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7 HERAEUS | MAGAZINE 2015 | THE HELSMAN with a well-filled innovation pipeline. The Medical Components Division alone accounted for three of the seven finalists for the 2015 Heraeus Innovation Prize. And I’ve already mentioned Heraeus Medical. This shows that we want to maintain our leading role in this field. In the renewable energies sector, we are working hard Group-wide on concepts for energy generation and storage and for efficient energy management. Here, I see our bundling of competences giving us a very promising market position. We also have very good potential for helping our customers advance in the electronics industry. With our application center for power electronics, we took an important step toward offering our cus- tomers even more integrated solutions and fewer of the stand- ardized products that always face stiff competition. This helps us, for example, in the area of e-mobility. Finally, we continue to offer the industry many highly developed products. For example, our precious metals expertise helps us in sensor technology and, increasingly, as an important service provider, whether it be in trade or in advising our customers on precious metals manage- ment. However, it is important to consider not just the fields, but also the various regions. Despite uncertain signals from China, we continue to see major opportunities there. We intend to take advantage of them by expanding our production capacities in Nanjing and Zhaoyuan or in regional development centers. But we also continue to focus on Korea as well as the American and European markets. What are you focusing on this year? JAN RINNERT: We are continuing to work hard on the Excellence initiatives. Now that Dr. André Kobelt has joined the Group Management Board, commercial excellence and the systematic management of our markets are greatly improving. In many areas of the company, there is as much potential for improvement in commercial excellence as in production. Furthermore, we are working hard to implement Heraeus FIT in order to further im- prove our workflows. This remains crucial to success, especially for locations in Germany. Achieving our goals requires a common understanding of leader- ship. Therefore, we have introduced a new Leadership Model and redefined what we expect of our management personnel. We want to continue enhancing this model, thereby further anchoring a common leadership culture worldwide. Finally, we are devoting even more attention to future-oriented topics, such as the introduction of a Responsibility Management program that supplements our already very good legal and com- pliance work with a focus on the environment, health and safety. And we will continue to pursue digitization and Industry 4.0, which will have a significant influence on our activity. And what effects do you expect to see on business development? JAN RINNERT: In key markets and regions, the market environment remains challenging. Nevertheless, 2016 will be the year in which the transformation takes hold. We are better positioned to take advantage of our opportunities for profitable growth and to counter the effects of weak markets. Furthermore, we intend to push even harder for innovations, in order to offer our custom- ers outstanding solutions. We are making good progress toward our goals, and Heraeus is leaner, faster, and more focused on our markets and customers. If the global economic situation remains stable, I anticipate good development for the Heraeus businesses. In fact, the long-term prospects for most of our businesses and for our company are very good. We are positioned in attractive markets, and our global presence gives us outstanding market access and customer proximity. We can be proud that we at Heraeus can count on such a committed and motivated team. We owe particular thanks to our employees, customers and partners around the world for their support, day in and day out. We are likewise grateful to our shareholders for their support and their trust. Together, we are working to do better every day. In the end, we will succeed. O

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