Ziemann is again one of Germany’s top innovative companies

ZIEMANN Ludwigsburg GmbH is among the top 100 most innovative companies in Germany’s small and mid-sized business sector. This was revealed in the “Top 100” comparative study carried out this year throughout the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2007 outstanding innovation management in small and medium-sized enterprises was distinguished for the 15th time within the framework of the business initiative. On June 22nd, Lothar Späth, former prime minister of the federal State of Baden-Württemberg, presented the highly sought after Seal of Approval to the Ludwigsburg company at a ceremony held in Stuttgart’s Phoenixhalle.

In doing so, the mentor of this SME project is distinguishing the success of ZIEMANN in the five key categories “innovation success”, “innovative conditions”, “innovative processes and organization”, “innovation-friendly top management” as well as “innovation marketing”.

This is already the second time in a row that the company ranks among the innovation elite. Because when it comes to brewing plants, ZIEMANN boasts real innovation experts. Their No-Waste Brewery concept is a system developed to reduce waste from the production and filling process to a minimum and simultaneously generates primary energy. In this way breweries will be less dependent on waste disposal companies and energy suppliers in future. The special feature of this concept is that the applied no-waste technology turns waste from the brewery into useful energy in the form of electricity and steam. The breweries can thus cover up to 60 % of their energy requirement from their own regenerative energy sources.

Innovations like these only develop in a working atmosphere which encourages new ideas and supports staff creativity. Research and development are therefore two of the most important fields of activity at ZIEMANN. A systematic innovation management, the company’s own academy for staff training and advanced training and an own pilot brewery guarantee that ZIEMANN is not going to run out of new ideas in the future.

“Top 100” seeks and promotes small and medium-sized companies which stand out on the basis of their innovative strength. This search is carried out by innovation experts of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, under Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke. Using a questionnaire the experts first define the innovation potential of the applicants, then a second questionnaire is used to evaluate key aspects of innovation management.

Franke compiles the individual results in a detailed benchmarking report for the award-winning companies. “This award is therefore of concrete value, in addition to conferring prestige”, Andreas Weinlein, managing director of ZIEMANN, adds enthusiastically. “Using the strong and weak point analysis we can further optimize our innovation management on the basis of an established scientific evaluation.”