Hansgrohe

Hansgrohe SE
Societas Europaea
Industry Manufacturing, Sanitary Fittings
Founded 1901
Founder Hans Grohe
Headquarters Schiltach, Germany
Key people
  • Thorsten Klapproth (Chairman of the executive board)
  • Klaus F. Jaenecke (Chairman of the supervisory board)
  • Richard O’Reagan (Deputy chairman of the supervisory board)
Products Showers, mixers
Brands Axor, hansgrohe
Revenue 964 Mio. Euro (2015)
Number of employees
 3.805, about 40% outside of Germany (2015)
Parent Masco Corporation
Website http://www.hansgrohe.com

Hansgrohe SE is a German sanitary fittings manufacturer. It was founded by Hans Grohe in 1901, in Schiltach, Germany. Hansgrohe is one of the world’s largest shower head, hand shower and faucet suppliers, next to competitors such as Grohe and KOHLER. Principal shareholder is the Masco Corporation, Taylor, Michigan, United States.[1]

Hansgrohe is not to be confused with the Grohe AG, another German sanitary fittings manufacturer, which has been taken over by Hans Grohe’s son Friedrich.

Background

Hansgrohe has two major shareholders. The family of Klaus Grohe, the founders’ youngest son, holds 32% of the company’s shares, the Masco Corporation 68%.[2] Thorsten Klapproth is chairman of Hansgrohe since 2014. The company sells its products under two brand names: Axor and hansgrohe.

In 2015, Hansgrohe reported a turnover of 964 million Euro (2014: 874 million Euro).[3] The company employs more than 3.800 people, thereof 40% outside of Germany. Hansgrohe manufactures its products in factories in the USA, Germany, France and China. With 34 subsidiaries and 21 sales offices the company is present all over the world. Hansgrohe exports its products into more than 140 countries.[4]

Foundation and History

In 1901, Hans Grohe, born in Luckenwalde near Berlin on May 14, 1871, founded the company in Schiltach / the German Black forest region.[5] As a three-man operation, the company began producing metal pressing products, e.g. parts of watches, brass pans and sheet metal showers, but soon concentrated on sanitary metal ware. Export started with the first delivery to Amsterdam, Netherlands in January 1907. By 1919, 3 office clerks and 48 production employees worked for the company.

Hans Grohe started to use a new brass pressing procedure in 1929 and began to chromium-plate his products in 1930. Four years later, his son Friedrich Grohe left the company and took over a company in Hemer, North Rhine-Westphalia, in 1936. While his father Hans concentrated on showers and draining technology, Friedrich Grohe focused on fittings. The company today is known as Grohe AG.

In 1968, Klaus Grohe, the youngest son of Hans Grohe, joined the father’s company and took over its management in 1975. In 1977, he introduced the word and figurative mark Hansgrohe. Under his company leadership, Hansgrohe started to work with external designers in the late 1960s, including Hartmut Esslinger (frog design) and later on Phoenix Design and Philippe Starck. Klaus Grohe also reached out to explore new market segments: In 1981 Hansgrohe began producing faucets and introduced a greywater recycling system in 2001.

In 1984, the Friedrich Grohe family, one of the three shareholders at the time, together with the Hans Grohe Junior family, and the Klaus Grohe family, sold their third of shares to the US investment company Masco Corporation from Taylor, Michigan. In 1999, the Hans Grohe Junior family equally sold their shares to the Masco Corporation, making them majority shareholder, and leaving the Klaus Grohe family as the only family shareholder of the company with today 32% of the shares. In 2012, Hansgrohe became a European stock corporation (Societas Europaea SE), which is not listed on the stock exchange.

After having been member of the management board for 33 years, Klaus Grohe took over the position as director of the supervisory board in 2008. Since 2015, he has been honorary chairman of the board.[6] In October 2014, Thorsten Klapproth became chairman of Hansgrohe, following Siegfried Gaensslen. Two grandsons of company founder Hans Grohe, Richard and Philippe Grohe, were active in the operative business until October 2016. Since then, the founding family supports the company exclusively from a shareholder position, through their representation in the Supervisory Board of Hansgrohe SE.[7]

DAF truck with showers by Hansgrohe. Hansgrohe is an official supplier of the German Olympic team London 2012.

Hansgrohe in the USA

Hansgrohe operates a subsidiary in the United States which has been based in Alpharetta, Georgia since 1996.

Products

The product range of Hansgrohe includes:

Hansgrohe products have been awarded several design awards, including the prestigious iF Design Award 2016,[8] the red dot design award: product design 2016[9] and the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2012.

Hansgrohe has registered about 2500 patents until the end of 2015. Among the most important inventions are: automatical drainage systems (1934), the wallbar (1953), the hand shower with an adjustable water jet (1968), the kitchen faucet with pull-out handspray (1984) as well as technologies to reduce the waterflow through air addition (2004) and activating / deactivating the water flow with a push-button (2011). In 2015, Hansgrohe held 24 patents, 180 designs and 93 brands.[10]

Designer

Museum and Aquademie

Hansgrohe established a museum for water, bathrooms and design in 1997, at its German headquarters in Schiltach. It displays the evolution of private bathrooms over the past 100 years and shows the company’s development in the course of historical events.

At its US headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia, Hansgrohe runs a training and interactive product center, the Aquademie.[11]

Sponsoring

Together with extractor manufacturer Bora, Hansgrohe will support the cycling worldtour team “Bora-hansgrohe” as one of the main sponsors beginning in 2017.[12]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Plumbing Products". Masco Corporation. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  2. ↑ "Supervisory and Executive Board". Hansgrohe SE. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  3. ↑ "Facts and Figures". Hansgrohe SE. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  4. ↑ "Hansgrohe around the world". Hansgrohe SE. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  5. ↑ "The Hansgrohe Group company history". Hansgrohe SE. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  6. ↑ "Supervisory and Executive Board". Hansgrohe SE. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  7. ↑ Germany, Hansgrohe. "Hansgrohe continues to grow | Hansgrohe Group". Hansgrohe Group. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
  8. ↑ "Profiles: Hansgrohe". iF WORLD DESIGN GUIDE. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  9. ↑ "Hansgrohe Crometta - 2016 | work | Red Dot Award: Product Design". red-dot.de. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  10. ↑ "DPMAregister | Register information of the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO)". register.dpma.de. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  11. ↑ USA, Hansgrohe. "Visit Aquademie USA | Hansgrohe US". Hansgrohe US. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  12. ↑ "Bora-Hansgrohe announce Peter Sagan signing | Cyclingnews.com". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
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