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NEW | AMBIENCE | ATMOSPHERE
NEW | AMBIENCE | ATMOSPHERE
Vorwerk Teppichwerke – The new path
Hamlin, june 2008 – Vorwerk Teppichwerke from Hamlin, one of the leading German manufacturers of high-quality textile floor coverings, is celebrating its 125th Anniversary in 2008. Vorwerk: That now means one and a quarter centuries of creativity and the highest standards for quality and design. Each era during that time has had its own understanding of home living, working and the lives people led. The products which took part in the process of designing these living spaces were and continue to be influenced by changing trends in style and taste, as well as by the demands posed by domestic and international markets. Products and brands alike must reinvent themselves over and over again, refresh themselves with new life in order to acquire the kind of longevity that stands the test of time.
Vorwerk Teppichwerke is starting off the jubilee year 2008 with a new statement, “New | Ambience | Atmosphere”, and thus setting off on a new path which will once again fill the company with new life while preparing it for a successful future in a globalised market.
Interview with Johannes Schulte
CEO of Vorwerk Teppichwerke
The story as it was: The market for textile floor coverings had a dramatic slump in recent years. It reached its “low” in 2005. Quite a few manufacturers vanished from the market. How did things look for Vorwerk Teppichwerke back then?
Johannes Schulte: Honestly? At the time, Vorwerk Teppichwerke stood closer to the end than anyone would have wanted to admit. Phase down – or develop? The answer to this question wasn’t just a matter of mercantile importance. It had historic significance, too. That’s because the carpetworks are the roots from which Vorwerk, today’s company operating on a global scale, has evolved. Being aware of this and the responsibility for the members of staff eventually led to a decision that is conceivable only in a truly family enterprise. For this is the only place in which the realisation that entrepreneurial energy alone counts is an experience that has been lived for many generations. So the demand posed to executive management by family entrepreneur Dr Jörg Mittelsten Scheid was phrased accordingly: Act like an entrepreneur. Do what you think is right. We’ll give you the necessary freedoms.
Did you take on that challenge?
Johannes Schulte: Yes, because I had a lot of ideas and wanted to see them put into action. “A new departure and let’s get going” – that was the urgent demand being placed on Vorwerk Teppichwerke. The first steps were painful for everyone, but necessary. There was no longer room for compromises. Basically, everything had to go up for review: first and foremost the processes, then the products.
What was your most important decision back then?
Johannes Schulte: One of the key decisions from that time was the consistent turning towards the development of carpet products bearing the highest quality in design. Upgrading was called for, and the conviction that the only way to get ahead sustainably was with particularly high-value products. Though by that point Vorwerk Teppichwerke had already earned a reputation for delivering the best of goods, an in-depth analysis of design variations rapidly came to the conclusion that, though the products themselves were reputable, reputability alone in this context wasn’t enough for a markedly stylish market. Factors like up-to-dateness or even modernness, stand-alone features and surprising effects were in demand. Admitting this did not come easily. It meant saying farewell to habits people had grown fond of, to ingrained mindsets and to realisations about target groups and markets which had supposedly been considered well founded until then.
In other words, the claim “Vorwerk Carpets – and they last longer than we would like.” has outlived itself and is no longer up to date?
Johannes Schulte: In terms of the technology involved, the qualitative value of our products is proven. We’ve learnt our trade. Now we’re focusing on the emotional value. The only way for us to be successful at this is through a new, communicative statement and products which are clearly more emotional. Now that the difficult task of establishing our current new developments in the high-value sector and the first steps in the luxury segment have been ventured, completely new markets are opening up for us.
You’ve made a new departure. Where is the journey headed?
Johannes Schulte: Our immediate objective is Europe, but our far-sighted vision is searching for destinations beyond that, too. The export market is gaining an ever-greater significance for Vorwerk Teppichwerke. The only products we are successful with on those kinds of markets are ones that can stand up to international design standards.
Does the name Ulf Moritz help you in international circles?
Johannes Schulte: Our work together with Ulf Moritz, the well-known designer who has been successful on an international scale, is helping us on the way to that goal. The successes of the first collections offer impressive proof that intelligent and creative design achieves a measurably positive effect in sales. What’s more, it’s the prerequisite. To top that off, the fact that Vorwerk has already made a name for itself in Europe as a quality brand is to our added benefit.
Are you incorporating the contract carpet business into this strategy?
Johannes Schulte: Let me put it like this: Developing new markets also means actively entering into newly targeted segments. Vorwerk has been investing a great deal of money and creativity here for quite some time again in order to be able to market its own collection of textile carpet tiles competitively in the traditional contract carpet business. Our focus is furthermore being placed on the high-quality and demanding five-star hotel trade.
You’re bringing emotionality into the home living and contract carpet business with the new slogan “New | Ambience | Atmosphere”, while offering proof of your competence in design at the same time. Does this mean a long-term realignment or further diversification of your offer, too?
Johannes Schulte: Valuability and competence harmonise in both new fields of business, and they demonstrate the opportunities available to us. A basic realignment for the future is therefore not being ruled out. Our slogan “New | Ambience | Atmosphere” leaves sufficient leeway for interpretation, and our visions for these perspectives are a tale unto themselves.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
Johannes Schulte: It means that we ourselves define the limits to our actions. And we must summon up the courage to surpass those limits over and over again. We have just gotten started. And the question of new product areas and new technologies is also up for debate. Statements, provocations, stepping across one’s own limits … The decision 3 years ago was a step like that – and it is bearing fruit. Vorwerk Teppichwerke earns profits on a sustainable basis, the investments in new production techniques, new designs and new products lie in the double-digit millions. This is a clear-cut statement as to the company’s capability in the future.
Is Vorwerk going to become an expert for holistic interior design in the future?
Johannes Schulte: With the slogan “New | Ambience | Atmosphere”, we have realigned Vorwerk Teppichwerke in both a strategic and a communicative sense. Alongside the topic of quality we are now offering clear-cut proof of our competence in innovation and decorating. Our bases for designing products that allow a new feeling for a space to arise are the right “touch” for materials, colours, lighting and the impact a space makes, complemented by a sensitivity for trends and undercurrents. Our new product developments are profiting even more than before from this experience, and are thus completely in line with our strategy for the future.
Do you count yourself among the “re-formers”?
Johannes Schulte: In the figurative sense, our journey’s destination is the evolution into becoming a supplier, one that continuously fills the entrepreneurial maxim of “constant renewal” with life. The company’s history is living proof of the power of innovation. Time and again the company has used surprising and ambitious developments to successfully manage to set new standards for itself and for others. In 1883, Vorwerk was the first company to bring carpet production to Germany. Just as an aside, let me also mention the “Bodenreform”, the flooring reform with which Vorwerk Teppichwerke brought art to the floor in the 1980s. Since then Vorwerk Teppichwerke has worked together with over 100 internationally renowned artists. Or take the research projects on the subject of “intelligent textiles” as an example from more recent times. And if you look at environmental protection and preventive health measures, we’ve undertaken voluntary efforts that set standards today. Today we’re setting forth what Vorwerk has stood for for 125 years. It’s all a question of how much one demands of oneself.
Your conclusion?
Johannes Schulte: My conclusion? Vorwerk is proof that corporate will, creativity, the ability to be innovative and a perpetual new start are the formula for success.
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