The new Stihl boss has been in office since February.
(Photo: AP)
Stuttgart Michael Traub spent the first day at the Swabian saw and garden tool manufacturer in the forest, befitting his status. “I was allowed to test chainsaws, brush cutters and scythes,” said Traub during his first appearance as managing director at the virtual annual press conference. At the Waiblingen family business, they didn’t want to let a day go by in order to convey to the new manager at the top the smell of the barn, or rather “smell of the forest” in this case.
After a three-month induction period, the 53-year-old manager has been running the Stihl family business since February 1st. Above all, he should drive the transformation towards cordless devices and digitization. The order came from the owning family personally.
Shortly after the sawing work in the Swabian forest, Traub flew to Brazil with the personally liable partner Hans Peter Stihl, who turned 90 a few days ago. This was followed by flying visits to the USA and neighboring European countries – the saw manufacturer achieves nine tenths of its sales outside of Germany.
The native Swabian did not need a long period of adjustment. Traub has known his predecessor Bertram Kandziora for a long time. Like Traub, Kandziora, who managed Stihl for almost two decades, once worked for Bosch’s home appliance subsidiary BSH.
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Born in Ehingen an der Donau, the economist worked for the Bosch Group in Germany, Asia, and South and North America for two decades after completing his studies in Hohenheim. After six years as CEO and head of Bosch Siemens Home Appliances North America, he took over the management of Serta Simmons Bedding in the USA in 2014 and became CEO of Plum, Inc in 2020 – until Stihl brought him back to Swabia. “I’m coming back to my Swabian roots after 20 years in the USA,” said Traub.
Stihl achieved record sales last year
His time in the USA gets through somewhat, but his Swabian dialect gains the upper hand more and more over the course of the presentation. “It fits well,” says the company, “It’s the way it is, it doesn’t have to pretend.”
Unpretentiously, he sets the sales records for which his predecessor was responsible. But Kandziora did not make it easy for him with this: For the first time, more than five billion euros in sales with more than ten percent growth in 2021 are not easy to top this year due to the Ukraine war, the pandemic, the supply bottlenecks and the extremely high raw material prices. “In view of the many uncertainties, I cannot give a forecast for the current year,” says Traub cautiously.
Stihl does not currently deliver goods to Russia. “With a low single-digit share of sales, we are not dependent on business in Russia,” says Traub. However, the war in Ukraine has further exacerbated problems in Stihl’s supply chains. Customers sometimes have to wait for individual products.
The family business traditionally does not provide any information about profits. With an impressive equity ratio of almost 70 percent, Stihl continued to produce fully during the pandemic, when all its competitors slowed down, and filled the warehouse. The company has always been able to deliver and this has been rewarded in the past two years.
Many private individuals were less able to travel during the pandemic and instead tended to their gardens. In addition, professional forest workers have not been affected by lockdowns because they work outdoors.
High pace of investment
Even now, the people from Waiblingen are stepping on the gas despite many political and economic uncertainties. With more than 300 million euros, Stihl is maintaining its pace of investment even under Traub.
Traub tries to cushion the delivery bottlenecks with the traditionally high level of warehousing and its own large vertical range of manufacture. It remains to be seen whether the recipe will also work if the global economic situation worsens as it has in the past two years.
Delivery problems, especially with individual parts such as chips, have ensured that there are no more Sunday shifts. According to management, the company is still a long way from short-time work.
On the occasion of his 90th birthday, Hans Peter Stihl recently assured that the company, founded in 1926, would remain in family hands. Advisory Board and Supervisory Board are led by Stihl’s son Nikolas.
Staying power and being able to hold your breath if necessary are characteristics that could come in handy for hobby diver Traub at Stihl.
More: Stihl shareholder Eva Mayr-Stihl died at the age of 87