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From family business to global corporation Klaus Grohe ' s two eldest sons continued the family tradition in the operating business . Richard Grohe was Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board from 2008 to 2016 . He developed hansgrohe into a world-renowned premium brand with numerous innovations . His brother Philippe led the design brand AXOR from 2001 to 2016 . During his tenure , he collaborated with many renowned designers such as Philippe Starck , Antonio Citterio and Patricia Urquiola and helped the brand achieve its international break-through . Both brothers made a significant contribution to the success of Hansgrohe ' s corporate history in the new millennium and laid the foundation for the transformation of the Hansgrohe Group from a family business to a medium-sized corporation .
The two main shareholders now are the US-based Masco Corporation ( 68 % of the shares ) and the Grohe family via Syngroh Verwaltungsund Beteiligungs-GmbH ( 32 % of the shares ). " The fact that our company is today considered one of the innovation leaders in technology and design in the international sanitary industry is primarily due to our relentless search for better solutions ," CEO Hans Juergen Kalmbach states .
" Like our company founder Hans Grohe and his son Klaus , we are not satisfied with good things today , but look for even better solutions for tomorrow . The goal of every new development is to increase customer benefits and thus create real added value . Innovation must make people ' s lives easier or more convenient ."
The Hansgrohe Group is not to be confused with Grohe : In 1934 , Friedrich Grohe , second eldest son of founder Hans Grohe , left Schiltach and two years later took over a faucet factory in Hemer , in the Northwestern part of Germany . This company is known today as Grohe and is managed as a brand of the Japanese LIXIL Corporation .
For Hansgrohe , sustainability also means taking responsibility for social issues . The company offers its employees numerous initiatives on health , occupational safety , employability , and work-life balance . At the same time , employees can continue their training and development within the company ' s internal campus . Outside Hansgrohe , too , the sanitary specialist is committed to fair , humane working conditions and demands these from its partners . In addition , the Group is involved in a wide range of social projects that focus on water as the elixir of life , such as the current " Clean Danube " project with Dr Andeas Fath , or the reintroduction of salmon to the Kinzig River in the Black Forest .
" The future needs origins , they say . We are proud of our roots and our company history and look forward to continuing this with our inherent passion , flexibility and our dedicated employees ," affirms Hansgrohe CEO , Hans Juergen Kalmbach . PA
At the age of 82 , the company ’ s founder invented the shower bar , the world ’ s first hand-held shower that could be fixed at any height .
www . plumbingafrica . co . za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline September 2021 Volume 27 I Number 7