Perspectives (P): You have appointed a Group Management Team (GMT) for the BUTTING Group. Anyone who knows a little about the history of
family businesses will realise what a big step this is.
Hermann Butting (HB): I am delighted with this decision and am looking forward to seeing what comes next.The BUTTING Group is growing. After BUTTING CryoTech, AMU in Schwedt
has recently been added. As a result, our management team and the number of people working together are also growing. In order to meet my own standards of good leadership, now is the right time to adapt the organisational structure to growth. With the GMT, it is no longer a single person who is responsible for the growing BUTTING Group, but a team. Management responsibility and tasks can be divided up. This takes the pressure off me personally and gives me new freedom. I have recently become a grandfather!
P: So the further development of the organisational structure is about securing the future?
HB: Yes. I have our BUTTING Advisory Board to thank for taking this important step for our future today, at the age of 59. With the GMT, I am therefore also preparing for the future with regard to a generational change of the shareholders. If the BUTTING Group is well managed by a team, then my children can decide calmly and with a certain lightness whether they want to take on operational management responsibility at BUTTING in addition to their role as shareholders. When my father died in 2000, I assumed full responsibility as President from one day to the next. Fortunately, I had a very experienced colleague at my side in our long-standing Managing Director Dr Karl Schäfer. When I started, we only had two operating companies, BUTTING in Knesebeck and a small, sick company in Schwedt. If we include Hillger NDT as a production site today, we have eight manufacturing companies and five sales offices abroad – and a very large sales office with BUTTING Canada. Legally speaking, we had four companies back then and now we have 32! Our family of employees has grown from 750 to over 2 200 members. I was lucky enough to develop with the company step by step and get to know each new section from the very beginning. Every manager who joins BUTTING today enters directly into the complex group. The enhanced structure with the GMT not only provides stability. It also improves and facilitates the generation change. I'm also a fan of team decisions. Because a functioning team has more strengths and expertise.
P: How can we imagine the sharing of responsibility in the GMT in concrete terms?
HB: On the one hand, the team is jointly and holistically responsible for the BUTTING Group. On the other hand, each team member has a specific, professional responsibility. As CFO (Chief Financial Officer), Heike Hermann (40) is responsible for finance, taxes, insurance, legal matters, Group controlling, risk management and our activities when we acquire companies and want to integrate them into our Group. As CPO (Chief Process Officer) for all Group companies, Dirk Meincke (49) will support the important topics of process optimisation through digitalisation, IT strategy, management systems and sustainability. Sebastian Ballendat is also assigned to him as Managing Director of BUTTING Einkaufsgesellschaft. In future, we will also be filling the position of CPCO (Chief People & Culture Officer), who will be responsible for all HR and communication issues. Topics such as training and personnel marketing, employer attractiveness and the wide range of internal and external communication measures clearly demonstrate the importance of intensive cooperation between the two areas. As CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Pipe technology division, Norbert Heinzle (59) is responsible for the large area of pipe production and pipe technology within the team. A perfect match for this are the services provided by BUTTING Könnern and Hillger NDT. As part of the team, he also represents the important topics of technology and innovation in this division. Following the departure of Thomas Schüller, his responsibilities in the area of technology have increased. As CEO of the Plant construction division, Marcel Bartels (42) will focus on the joint management of all plant construction activities in the Group, including the Spools & plant construction business unit in Knesebeck. This role is new. The quality of cooperation and market-focused activities will increase.
P: Mr Butting, for more than 20 years you have been helping to further develop the BUTTING Group and shape the corporate culture. How will your own role change as a result of the advanced structure and the GMT?
HB: My first task is to manage the GMT. Our market environment and the needs of our customers are changing. The energy transition and geopolitical tensions are just two examples. BUTTING must also continue to develop. I would like to support this process with courageous business decisions. It is important to me that we think in terms of generations everywhere in the BUTTING Group and work in a responsible, sustainable and team-orientated way. I would like to continue making my contribution to this.
BUTTING should continue to be the "first choice" – both for our family of employees and for our customers.
BUTTING – more than pipes – for a better quality of life