Group management report of the Würth Group

 

The company

The Würth Group is the global market leader in the sale of fastening and assembly materials. That is its core business. To this day, it is the area in which the more than 140 Würth Line companies operate.

“If you sell screws, then you also ought to know a bit about how they are produced,” said Reinhold Würth, and established the screw factory SWG Schraubenwerk Gaisbach GmbH at the beginning of the 1960s. This allowed him to lay the foundation for the Group’s second important pillar: the Allied Companies. They operate in related areas as sales or manufacturing companies, and also include companies operating in the financial services industry, as well as hotels and catering establishments. In 2018, the Allied Companies generated more than 43 percent of the consolidated sales.

The Würth Group employs a global workforce of 77,080 employees—with 33,218 working on the sales force—it consists of more than 400 companies in over 80 countries, maintains over 1,900 branch offices and generated sales of EUR 13.6 billion in 2018.

Würth is also using digitalization for completely new possibilities: Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, the parent company of the Group, opened the first Würth24 branch office in 2018. Würth24 stands for shopping around the clock from Monday to Saturday, even outside normal opening hours. Access is granted via the Würth App, which represents the most innovative technology available, handling order entry and merchandise tracking electronically. Digitalization links e-commerce with brick-and-mortar retail, thus creating even more freedom and security for our customers to cover their immediate needs. Würth’s operations now extend far beyond pure direct sales. Würth is digital, Würth is online, offering state-of-the-art services, logistics solutions and ordering options. In doing so, we always have precisely one goal in mind: to make things simple for our customers.

In the early 1960s, Reinhold Würth bought the work of art entitled “Cloud Reflection in the Marsh” by Emil Nolde, laying the cornerstone for the Würth Collection, which now comprises more than 18,000 pieces. The orchestra Würth Philharmoniker has made music an integral part of the company’s cultural activities since 2017. These two milestones in our commitment to art and culture symbolize an attitude that characterizes the entire Group: openness, gratitude, respect, curiosity, responsibility, but also humility towards our fellow human beings and society. And towards our customers.