As of 1 July 2010, Marcus and Frank Wirthwein as well as Rainer Zepke will be on the Management Board of Wirthwein AG. Udo Wirthwein will remain as CEO. There will be no changes on the Supervisory Board.

Creglingen, 1 July 2010
Marcus Wirthwein, General Manager of Wirthwein GmbH & Co.KG since 1 January 2005, is appointed to the Management Board of Wirthwein AG and will take over the responsibility for the Engineering Unit as of today. He remains in charge of the Automotive Division, which has been continuously increasing its portfolio since the graduate engineer joined the company. Like his grandfather and father, Marcus Wirthwein studied Engineering and after completing his M.A. gained primary experiences in international enterprises such as Daimler AG. Thirty-six year old Marcus Wirthwein lives in Creglingen, is married and has a daughter. He remains the General Manager of Wirthwein GmbH & Co.KG in Creglingen.
Frank Wirthwein studied International Business Administration and gained practical experience at Stabilus and Siemens before he took over general management of Winkler Design GmbH & Co.KG in Rötting on 1 January 2004. Since 2007, he has also been the Managing Partner of Bembé Parkett GmbH & Co.KG in Bad Mergentheim. As the holder of these two management positions, Frank Wirthwein is the leading authority in the Interior Design business unit. Beginning 1 July 2010, new director to the board Frank Wirthwein will be in charge of Sales. In addition, thirty-three year old Frank Wirthwein remains the General Manager of Winkler Design GmbH & Co.KG in Röttingen and of Bembé Parkett GmbH & Co.KG in Bad Mergentheim.
Rainer Zepke holds a diploma in Business Administration and has been successfully leading Administration and Finances at Wirthwein AG since 2002. Udo Wirthwein, the Chairman of the Wirthwein board, has every confidence in Rainer Zepke and proved his trust in the executive by granting him full power of attorney for all sites in 2005. Rainer Zepke is appointed to the Management Board as of 1 July 2010 and in charge of Finances. Forty-three year old Rainer Zepke is married and the father of three children, ages 11, 14 and 16; he and his family live in Gerbrunn near Würzburg.

Supervisory Board Remains Unchanged
The changes to the Board do not affect the composition of the Wirthwein AG Supervisory Board. Dr Walter Jaeger has been Supervisory Board Chairman since July 2005; before that he he was the spokesman of the Würth group management in Künzelsau. Dr.  Jaeger is supported by Supervisory board members Edmund Brenner, former chairman of the Sparkasse Tauberfranken board and current vice chairman to the Wirthwein Supervisory Board, and Ingrid Wirthwein. Both have been on the Supervisory Board since 1998.

Farewell to Former Member of the Board Dr Hannspeter Neubert
Former Wirthwein AG Board member Dr Hannspeter Neubert is leaving the Board effective 1 July 2010. However, he remains in contact with the group through Bembé Parkett GmbH & Co. KG, the Bad Mergentheim company taken over by entrepreneurial family Wirthwein in 2004. We would like to thank Dr Neubert for his many years of commitment.

Setting the Course for the Future
With the extension of the Board, Wirthwein AG has set the course for the future and sixty-six year old Udo Wirthwein sees his lifework sailing on safe waters. Thanks to their strong diversification into fields of activity such as automotive, railway, electric engineering, appliances, medical engineering and interior design, Wirthwein AG not only made it through the economic crisis without harm but realized turnover increases instead. The transfer of responsibilities to the next generation heralds a change in leadership which, true to the company philosophy, will be implemented step by step. „For many years I have been promising my wife that we would spend more time together.  After all she has done for me over the past decades, I do feel that it is time to walk the talk“, commented Udo Wirthwein regarding the extension to the board. He is looking forward to spending more time with his family and new hobbies.

Information about Wirthwein AG
Wirthwein AG was founded on 15 December 1998 as the logical result of the development following the reunion of the devided Germany. Wirthwein was one of the first companies to settle in the new German States. Today, thirteen companies in Germany, Poland, China, the USA, Switzerland and very recently, Spain are under the umbrella of Wirthwein AG.  The Wirthwein AG shares are not listed on the stock market but are completely owned by the Wirthwein family. Group headquarters are, and will remain, in Creglingen.

In July 2009 we began construction of a second logistics building. With the new warehouse we can double the logistic possibilities at the Wirthwein group main office and meet any future requirements with increased capacities. The new building with a total area of approximately 3,000 m2 provides more space than its companion along the Romantic Road. The planned height is 12 meters. The building will house material, finished products and molds and become the new home for the printshop. The remaining space will be used for an archive and further offices. The high bay racking is to accommodate octabins, the packing units for plastic granulate, and about 2,500 pallets with finished products. Two new scales allow easier checking of the quantities produced. The goods are dispatched over two truck loading ramps. A photovoltaic system on the building’s flat roof is our contribution to the increasingly important issue of recyclable energies. The construction work has been intensified so that the logistics building will be finished by the end of the year and ready for business operations at the beginning of 2010.

