Interview with the management of heroal

Dr. Max Schöne, Jürgen Peitz and Dr. Ramon Knollmann discuss heroal's new vision and explain the company's strategic direction for aluminum system solutions.

Heroal's vision is, "We create spaces that enrich life." What does this mean?

Dr. Max Schöne: People spend much of their lives in buildings. With our system solutions for both the building envelope and indoor and outdoor areas, we have a direct influence on these living and working spaces. This is because our system solutions create not only building elements or façade structures, but also living spaces, in which our products play an important role. After all, these largely determine both the appearance and atmosphere. And that is precisely what our vision stands for. Our company always strives for solutions that enrich living spaces in today's buildings and those of the future. We achieve this by offering more creative freedom, comfort, safety and sustainability.

Who does heroal address with this vision?

Jürgen Peitz: With our vision, we want to reach everyone who has a connection with us as a company or with our systems, and of course anyone who plans to build now or in the future. 'We' is very important to us. By this we mean not only 'we as a heroal team', but also our close cooperation with our customers, suppliers and partners. Our vision therefore goes hand in hand with a value proposition for our various target groups. Let me explain this briefly. The first target group consists of processors. To this group we offer an innovative, high-quality and perfectly matched set of solutions that contribute to efficient production and processing. There is also our service portfolio to extend our joint success and cooperation. The second group consists of the architects and planners. They benefit from greater design freedom and planning security thanks to our integrated, sustainable system solutions that are perfectly coordinated with one another. Of course, we are constantly available to them in this regard with comprehensive advice and planning support. The third target group, the investors, have a very wide choice thanks to our extensive portfolio of solutions for successful projects. And last but not least there are the clients, who get an individual, sustainable and safe home that generation after generation will enjoy.

You indicate that sustainability is part of your solution offerings. Where is this reflected?

Dr. Ramon Knollmann: It is a mission of heroal to make a complete contribution to a sustainable future. This includes social responsibility, environmental protection and the development and manufacture of recyclable systems. We recently received Cradle to Cradle certification in the silver category as international recognition for the use of environmentally safe, healthy and reusable materials in our aluminum system solutions. In addition, we provide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for many of our systems. We have also set goals for environmental, social and governance (ESG). Among other things, we aim to reduce CO₂-neutral and we are constantly working to reduce emissions and waste. In addition, we support charitable projects and encourage our employees and associates to be socially engaged. We have also implemented a compliance system to consistently prosecute illegal behavior, corruption and unfair competition and ensure that heroal's ethical standards are upheld throughout the supply chain.

How does this vision affect your product portfolio?

Jürgen Peitz: With our portfolio, we are expanding the added value for our customers. Everything that customers need for both the building envelope and the interior and exterior space they get from a single source at heroal. In developing our products, we focus on sustainability, efficiency, intelligence and design. In doing so, we keep a close eye on the needs of all our customers. This allows our systems to make living spaces individual, comfortable, safe and energy efficient. For example, with the Easy Mount series, we have developed systems such as the door leaf profile heroal D 72 PF EM and the sun protection heroal VS Z EM. These stand out because they are processed very efficiently. In terms of fire safety, heroal's specialized partners benefit from consistent system logic. The heroal awning systems also stand out greatly. On the one hand by their special aesthetics thanks to the numerous sun protection options, such as the corner solution heroal VS Z for shading in corners. On the other due to the harmonious integration options, such as in the curtain wall system heroal C 50. Intelligence plays an important role in all our new and further developments. Heroal systems are already compatible with smart home.

Heroal has also done a lot in the area of digitalization in recent years. How do you support your customers with digital solutions?

Dr. Max Schöne: We have developed digital solutions ourselves or integrated them into our service offering, which covers the entire process from planning to the use of a building. For example, in our online working environment, the heroal Communicator, we make product information, BIM and CAD data available, as well as various planning tools. All this makes project planning a lot easier. In turn, calculation and construction are made easier by other industry-specific tools, such as ATHENA or the heroal edition of LogiKal. Thanks to the heroal configurator and an EOS/EDI interface, the ordering process can be particularly efficient. In production, the paperless process is supported by LogiKal MES and a data matrix code applied to our profiles. The data matrix code also makes entry control easier, as the profiles can be easily identified.

What other support do you offer heroal subject matter experts?

Jürgen Peitz: We have had a good relationship with many of our partners for many years. Our customers especially appreciate the personal connection they have, for example, with the heroal driver. Because he regularly delivers products, he knows the local situation very well. Customers also appreciate the bond with the application engineer who is always ready to answer technical questions. Furthermore, we offer a whole range of services to support customer acquisition and marketing. Think, for example, of the overview of specialists on our website or the configurator for front doors and patio covers. In the future, we want to expand our range of services. For example, we want to optimize technical advice per country. We are reorganizing our central distribution for this purpose. Because we also want to work even more closely with our customers internationally, we have recently opened a showroom in Prague, for example. With the training offer of the heroal Academy or the partner program heroal partner+, we help our partners prepare themselves and their team for the future. In addition, we offer heroal trade specialists various platforms, such as the heroal Forum, where they can network among themselves and exchange product developments and ideas.