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9HERAEUS | ANNUAL REPORT 2014 | INTERVIEW WITH JAN RINNERT because we do not fully draw on our potentials. Therefore, the initiatives we pushed with all our might are all the more important. Despite the sideways movement, 2014 should not be considered a year of standstill. On the contrary: In a joint effort, we all managed to set many things going and to create a much better basis for growth than we had a year ago. These initiatives are closely linked to “excellence”. Please explain. JAN RINNERT: Assuming we wish to successfully compete on the global scale, we need to strive for excellence in the Group's relevant fields of action. This does of course depend on our daily effort of continuously becoming better in every respect. This rationale has not fully found its way into of the enterprise yet. It is concerned with smooth processes, fast business processes, an efficient organisa- tion of work – and of course a powerful IT platform. This is the only way of persisting in global comparison by good cooperation which will add decisive value for our customers in the long run. Optimising the benefit for our customers in the future is the critical element. And what we also need is operative and functional excellence to prevent us from losing track of things on the way there. A key initiative for excellence is the Heraeus Production System, or HPS for short. What is the latest news here? JAN RINNERT: At the income end of the scale, we think that optimising our production processes will create much potential for improvement. The HPS is a first rate contri- bution to operational excellence along the value-added chain. In the past, the divisions developed a diversity of very specific processes which made control and cross- divisional cooperation difficult. In many areas we were just not at eye level with contemporary production processes, common industrial standards such as lean production or 5S had been rolled out only to some extent. After global roll-out, the new production system will not only create leaner structures but also a standardized production, which we will be able to control by means of uniform and transparent performance figures. This is again thought of with the customer in mind – who we wish to present solutions to in a faster and simpler way. Another initiative for excellence, i.e. optimizing IT and its business processes has been in progress since 2012 already. Is it finished? JAN RINNERT: A shared IT platform was the first thing to focus on and we have made several leaps forward by now – look- ing at the go-lives in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai we are definitely on the right way towards harmonizing our global business processes. This will be the basis for giving more punch to the entire Group. But optimising our processes will of course be an ongoing project because, after all, our environment keeps moving as well. No matter which fields of action we are looking at: Excellence must not be considered a temporary task that you get over and done with but part of our self-conception. A topic that many colleagues were moved by was the resolution and reorganization of two divisions at the end of the fiscal year. How do we benefit from it? JAN RINNERT: We noticed that the two large divisions con- cerned – Heraeus Precious Metals and Heraeus Materials Technology – were no longer positioned in a way that allowed them to adequately respond to market require- ments. We therefore designed the new Global Business Units such that they are very close to the market and a single-source supplier for their customers on the global scale – just like the name suggests. One example: Heraeus Metal Management now offers all services along the precious metals cycle; before, both divisions were involved at various process stages which caused some frictional loss and administrative efforts.

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