16/06/2015
New management structure at the Hohenstein Institute - Former departmental directors will now be Managing Directors for their areas of work
BÖNNIGHEIM (hm) With effect from 1 June 2015, the Hohenstein Institute has modified its existing management structure. The former departmental directors Dr Stefan Droste, Florian Girmond, Prof. Dirk Höfer and Dr Andreas Schmidt have been appointed Managing Directors with sole representative authority for Hohenstein Laboratories GmbH & Co. KG and the Hohenstein Textile Testing Institute GmbH & Co. KG. A schedule of responsibilities will regulate the responsibilities of the new Managing Directors. Prof. Stefan Mecheels will remain as before the sole executive partner of the Research Institute – Forschungsinstitut Hohenstein Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mecheels GmbH & Co. KG (Holding) – and Managing Director of the other two corporate entities – Hohenstein Institut für Textilinnovation gGmbH (research) and Hohenstein Academy e.V. (continuing education/education).
In addition, the Head of Finance and Administration, Armin Keicher, and the Head of Sales, Jörg Diekmann, are being made authorised signatories. Keicher's representative authority covers all the individual companies while Diekmann's covers the foreign branches of the Hohenstein Institute.
"Our structures still date from a time when we employed 80 to 120 people," says Head of Institute Prof. Mecheels, in explanation of the reorganisation of the company management. Furthermore, the term "Departmental Director" is far from doing justice to the full extent of their present responsibilities. "For a long time now, the people at the top of our different areas of work have had full responsibility for profits, costs, staffing, investments and business development," continues Prof. Mecheels. The change is also in line with the structure at the Hohenstein branches abroad, which are also led by Managing Directors. The Bönnigheim family-run company expects there to be additional benefits in terms of communicating with business partners and the future security of the, by now, more than 500 employees at the headquarters in Hohenstein.
