As diverse as the profine Group
At the end of 2020, it was time for the 24th edition of our employee magazine “Our World of profine” or OWOP for short. The stories it contains are as colorful as profine itself. There are reports on product innovations, our new site in Brazil, and the Kömmerling Better World Foundation. Exciting interviews, for example about the ongoing digitalization in the company, or the expansion in the UK, are also included. And, of course, many personal stories about the everyday lives and projects of our colleagues in Germany and internationally.
How is the employee magazine created?
“The OWOP is as old as profine itself”, says Martin Schweppenhäuser, responsible for public relations at profine. As editor, he is managing the publication of the magazine. The current issue is the 24th since the profine Group was founded in 2003. The contributions to Our World of profine are largely created by an editorial team, which currently consists of eight employees, but the ideas come from all over the world. For each issue editor Martin Schweppenhäuser sends out a request for topics to all our locations. The result reflects the diversity of our international group.
The final touches are put on the magazine by our partner agency Get the Point.
The current issue of Our Wold of profine
The latest issue was published in December and covers the entire last year. The assumption that the Corona pandemic also dominates the pages of our OWOP is obvious, but this is not the case. Although the pandemic was omnipresent, the year 2020 had much more to offer to our colleagues. On 24 pages, 24 stories in the categories Top Topic, Department, World, Products, and People, are told. As usual, the OWOP is introduced by a personal greeting from our owner and CEO Dr. Peter Mrosik.
Greeting from Dr. Peter Mrosik
“I thank you sincerely for your dedication in this extraordinary year! I look ahead with great confidence and optimism because I am of the firm belief that as a team we can overcome even the challenges that befall us in future.
I hope the many new stories and reports from our world of profine bring you great reading pleasure!”
We flip through the OWOP – here’s what’s inside
KÖMMERLING Better World Foundation – Providing answers, finding solutions
The spectrum of our social commitment is broad – profine has long been strongly committed to science and research, nature conservation, youth and elderly welfare, and sports. Our partners are also involved at many levels. Now there is a common basis for this: the KÖMMERLING Better World Foundation. It operates as a gGmbH (non-profit limited liability company) and thus serves exclusively charitable purposes.
Bee colony Berlin – Small animals with bigger importance
Our Logistics Service Centre in Berlin isn’t just a hive of activity, it really does buzz. In addition to the swarm of trucks arriving here every day to load window profiles there are around 70,000 bees flying in and out of the site. That’s because a team of employees have set up two hives at the Logistics Service Centre on an approx. 20 square meters wild flower meadow that they created especially for this project. The team came up with the idea to improve the biodiversity of the profine site.
Expansion UK –
Investment and growth
Having purchased the essential assets of the former Aperture Group, profine UK’s managing director, Gareth Jones, talks about the rationale of this investment and the significant growth opportunities that it presents.
“The first profiles came off the lines in less than 24 hours after signing the contract. Within a very short time, we were also able to hire around 70 employees, which increases our total workforce to more than 100.”
Brazil – Well equipped at the new facility
In February 2020, in time for the 18th anniversary of our presence in Brazil, we celebrated the opening of our new headquarters in Osório. This gave profine Brazil, right from the start of the Corona pandemic, access to the latest equipment and communication technology in the largest South American country. “The new, larger headquarters enables us to significantly strengthen customer service. In addition, it provides sufficient space for our further growth in the country and throughout South America,” said Dr. Peter Mrosik at the inauguration ceremony of the new location.
proStratoTec – Passive house in color
Ultradur® is an advanced glass fibre reinforced plastic material that is characterised by great rigidity, strength and dimensional stability. The material and the corresponding extrusion technology are marketed by profine under the proStratoTec brand name. For the first time, the system provides a means to an end of realising “Dr. Feist Passive House” standards, even in colour. proStratoTec is fully recyclable and after reconditioning, we use the reclaimed material to manufacture new profiles.
The Digitalisation Team
The profine family has Marc Habermeyer and Frank Helbing as the two drivers of digitalisation. They gave an insight into our digitalisation work in an interview. As representative of the E-Business section, Marc Habermeyer believes in creating new distribution channels to market and sell products. For Frank Helbing, processes and organisation take centre stage:
“We had intensive discussions with Marc’s new department over the last few months. For both of us, the focus is on the customer, his wishes, and needs. Only satisfied customers take us further.”
What’s next for our employee magazine?
On the final page of OWOP the winners of the last competition are announced. At that time, there were 3 x 2 tickets for our window seat in the Football Stadium of Mainz 05 to be won. In the current competition three copies of the book “Fußball findet auch im Kopf statt” (Football also takes place in mind), whose creation we sponsored, are being offered as prizes. The KÖMMERLING Senior Meeting, a group of up to one hundred former employees, are also presented. With similar regularity to the seniors – they meet every half year – Our World of profine will appear again. We can hardly wait!