BEUCKE GROUP among the TOP 100
Dissen/Teutoburger Forest – For the 23rd time, we celebrate the TOP 100 made up of the most innovative German medium-sized companies. The Beucke Group is part of this innovation elite for the second time this year. The company from Dissen in the Teutoburger Forest previously took part in a demanding scientific selection process. This process examined innovation management and success. The mentor of the innovation competition, Ranga Yogeshwar, will honour the top innovator at the German “Mittelstand” Summit on 24 June in Essen.
The Beucke Group has been in the printing business for almost 260 years – by 2020, the Lower Saxony-based company aims to become a leading international specialist in the printing of flexible packaging for the food and cigarette industries. The group of companies based in Dissen in the Teutoburger Forest took a decisive step towards realising this vision in April 2015, with the acquisition of a digital printing press. This makes Beucke one of the pioneers of digital printing for packaging in Europe. “We do not want to imitate what others are already doing, but to set standards ourselves”, explains Björn Pörschke, who is responsible for the group’s product development. By introducing the most modern printing technology, the group took another quantum leap – especially with regard to speed. “In gravure printing, it can take six weeks from order to finished product”, explains Pörschke, “but with digital capacities, we can do it in a week.”
It is the second time the traditional printing house with 350 employees makes it into the TOP 100. Owner and managing director Lutz Beucke has an explanation for this innovative strength: “We have been open to change and new technologies from the very beginning – the TOP 100 award confirms that we are on the right track.”
More than 4,000 companies were interested in taking part in the TOP 100 this year. 366 of them applied for the qualifying round. Of these, 284 made it to the final round. 238 finally made it into the TOP 100 (with a maximum 100 in each of the three size categories). The companies were again evaluated by Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke and his team from the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. They asked about more than 100 parameters in five assessment categories: “Innovation-promoting top management”, “Innovation climate”, “Innovative processes and organisation”, “Innovation marketing/external orientation” and “Innovation success”.
The TOP 100 are among the pacesetters in their industries. As proven by the figures of the evaluation: Among the companies are 97 national market leaders and 32 world market leaders. On average, they recently achieved 40 percent of their turnover with market innovations and product improvements that they brought to market before the competition. Their sales growth was 28 percentage points above the respective industry average. Together, the German medium-sized companies applied for 2,292 national and international patents in the past three years. This innovative strength also pays off in jobs: The TOP 100 plan to hire around 9,500 new employees over the next three years.
The mentor of the TOP 100, science journalist and TV presenter Ranga Yogeshwar, is impressed by the quality of the companies and hopes to send a strong signal: “The way the TOP 100 generate new ideas and develop ground-breaking products and services is remarkable in the truest sense of the word. I am pleased that the award makes these qualities more visible. I hope their success will encourage other companies to follow suit. Because this culture of innovation will become increasingly important for all companies in the future.”
TOP 100: the competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal for special innovative strength and above-average innovation success to medium-class companies. Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke from the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business has been in charge of its scientific leadership since 2002. The mentor of TOP 100 is the science journalist and TV presenter Ranga Yogeshwar. Some project partners include the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the BVMW. Manager magazin support the comparison of companies as a media partner. For more information, visit www.top100.de.