5 Questions to … Stefan Schwerdfeger

How did you get here?
My work life is formed by many changes in the environment and my own experiences. My father wanted me to study law after graduating from high school. The result was an apprenticeship as an electrician. After the apprenticeship, I went to sea as a ship’s electrician and wanted to study shipbuilding after two years. Unfortunately, at that time practically all shipyards in Germany stopped building new ships. I did not want to go to Asia permanently, which would have been the alternative. So I became an electrical engineer. I built up a company that operated in the same segment as my competitor at the time, Sven Höppner. After some time in competition, we decided after a memorable pub evening to do business together – and that turned out to be a good decision for both of us.

What makes you different?
Facing challenges and seeing them as opportunities. Think big and have the courage to take a risk. That is what defines me – and WERNER WIRTH. However, of course, not without a sense of groundedness.

How do you experience working at WERNER WIRTH?
There are many stories about our company, but two of them were certainly groundbreaking. The entry into the e-bike business shows our courage. I had an appointment with an e-bike motor manufacturer to offer cable assembly. During the conversation, it turned out that the chief designer wanted an integrated plug-in for the motor instead of a cable harness. The task was to present a concept for this within 14 days. Until then, we never had designed plugs ourselves, although we had all the skills and knowledge to do so. So why not, we thought, and with this project we actually made the leap from service provider to manufacturer and, above all, the leap into the e-bike market.
In order to remain competitive in the long term, we started foreign production in Lithuania in 2014. We had the great fortune to win a competent and brilliant woman as the Managing Director there. She set up a production facility on a post-Soviet shipyard with great improvisational skills. Today the production in Lithuania has its own halls and over 150 employees. This has also had positive effects in Hamburg, and the Hamburg workforce has grown.

We are proud of the equal rights and respect we show towards all the people who work for us. It is moving to see how many people have worked for us for so many years. It is also nice to see how many young people have a real chance to develop with us – professionally and personally.