As a subsidiary of the internationally active Phoenix Mecano AG, RK Rose+Krieger is known as a one-stop supplier of linear, profile, connecting and modular technology. In the process, the company, in receipt of the TOP 100 award for the eighth time, focuses on innovative products which make the manufacturing process more dynamic: for example, components for height-adjustable workstations which facilitate ergonomic working. Two fundamental questions are the basis for the start of every innovative process for the Minden company: What's missing? What has to be improved? These were also the starting point for development of a monitor mount for monitors or tablets. "Users used to have to make do with their own elaborate constructions because there wasn't yet anything like it on the market", Managing Director, Hartmut Hoffmann, recounts. His employees took the matter on board and developed a flexible and positionable monitor mounting.
The top innovator produces many different, highly specialised components, but concentrates strictly on its core competencies in the process. "The lean methods have become a core part of our process organisation. They have made us more efficient, and bound us together as a team", Hoffmann reports. The Managing Director introduced a more systematic approach most notably to the product range. Instead of sorting the products in the catalogue by technical properties, he sorted them by application.
Back in 1993 compamedia began awarding the TOP 100 seal to SMEs which demonstrate particular innovation strength and outstanding innovative success. Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke has been responsible for academic leadership since 2002. Franke is founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Science journalist, Ranga Yogeshwar, is the TOP 100 project mentor. The Fraunhofer Society for the advancement of applied research and the BVMW act as partners to this project. manager magazin, impulse and W&V are the media partners for the company awards. For more information, go to www.top100.de.