Globalisation – Engagement Abroad Creates Jobs at Home

The label manufacturer HERMA invested more than 30 million euros this spring. Now the Stuttgart company operates the world’s most modern laminating plant. HERMA is famed beyond Germany’s borders as a company leading in the technology of self-adhesives. For more than 100 years, the company has produced labels for trade, industry, and offices. The investments that create and secure jobs were funded by revenues from abroad. A study by the Chamber of Industry and Trade, the IHK, showed that companies that export create more jobs at home than companies that focus solely on Germany. Joachim Eggers took a look at HERMA for us. ----------------------------------------------------------- It's thanks to this hi-tech machinery that Tobias Kreutzer has his job. The installation cost label-manufacturer Herma 35 million euros. It adds up to a lot of responsibility for the 28 year old: "You have to have a feel for paper, a feel for the workings of this huge machine. There's a lot of time-pressure, and it can be stressful- you have to be able to react immediately, you have to be on the ball, there's a lot going on." Herma's management is meeting with clients from Holland. Thomas Baumgärtner ordered the new machinery around two years ago, as it became clear that orders from abroad would continue to rise: "If we had just continued to concentrate on sales in Germany, we couldn't have made this investment. It has allowed our business to expand dramatically, above all within Europe. Now we have 70 per cent of the export market. We already had more than enough capacity to service our home market." Thomas Baumgärtner expects to have recovered the cost of the new machine in six years. Herma managed a turnover of over 200 million euros in 2007. Company headquarters are in Filderstadt, near Stuttgart. From here Thomas Baumgärtners company exports to 81 countries worldwide: "All this wasn’t possible to imagine in a world without globalisation, though it's difficult to say in such a general manner. It's better to look at concrete examples. But in the end, if we didn't take account of globalisation, concentrating on our home markets...that would mean that we were ignoring competitive realities, and we would lose our competitive edge. All things considered, I see the advantages of a globalised market as greater than the risks." Herma produces, among other things, self-adhesive labels...and offers trainees like Tanja Schmidt a chance to develop their skills. Herma employs around 800 people in total: "I speak English, Italian and French. I learnt languages at school, and I can imagine later on moving into the export division- there our company operates on a truly global scale." Lyreco, one of Herma's big clients. Thomas Goal handles their account. He's not normally in his office, often travelling Europe and the world with a suitcase full of samples. He sees globalisation as a motor for growth: "Lyreco for example, is a global player- one of our important international clients, and they sell on our products to large companies like DaimlerChrysler, Bosch and so on...Lyreco delivers direct to these companies. So when a company needs new labels, then Lyreco delivers right to their office." In a world of increasingly globalised commerce, the future for Germany's Herma looks bright.

DW-World | October 7, 2008

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