Responsibility
Responsibility comes from the heart and is in our blood
"Do it, Carl!" – with those words Auguste Zoellner encouraged her husband and Cologne merchant Carl Zoellner to found the "Accumulatorenwerke HOPPECKE Aktiengesellschaft". In 1927, he took responsibility for many well-educated people and their families in the Sauerland region of Germany. From our foundation to the present day, this sense of responsibility has been a constant theme in the history of HOPPECKE. We dedicate ourselves fully to the challenges accepted by the company. We also feel a responsibility towards the resources entrusted to us, such as people, capital, time, raw materials and the environment. When it comes to protecting the environment, sustainability is at the heart of our thoughts and actions. Today, we are the only battery manufacturer in Germany with a closed recycling loop for lead-acid batteries. Sustainability also influences our actions internationally. HOPPECKE's plant in Wuhan recently passed the strict assessments of the Chinese environmental authorities in full, the only battery plant in China to do so. Our principles accompany us wherever we go, and create a HOPPECKE family with common values.
Fair cooperation
Whatever we do, we do so with fairness and respect
Right from the start of our history, the cooperation that went into building our company led to a sense of fairness and respect between shareholders, management and employees. We aim to maintain and develop both the success of our company and its independence as a family business. "We can only do it together" – this declaration from Carl Zoellner still holds great importance for us today. For over 40 years, employees in Germany have been able to have a direct share of the company's equity and profits. By purchasing participation rights, every employee has the opportunity to invest their own money and have a stake in the company. In future, we aim to make these forms of material and immaterial participation available to as many members of the global HOPPECKE family as possible. We want to encourage fairness and cooperation both within and between teams in our business. Our principles of clarity, awareness, integrity and excellence influence our day-to-day interaction and help us to continuously improve.
We want to be a reliable strategic partner for our customers. To achieve this, we involve them in development processes. Our suppliers are also vital parts of our development teams and innovation processes.
Lean and process management
Living by the lean philosophy.
Being a lean company means creating value for the customer, avoiding waste and always looking to improve. And that is exactly what we do.
We create value for customers by always placing their needs at the centre of everything we do. We are a reliable partner and problem-solver, and offer outstanding quality at competitive prices. This philosophy was first laid out in our company principles in 1987. These describe HOPPECKE as a business that actively secures its market position in a constantly changing environment. This requires us to continuously develop our abilities and potential. But we want to do even more to live by the lean philosophy. By recording and visualising process standards, we create transparency and a perfect starting position for our continuous and systematic improvement process. This is the only way we can identify and eliminate waste in our processes, from development and production to administration.
"We are responsible for looking after the resources the company has entrusted to us, from people, capital and time to raw materials and the environment". This declaration clearly combines responsibility, fairness and respect towards each other, continuous improvement and the lean philosophy.
