ operations control centre in Essen, the company was also commissioned to automate engine test benches for SHELL and BMW Motorsport and supported the ADAC in improving its breakdown fleet service through the use of mobile data communications.
Early in the 1990s, KRATZER AUTOMATION was transformed from a pure software company to a general contractor offering an end-to-end service from consulting, implementation, maintenance through to financing. In 2000, the company developed into a “Family AG” in which employees and founding families hold a share in the business.
The aim that has been lived since the beginning of the company has been achieved: we all belong to a “KA family”!
The company is now continuing its success on the way from a medium-sized company to a successful international group.
KRATZER AUTOMATIONs revenue and number of employees have increased steadily over the years and reflect perfectly the successful economic development of the company.
Gerhard Kratzer believes the time has now come to gradually adapt the company management to reflect the growing company size and the more complex company structure.
The independently operated business divisions Test Systems and Logistics Automation are already managed separately. The executive committee around Gerhard Kratzer has been reorganized in order to appropriately meet the strategic and organizational challenges which will increase progressively in the future.
Gerhard Kratzer will pass on the managing directorship of the company to Robert Rubner who is member of the executive board and Head of the business division Logistics Automation.
Detlef Naundorf, Head of business division Test Systems will be appointed to the executive board with immediate effect. Gerhard Kratzer will continue in the board of management as a full member of the executive board.
“The company is presently on a very successful path and in an unequalled economic condition”, says Gerhard Kratzer. “It is the ideal moment for me to pass on the running of the company to reliable hands. Robert Rubner who is an absolute experienced CEO will now head up the company. Robert Rubner has played a key role in the long and successful evolution of the business division Logistics Automation and can count on his equally experienced executive board members. With Detlef Naundorf, the company is adding another executive board member who has headed and defined the success of the business division Test Systems for years. They are an ideal combination, which allows the company to continue to be in reliable and competent hands. Wholly in keeping with our unrestricted healthy growth strategy, our commitments to our customers and our commitment as a reliable and stable employer to our employees.”
On the basis of its innovative products, KRATZER AUTOMATION will continue to develop its position as a key player, a view that is encouraged by the new executive board: “With profitable growth, profits which have been plowed back and sufficient own capital , KRATZER AUTOMATION still remains independent and free”, adds Robert Rubner. “For me, stability and further development of the company still have absolute priority in the future over any other things which work well for the good of both customers and suppliers and to safeguard jobs.”
It represents a consistent evolution for Detlef Naundorf: “As a reliable partner and effective supplier, we have grown with the challenges we have had to handle over the years. Now we are aligning the organizational structure of the company with our evolution. We are absolutely well-positioned for the future.” Detlef Naundorf will now act as both as a member of the executive board and will also be in charge of the business division Test Systems.
For more than three decades, the workforce has increased continuously to its current level of around 270 employees who work at eight locations worldwide in Europe and Asia. In addition to its headquarters in Munich, KRATZER AUTOMATION has branch offices in Stuttgart, Kassel and Wolfsburg, as well as subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Czech Republic and China. The company generated a 57 million euro turnover in the previous fiscal year.
The different KRATZER AUTOMATION business sectors support and bring solutions to companies in the automotive and transport industries in order to optimize their operational processes.
KRATZER AUTOMATION’s Test Systems division is focused on tomorrow’s individual mobility. The division plans and implements test systems (for the automotive industry) for engines, gear chains, turbochargers, catalytic converters, exhaust systems and gearboxes. Within this process, KRATZER AUTOMATION focuses on alternative drive concepts and develops test benches for future-proof, environmentally-friendly hybrid and fuel cell systems. KRATZER AUTOMATION is also market leader in test benches for turbochargers.
The Logistics Automation division within KRATZER AUTOMATION provides cadis – the operational TMS – a transport management system for the optimization of planning, execution and analysis of all operational work processes for the freight transport. The modular software suite supports the operational processing across the entire transport chain and allows logistics providers to monitor their workflows and to steadily enhance and improve it.
Press contact:
KRATZER AUTOMATION AG
Jens Isenbeck
Head of Marketing & Communications
Gutenbergstr. 5
85716 Unterschleissheim
Germany
Phone: +49-(0)89-32152-521
Fax: +49-(0)-89-32152-599
Internet: www.kratzer-automation.com