Recognition for regional winners
At the end of September, the Hillesheim-based forming specialist, Bilstein & Siekermann GmbH + Co. KG (BSH) was awarded the prestigious commercial prize Grand Prix of Medium-Sized Enterprises in Düsseldorf – now this award has achieved some regional resonance: On Friday, 23 November, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Koblenz invited all three winners and six finalists from Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland to a small ceremony. The objective was to recognise their commitment and to draw attention to the important commercial impact of these regional enterprises.
Of the guests in Koblenz, Bilstein & Siekermann® was the only winner who, as one of 11 companies from four German competitive regions, was able to leave around 1,480 competitors behind and win the coveted award statue, and badge of honour of the competition in the category “Most Impressive Award Winners of 2018”.
“We are very pleased by the invitation from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Koblenz. It shows that our success in all competition categories, and in particular our regional commitment and attractiveness as an employer, is also recognised in our home region,” says Bruno Hirtz, Managing Director of Bilstein & Siekermann®. The criteria for the award were: overall business development, creation and protection of training and jobs, modernisation and innovation, regional commitment and service, customer focus and marketing. Only those who achieved excellence in all five categories were eligible to win the prize. Bilstein & Siekermann® manufactures approximately 2,000 different metal parts, such as screws, bolts and sleeves, as well as high-tech and complex turned parts used in various industries, including automotive, mechanical and plant engineering. The company has developed a number of technology-specific manufacturing techniques, including cold forming and BSH HEATforming™.
In recent years, the forming specialist from the Volcanic Eifel region has been nominated for the Grand Prix of Medium-Sized Enterprises several times, and finally won it this year. The theme of the competition was “shaping the future”. No other commercial competition in Germany achieves such a high level of resonance as the Grand Prix of Medium-Sized Enterprises, which has been awarded by the Leipziger Oskar-Patzelt Foundation for the past 24 years. For the companies that face the jury, this is not about money, but simply about honour, public recognition and recognition of their competitive strength.
IHK President Susanne Szeczesny-Oßing and Ewald A. Hoppe, a member of the jury of the Oskar Patzelt Foundation, not only invited representatives of the Hillesheim company to the ceremony, but also other winners and finalists from the states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland: The mayor of Hillesheim, Matthias Stein and Bernhard Jüngling, the First Alderman of the Municipality of Hillersheim, also came to Koblenz for the ceremony. It was also attended by: Özgül Özütürk, strategic account manager at Welke Consulting Group®, who has served BSH for many years and also nominated the company for the Grand Prix of Medium-Sized Enterprises.
“The federal award, now also recognised by the IHK Koblenz, is a testament to our success as an innovative company, with our strong values and clear strategy. In recent years, we have always managed to achieve stable returns and reinvest profits into our own business. We offer our employees a challenging work environment and many benefits. This also makes us attractive as an employer in the region,” said BSH Managing Director Bruno Hirtz.
