Rittal has proven its innovative qualities during an independent, scientific study, and has now been awarded the “Top 100 Innovator” seal for 2023. The largest company in the Friedhelm Loh Group was able to impress with its special innovative power and above-average innovation successes. The “Top 100” seal, which Rittal has now received for the third time, is the most important award that can be given to medium-sized companies in Germany.
In the 30th “Top 100” innovation competition, Rittal impressed the scientific management of compamedia, organiser of the awards, especially concerning innovative processes and organisation. “We are delighted to have been named one of Germany’s Top Innovators,” says Markus Asch, CEO Rittal International and Rittal Software Systems: “In association with our sister companies in the Friedhelm Loh Group, we are mainly concerned with the question of what our customers will need tomorrow to stay future-proof and competitive? We're convinced that innovation extending beyond products and solutions is the answer.” Thinking in terms of customer processes, consistently optimising these processes, and creating sustainable added value along the value chain is the company's mission and driving force.
What does that mean? “Nowadays, efficiency and productivity are critical business factors for our customers, as are the increasing complexity of customer requirements and a rapid rate of change. Products and solutions are no longer enough to remain competitive,” says Mr. Asch: “For Rittal, innovation thus means making the customer’s all-around performance successful. To do this, we must develop platforms now, and think in terms of new ecosystems. We can quickly develop the solutions for future scenarios on this basis.”
Philipp Guth, Rittal’s Chief Technology Officer, is convinced that this will always call for a combination of hardware and software: “When you no longer think in terms of products and systems, but rather in terms of optimised value chains, then you can only do that by combining both worlds.”
The jury awarding the prize has now confirmed that the company – as a whole – has focused on this innovativeness. The “Top 100 Innovator” competition is based on an independent selection procedure, which uses more than 100 criteria from five categories to examine SMEs. The criteria are senior management that promotes innovation, the innovation climate, the innovative processes and organisation, external orientation/open innovation, and innovation success.
About the Top 100
compamedia launched the Top 100 award in 1993 to raise awareness of mid-size companies with exceptional innovation capabilities and achievements. Since 2002, scientific management has been in the hands of innovation researcher Professor Nikolaus Franke, founder and head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. The Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the BVMW (the German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses) are partners in the Top 100 project. The mentor is science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. On 23 June, he will be welcoming and personally awarding all the top innovators of 2023 at the awards ceremony during the German SME Summit in Augsburg.