With a clear, future-oriented concept and a dynamic, motivated team, SOMMER Group has become a powerful and successful group of companies.
Our customers and their needs are at the core of our success. We strive continually to respond to the current wishes of our customers and to meet their requirements. For this reason, SOMMER Group considers it a priority to know its customers’ expectations and fulfil them with innovative products and services. This aim is realised in the business areas operator technology, radio technology, front doors and door and gate technology, decorative metal products and components.
Throughout SOMMER Group the LEAN concept is applied, ensuring a continuous improvement process. These ideals are implemented by all employees in the company’s interests.
Transparent structures and efficient organisation allow the members of our team to carry out the tasks assigned to them independently and assume responsibility.
We practise and encourage independent working and self-responsibility, as this ensures maximum success. This generates satisfaction and motivation among our employees, which is an important and essential step towards our shared future.
We thank all employees for their commitment.
We support and promote this commitment to the company.
Gerd Schaaf
CEO SOMMER Group
Managing Partner
Dieter Walddörfer
Technical Manager
SOMMER Antriebs- und Funktechnik GmbH
Wolfgang Schank
Managing Director
Groke Türen GmbH
metaku Metall- und Kunststoffbau GmbH
Tobias Beck
Managing Director
Aperto Torantriebe GmbH
Steffen Schaaf
Managing Director
Triebenbacher Betriebsgesellschaft mbH
Johnny Creemers
Managing Director
DOCO International B.V.
The management principles of our company are based on cooperation, delegation, mutual respect and a high degree of independence and responsibility on all levels.
All managers and employees therefore have a duty to carry out their tasks, as prescribed in this publication and the instructions which supplement it, in terms of process quality, protection of the environment, health protection and work safety with regard to all stakeholders.
The responsible managers regularly monitor the efficiency of all processes and services which maintain and increase the satisfaction of our customers, suppliers and employees.
Continuous communication and appropriate documentation ensure that all members of the team know their obligations and rights and are aware of their contribution to achieving the corporate objective. The members of our team are supported and motivated by further training and training programmes. "Team members train team members” is an integral part of our training plan and knowledge transfer.
Department managers work together with the employees towards achieving department targets, inform employees when targets are reached and monitor their achievement. All company employees receive up-to-date information and are therefore familiar with the consequences and effects of their activities and able to evaluate them.
These company guidelines were developed jointly during a strategy conference for all managers of SOMMER Group and are lived actively by all. Our interactions with each other are appropriate. We offer both praise for work well done and objective and constructive criticism.
Both managers and all employees are required to cooperate appropriately and without bias. We place a maximum of trust in our new employees – trust does not need to be earned.
The overriding principle for the Group is the clear alignment of our activities to the market and its requirements. To safeguard and maintain this principle, the organisational structure of the company is such that it meets the requirements of DIN EN ISO 9001:2015.
The aim of our quality policy is to make products of the highest technical quality available to our customers within the shortest possible time and not merely to comply with valid legislation and standards, but to exceed legal requirements and be the best in the field. The satisfaction of our customers is our top priority.
Our employees identify with the company, as both their qualifications and their motivation are decisive factors ensuring our success. For this reason, employee development, decision-making responsibility and the minimisation of safety and health hazards are a matter of course for us. Every member of the team employed by our company, right through to the highest management level, undertakes to comply with and implement these principles to the best of their ability.
The aim of our corporate policy is to ensure that the value of our company is reflected not only in the key performance indicators, but also in our customer-orientation, in our dealings with our employees and in our social commitment. Our corporate policy and our strategies are implemented and communicated through the development of key processes. This is the foundation on the basis of which our visions become a company standard.
In order to maintain and improve the performance of our company, management defines short- and medium-term goals and plans investments and personnel resources. Following review and the budget meeting (general meeting), management makes the financial and personnel resources available. Synergy effects and the exchange of knowledge are achieved and maintained through internal training courses and regular contact with the subsidiaries. Links with universities and institutes in the surrounding area ensure the transfer of knowledge resources.
We strive to be among the best as regards our products, their safety and value, in our services, in our relationships with customers and suppliers and our competitive position. All process steps are planned and defined prior to the start of production in order to ensure that the value of our customer products remains stable during the entire process phase.
We achieve the desired results through processes which are optimised with regard to the use of resources and activities. When optimising processes, the lean approach is applied and implemented in working groups, through audits and constant communication with customers and suppliers. Above and beyond this, employees can contribute actively and directly to the continuous improvement of company processes via the corporate ideas management system (SOMidee).
On all levels, our employees form the heart of our company. Fully integrating them into all processes allows them to apply their skills, which not only benefits the company, but promotes the personal development of all. When recruiting personnel, we ensure that new employees meet the requirements defined by the functions of the position to be filled.
Working conditions are tailored to the work task, and employees are encouraged to act on their own initiative. Occupational safety is not only a legal requirement, but a preventive measure which benefits us all, as the health and safety of our employees is very important to us.
Discontent is eliminated speedily, for example through the workshops offered under our corporate health management programme SOMvital, because we know that an intact working environment motivates and empowers our employees.
As a company, we are dependent on the satisfaction of our customers, and the management therefore sees customer satisfaction as a key corporate objective. We strive to understand our customers’ current and future needs and to meet customer requirements, and we always aim to exceed the expectations of our customers.
As suppliers, we see it as our task to provide support by working to schedule and taking into account the customer process. Product value, protection of the environment and occupational safety are the decisive factors which contribute to comprehensive customer acceptance. We offer our customers added value through a customer/supplier portfolio developed in collaboration with our customers, joint development projects and the transfer of technical expertise, communication- and training-specific knowledge.
Environmental awareness in processing and installation must be second nature within the company. The pursuit of profit to the detriment of the environment is short-term thinking and is not compatible with our goals.
Offering apprenticeships is a matter of course for us and part of our corporate responsibility. This also includes offering work/study courses at the DHBW Stuttgart and internship semesters for students. This is expected of us and an obligation we willingly fulfil.
Our company is open and welcomes not only customers, suppliers and organisations, but also other interested parties such as school classes.
Our business results based on technical and commercial data form the basis for the annual definition of our goals and targets. Our employees are regularly informed of the company’s performance and have access to the monthly production and sales figures in as far as these are not subject to data privacy requirements.