On 22 July 2015, the ground-breaking ceremony took place for the construction of the new Webasto administration and development center in Stockdorf. Dr. Holger Engelmann, Chairman of the Management Board Webasto SE, welcomed a large number of guests to the ceremony. Alongside Webasto’s owning families Baier and Mey, other guests included Georg Scheitz, Deputy Leader of the Starnberg administrative district, and the Mayor of Gauting, Dr. Brigitte Kössinger, who – together with residents and employees – celebrated the official start of construction work. “This new building, in which we are investing almost 40 million euro, is a cross-generational project that will make its mark well into the future”, explained Dr. Engelmann in his keynote address.
Stockdorf provides the impetus for the development of innovative and high quality products – and sets uniform global quality standards – throughout the whole of the Webasto world. “Irrespective of whether one of our roofs is opened in New York, Rio or Tokyo – each of our products exports a piece of Stockdorf into the world”, commented the Chairman of Webasto’s Management Board. To ensure this continues into the future, Webasto must raise the working structure of its teams to a new level. The new-build at the gateway to Munich will bring diverse functional departments together at the same location, thereby significantly improving interdisciplinary cooperation among the international teams. The new facility, in which nearly 450 of the overall 900 workplaces will be resident, will also house the prototype construction and testing departments. The new building therefore creates the framework for delivering improved global and local cooperation, a creative atmosphere and greater job satisfaction, according to Dr. Engelmann. This is also a requirement for attracting new top talents, because Webasto is not only competing to deliver the best solutions for customers – the company is also in a competitive market for highly qualified staff. The Chairman of the Management Board thanked the attending Baier and Mey owner families for their support. “I would like to thank you for making it possible for us to realize this trend-setting initiative!” The new three-storey building, designed to create maximum flexibility and a sense of openness, is also pioneering in terms of its environmental friendliness.
Good cooperation with Administrative District of Starnberg and Municipality of Gauting
There was generally also a great deal of praise for the new building from the public sector. “When building principal, administrative districts and municipalities work together to in order to achieve a common goal, it is possible to realize a project like this in record time. It took just one year to prepare the development plan and the building permit, and construction is now already commencing on this site”, emphasized Mr. Scheitz, Deputy Leader of the Starnberg Local Authority. Everyone is very pleased that one of the world’s leading automotive supply companies will continue to have its headquarters in the Administrative District of Starnberg.
Dr. Kössinger, Mayor of Gauting, also expressed her satisfaction: “We are proud to have a globally committed company like Webasto located in our municipality.” In line with its sense of tradition, Webasto has taken the decision to expand its existing site during on-going business operations. At the same time the company has focused on progress and will continue to build on its global success story from its base in Stockdorf. “I would like to express my sincere thanks to you for demonstrating such a clear commitment to our municipality”, continued Dr. Kössinger.
