When ZF Friedrichshafen AG celebrates “100 Years of ZF” next year, some 73 000 employees located around the world will be in the spotlight. The Group will provide them with a wide range of offerings around the world.
“Throughout the entire year, all employees should sense that we have achieved something extraordinary, something that only very few companies achieve,” said Chief Executive Officer Dr. Stefan Sommer at the start of the anniversary celebrations. “During the anniversary year, we will fittingly acknowledge the past in various ways. Ultimately, we have already achieved a great deal. However, we also wish to use the anniversary year to look forward and to prepare ourselves for the challenges that we will face in the future.”
“All ZF employees should celebrate this special event,” said Executive Vice President Corporate Communications Matthias Lenz during the presentation of the program in Friedrichshafen. “We wish to make use of this event to also address the employees of the locations that have become a part of our Group during the course of our 100-year history as members of the large ZF family. Consequently, this birthday can also positively contribute towards an even stronger integration within the ZF Group.”
The ceremonial gala in the Rothaus Hall at Messe Friedrichshafen is the main anniversary celebration. The date of September 9 corresponds to the entry of “Zahnradfabrik GmbH in Friedrichshafen” into the Commercial Register at the Tettnang local district court exactly 100 years ago on September 9, 1915. Approximately 1 500 guests from politics, commerce, and society will be invited.
All over the world, campaigns and participation activities for the employees will take place at all ZF locations. Celebrations play also a major part: The anniversary of the ZF Group will be duly valued worldwide with Family Days at almost every single location.
A special anniversary highlight awaits the ZF employees on July 4, 2015: The festival which will take place in front of the Zeppelin hangar in Friedrichshafen. All employees will receive free entry to performances by the hip-hop band “Die Fantastischen 4” and the former “Reamonn” frontman Rea Garvey. No decision has yet been made whether or to what extent tickets to this festival will also go on general sale. “We are working on a solution but, primarily for space and safety reasons, it may be the case that only a manageable amount will be made available to the public,” says Mr. Lenz.
In contrast, all interested people will be granted access to the “open house”. On July 26, ZF will give visitors the rare opportunity to visit the production and assembly halls in Plant 2 as well as the R & D Center. In addition to historical and technological information, e.g. in a large traveling exhibition in a big dome-shaped tent, plenty of entertainment will be on the menu for children and adults alike. On this day, the company will also present the ZF training center and, in doing so will transform its “Info Night” as established in previous years into an “Info Day”. The training center provides young people from within the region as well as other visitors with information concerning the various ZF jobs requiring training as well as paths to successful applications.
The anniversary communication is wide-ranging: An online anniversary portal, anniversary publication for the employees, anniversary calendar, company history, and a history of technology acknowledge the past yet also look to the future with text and images (as well as moving images in some instances). Here, ZF is presented as a technology company that considers itself well-equipped to tackle future challenges. The anniversary logo and design elements such as posters, banners, and flags ensure a uniform tone of the entire communication throughout the anniversary year.
The in-house organizational team that has been established for the 100-year anniversary is responsible for ensuring that the anniversary can start worldwide on time at the beginning of 2015. This team consists of core team members from all large ZF locations worldwide and is supplemented by many project team members for the location celebrations. Overall project manager Elke Hilger is pulling the strings. The event and marketing expert joined ZF in the middle of 2013 after she had planned and implemented similar events for famous groups such as Siemens. She obtains the provisions for the anniversary from the ZF Board of Management, a Steering Committee defines the guiding principles and determines the messages according to which Elke Hilger bases the anniversary plans.
“The particular challenge was to convey our ideas and provisions to the distant locations and to involve the employees on site,” reports Elke Hilger. To make this work, she is supported by anniversary coordinators at approximately 120 ZF locations around the world. She can look back at countless meetings, many discussions, and lengthy consultation rounds. “However, the effort was definitely worth it because we are now hitting the home stretch for the anniversary year in terms of planning and we sense that the staff is greatly anticipating our big anniversary year,” she says.