The international car industry puts the highest demands on product quality, productivity, competitiveness and continuous improvement. To meet these demands, many car makers require their suppliers to adhere to stringent technical specifications.
These specifications are set forth in the ISO/TS 16949 quality management standard for suppliers to the automotive industry.
ISO/TS 16949:2002 was developed by the IATF, the International Automotive Task Force, to achieve improvements in the supply chain as well as in the certification process. Most of the leading car makers consider the ISO/TS 16949:2002 certification a basic requirement for business relations.
The specification harmonizes and replaces existing, country-specific standards for quality systems in the automotive industry such as QS-9000, VDA6.1, EAQF and ASQ applied in the USA, Germany, France and Italy.  It defines the demands on quality systems regarding development, production, assembly and maintenance of all automotive products. The specification was first published in March 1999 and revised in 2002. Today, more than 25,000 certificates have been awarded in 80 countries and branches of industry. Requirements of the new ISO/TS 16949 are, for example, strategic business planning, continuous redevelopment of improvement processes, stable process capability, reduction of deviations from the standard and of waste along the supply chain, and optimization of the value chain. Furthermore,  and in addition to the currently valid standards, the IATF has asked for the introduction of a procedure that guarantees adherence to legal provisions, staff motivation and continuous improvement.
Company certification as to ISO/TS 16949 is the prerequisite if a supplier wants to be accepted in any car makers supplier base.
We passed ISO TS 16949 for our sites in Creglingen, New Bern and Nauen.
Tatjana Stegmann, in charge of the quality departments of the different Wirthwein sites, is taking this opportunity to thank all employees for the preparation and execution of the ISO TS 16949 certification process.

The Luncheon in Kloster Bronnbach on Monday March 16th was clearly international and could be heard though the mixture of languages spoken during the preparation of the venue. The European Office of the State of North Carolina along with the Industry of Trade Commission in Würzburg-Schweinfurt and Heilbronn-Franken hosted a Luncheon – a typical US-American way for introducing the State and to establish contact between businesses. The meeting included a lunch and a presentation. The invitation from the State of North Carolina was extended to around 30 guests including business leaders throughout the region.

After the greeting from the Business Leader and Leader of the Service Center of the Industry of Trade Commission in Heilbronn-Franken, Armin Behringer, who also spoke on behalf of the Representative Chief Executive of the Industry of Trade Commission in Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Rudolf Trunk, John D. Brennan, the European Director of the State of North Carolina, introduced the objectives of the European Engagements of the State of North Carolina.

Dallas Hardenbrook from the Business & Industry Development Division of the State of North Carolina spoke about the important economic indicators of the United States, the recreational activities that are available from the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian Mountain Range, and with that the so called “mild location factors” they are blessed with. The number of inhabitants in North Carolina doubled between 1997-2007. Outside of this, North Carolina ranks 1st in industrial states. Interesting and positive in the economic hardship is the mixture of the economy of North Carolina from traditional industrial businesses and companies that are new to the industry. For example, telecommunication or the aerospace industries are busy.

Martyn Johnson spoke on behalf of the Department of Commerce of the State of North Carolina with his main focus on the present education infrastructure. Johnson, whose position in the Department of Commerce is similar the German State Secretary, mentioned 58 technical and career-focused colleges in which companies in North Carolina offer apprenticeships or further education for employees. Outside of this there are a large number of companies that have promotional programs in which give special training to employeesfor further qualification.

Rainer Zepke, the Trade and Finance Leader of the Wirthwein Company, presented on the experience of a German Middle-standing Business that has a location in North Carolina. The daughter company „Carolina Technical Plastics Corp.” was founded in 2003 in the industrial area of New Bern. Rainer Zepke gave a clear and humorous description of the deciding factors for the best location in relation to our customers and qualified employees. He also spoke of the experiences with the state authorities and the “American Way of Life.” A special interest to the business leaders of middle standing businesses was the part about subsides from the settlement in North Carolina. The Trade Leader stressed that Wirthwein welcomes all questions from the State of North Carolina, the authorities of Craven County, and the City of New Bern. Rainer Zepke ended his presentation with a request on the authorities and economic representatives of the State of North Carolina to invest more energy in the deficit of craftmanship workers. The search for qualified personnel, especially in rural communities can be very difficult. In this situation a dual system, similar to the educational apprenticeship in Germany, would be desirable.

With a thank you to the Wirthwein Company for their very informative and well prepared presentation, John D. Brennan, the European Director of the State of North Carolina, called the Luncheon to an end. He also suggested that if the business leaders from the area had an interest in the American Business Sector, they should contact his office in Frankfurt am Main.