Bruchsal/Graben-Neudorf, 11/15/2019 • During a ceremony at Bruchsal Civic Center friday evening, Managing Partner Jürgen Blickle and members of the SEW‑EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG management team honored employees for their long-standing loyalty to the company. More precisely, of these employees, one was marking 50 years of service, while 60 others were celebrating working in the SEW Group for 40 or 25 years. Internationally, a further 148 employees reached anniversary milestones.
The number of long-standing employees honored by SEW EURODRIVE each year for 50, 40 or 25 years of service is a clear indicator of the level of loyalty the company instills in its staff. Some 148 members of the company's global workforce can look back on 25 or even 40 years of work. In Germany, this year saw one employee reach his 50th year with SEW, 23 employees celebrate 40 years of service, and a further 37 mark 25 years with the company. The firm invited those celebrating work anni-versaries and their guests to Bruchsal Civic Center last Friday to recognize and celebrate their achievements. It proved to be an emotional, memorable occasion for all present.
Jürgen Blickle welcomed the honorees and their guests on behalf of the partners and management. In his speech, he talked about how the com-pany had developed over the past 50, 40 and 25 years. For example, even all those years ago, SEW EURODRIVE no longer operated solely in Ger-many. In 1969, annual sales were DM 40 million, with 1557 people working for the company. During the ten years that followed, this figure almost quadrupled to 152 million, while the workforce doubled to 3000. When the 25-year veterans joined the company in 1994, some 6300 employees were achieving sales of around DM 580 million. Blickle's speech recalled political, social and company milestones, touching upon various events that marked the start years of those celebrating anniversaries. He sees a positive future for the development of the company in terms of its headcount and sales. With their tireless efforts and loyalty to the company, the long-standing employees have played a considerable part in growing the latter. He concluded by thanking all those celebrating work anniversaries and wished them a wonderful evening.
Mayoress of Bruchsal Cornelia Petzold-Schick also thanked the long-serving employees for their decades of dedicated service and SEW EURODRIVE for its continuing loyalty to the city. For her, a successful company is also a kind of platform where people can develop, and she recognizes how SEW EURODRIVE always puts people at the forefront of its actions. Petzold-Schick sees the company and its staff as vital to the region – from an economic, human and architectural perspective. For the Mayoress, the number of employees marking anniversaries with the company is also an indication of the quality of its leadership, which stands for reliability, trust and certainty.
The Mayor of Graben-Neudorf, Christian Eheim, delivered a message of congratulations on behalf of his community, particularly underlining the importance of SEW EURODRIVE to its economic and social life. He also stressed that people are a company's number one asset, responding to appreciation with commitment. "Leaders lead, but in the end it's the people who deliver". Eheim used this quotation from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to highlight the decades of loyalty and service exhibited by the long-standing employees, adding that SEW EURODRIVE wouldn't have enjoyed the same success without them. Finally, he pointed out that progress and development in the company have always been connected to passion, and even if each new era presents new requirements, the many advances have only been possible thanks to the great collaboration between managers and staff. Finally, the Mayor highlighted that the success of SEW EURODRIVE and the region go hand in hand, and thanked the long-standing employees for their hard work, ded-ication and creativity.
After their speeches, Petzold-Schick and Eheim congratulated the 40-year veterans from Bruchsal and Graben-Neudorf respectively in the name of Minister President Kretschmann for their loyal service. Ms. Petzold-Schick also had the special privilege of honoring the employee marking 50 years with the company.
On behalf of the Works Council, its chairman Rainer Mail thanked the anniversary employees for their loyalty to the company. It is people such as the employees marking anniversaries who have built SEW EURODRIVE and made it what it is today.
On behalf of all the employees being honored, Maritta Heilig thanked the management team, and her speech also included a review of her time with SEW EURODRIVE, including all the changes and challenges. Through it all, she said it was the esprit de corps, humanity and friendly atmosphere that have been key to success.