Stuttgart When the Munich-based supplier group Knorr- Bremse invites you to its annual general meeting on Tuesday, a CEO will once again be missing. After the short guest appearance of the former Linde manager Bernd Eulitz, the former Siemens manager Jan Mrosik left the ship in March. Both of them, it was said afterwards, never arrived at the company. The designated chairman of the supervisory board and ex-Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss is already feverishly looking for the third Knorr boss within three years.
Knorr-Bremse, the world market leader for train and truck brakes, has been lurching since the death of patriarch Heinz Hermann Thiele in March 2021. Even during the lifetime of the majority shareholder, internal and external candidates found it difficult to balance the company and find a way into the to find future.
An industry problem, as experts know. “The automotive suppliers with frequent management changes are burned children and have lost some of their attractiveness for external applicants,” says Olaf Szangolies, headhunter for Odgers Berndtson.
In addition, during the transformation to electromobility and autonomous driving, there is often a fight between those willing to change and those who want to preserve it. “That doesn’t make it easy for automotive suppliers to get CEOs with the necessary mindset, modern communication and the necessary strategic digital skills,” emphasizes Szangolies, who regularly places automotive managers.
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Because in the spring of 2022, the supplier industry will be the focus of several critical developments. After Covid, chip crisis, delivery bottlenecks, raw material price explosion and inflation, the former German model industry as the backbone of the car manufacturers hardly earns any money.
And so Knorr- Bremse is not an isolated case: Germany’s second-largest automotive supplier ZF, number four Mahle and, for a few days now, seat manufacturer Grammer are also looking for new bosses, albeit for different reasons.
Mahle and Knorr- Bremse have the most changes in management
One of the biggest problem cases is Mahle. The foundation group, known for its engine components, has over 70,000 employees and has a turnover of almost ten billion euros. After only three months in office, CEO Matthias Arleth (54) left on Good Friday.
Only a year ago, Jörg Stratmann had to leave – a manager from the company who had been in charge of thermotechnology for years before rising to the top. At the beginning of 2018, his predecessor, Wolf-Henning Scheider, briefly moved to the much larger competitor ZF on Lake Constance.
The dominant person in the foundation group is the head of the supervisory board, Heinz Junker, who led the company himself for 18 years and also determines the decisions in the owner foundation. The company’s dual strategy bears his signature.
The company is considered one of the biggest problem cases in the industry.
When it comes to parts for combustion engines, Mahle wants to be the “last man standing” and continue to make money in the shrinking market. On the other hand, the transformation to electromobility has been massively advanced. With high investments and acquisitions, 60 percent of sales no longer come from the combustion engine business.
The only question is whether it went quickly and consistently enough. There always seems to be arguments about this in the house. Apparently the CEOs of Mahle don’t have it easy to please their supervisory board chairman.
But Junker is not making it easy for personnel consultants to find replacements from outside. When Arleth was filled, the chief post was vacant for more than ten months. And since he left, six weeks have passed, during which the CFO has to take over on an interim basis.
The latest problem child is the seat manufacturer Grammer, which is in Chinese hands: the East Bavarian manufacturer of truck and train seats will be parting ways with its CEO Thorsten Seehars prematurely at the end of May after less than three years. Seehars only came from the train and truck brake manufacturer Knorr- Bremse in August 2019. Technology board member Jens Öhlenschläger should now play the stopgap until a replacement is found.
And that won’t be easy: Seat manufacturers produce interchangeable products and, with a high proportion of materials, are heavily exposed to galloping raw material prices and high transport costs.
The second largest German automotive supplier, ZF, has the best chance of finding an adequate replacement at the top, if only because CEO Scheider announced in the spring that he would not extend the expiring contract at the end of the year. The new chairman of the supervisory board and ex-Thyssen Krupp boss Heinrich Hiesinger does not have to rush into anything.
According to reports, Scheider could have continued for another five years. He drove the transformation of the transmission and chassis specialist well. But obviously the car manager, who once left the Bosch Group because he really wanted to be the head of the company, doesn’t want to continue for the next few years. Because they are getting harder than ever:
“The requirements in the industry are enormous,” says car expert Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management. And the biggest problem of digitization is unfortunately still in its infancy for many automotive suppliers. “Due to the conflicting goals in the industry, it won’t be any easier to fill top positions at automotive suppliers with the right people over the next few years,” says headhunter Olaf Szangolies.
manager on hold
However, some high-profile managers are in the market, at least in theory. One of them is Hella boss Rolf Breidenbach, who left after the takeover by French Faurecia. However, it is questionable whether the manager would hire Mahle or Knorr-Bremse of all places.
Both companies had failed in their attempts to take over Hella. Hella, with its electronics expertise, would have been a strategic liberation in the transformation for both Knorr- Bremse and Mahle.
The former bosses of Knorr- Bremse Mrosik as well as Arleth von Mahle are also available again. Their recent departures do not predestine them for the next task.
The former Bosch top manager Harald Kröger, who did not get a chance when the world market leader changed bosses and left, was not damaged by it, but has not yet reappeared. And Frank Hiller, head of engine manufacturer Deutz until a few months ago, is said to have good contacts in the automotive supplier industry.
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