www.apexpowertools.eu

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TOOL T IMES

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année

Frohe Weihnachten und Glückliches Neues Jahr

Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

Sponsoring in Aalen page 5

Sponsoring in Esslingen page 6

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Editorial

The Apex Tool Group as an employer - Field report: From Bachelor’s Thesis to permanent position

Jubilee - Employees honored

How do you do “glob-al”? - The increasing complexity in all areas

Apex Tool Group up front - General Manag-er appointed to Senate for Economy

EditionNovember/Dezember

2012

The magazine for clients, distributors and friends of the Power Tools-sector

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EditorialChangeDear readers,

How time flies: an interesting year 2012 is already over. I would like to thank all customers, distributors and friends of the Apex Tool Group for the great coope-ration. Nevertheless, my innermost Thank you belongs to our employees since their tireless commitment contributed to the well-deserved success.To complete the current year, the announcement of the winners of our MO-TEK sweepstake is still missing. We would like to congratulate cordially on an Amazon Kindle Touch each: Andreas Lemke from Salzgitter, Uwe Franke from Schöllnach, Mr. Roth from Walddorfhäslach and Sascha Lutter from Weyhe. The first prize went to Bernd Kanski from Neuhausen: He won the weekend with a Harley-Davidson. We wish everybody lots of fun with the prizes!I am speaking about change in the title. Once more, our articles prove the progress in our company. Among other things, enthusiastic employees report about their introduction in the company respectively their stay abroad.One change also includes our ToolTimes. In the future, we will prepare our newsletter globally and all customers worldwide will be kept up-to-date about the developments in the Powertools sector. Therefore, we would like to ask for your understanding that due to some adjustments and modifications the next ToolTimes will probably be published in March 2013 and from then quarterly.

Accordingly, already today I would like to wish you a wonderful Advent season, a peaceful Christmas time and all the best for the New Year 2013! Please stay tuned and enjoy reading this and future editions!

Sincerely, Andreas KowolGeneral Manager

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The Apex Tool Group as an employerField report: From Bachelor’s Thesis to permanent positionMy name is Carolin Stürzl and I have studied Business Adminis-tration at Kempten University with specialization in Marketing and International Business, the lat-ter at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok. In 2011, I decided to write my Thesis at the Apex Tool Group in Westhausen.

Since I had originally planned to pro-fessionally move more towards the consumer goods industry, it is even more surprising that I am now em-ployed in Westhausen in the newly created department of Global Market-ing Communication since September 2012.

The Bachelor´s Thesis entitled “Im-plementation of Web 2.0 - How to include social media in the business model of a B2B company” resulted from my interview, which was origi-nally intended for a summer job. The persuasive argumentation on the part of the department, however, made me rethink and despite initial doubts due to the highly technical products approach the matter with a “why not indeed”.

The project turned out to be quite in-teresting with a lot of valuable input

from various parties. I have complet-ed my studies in October 2011 with a very good performance which both, the side of the company and the uni-versity, and thereby of course includ-ing me, are very happy with.

For me personally it was important that the Apex Tool Group would be internalizing and implementing the approaches that have been formu-lated by me as far as possible. This fortunately was the case by what you can see that new proposals are not only being heard but also seriously considered.

Although I had no idea of the compa-ny before, you can feel from the be-ginning that they are moving forward. Innovation and especially internation-ality then were ultimately decisive reasons why I decided to start my ca-reer at ATG.

Moreover, I felt very integrated right from the beginning. The harmonious team and the good personal contact, even during the time after my stud-ies when I did a trainee program at the Singaporean-German Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, made me sign the contract with a positive feeling. You can feel that the compa-

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JubileeEmployees honored

ny really wants you, because it sees the benefits that were provided and thereby recognizes the subsequent need.

Facebook - ApexPowerTools

Twitter - ApexPowerTools

YouTube - ApexPowerTools

Xing - Apex Tool Group GmbH & Co. OHG

LinkedIn - Apex Tool Group GmbH & Co. OHG

Google+ - ApexPowerTools

On November 16th, the employees celebrating their jubilee were hono-red for their longtime loyalty during a ceremony.

Congratulation by mayor Witzany

30 & 40 years jubilee

20 & 25 years jubilee

10 & 15 years jubilee

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The Apex Tool Group supported the racing team with material assets in their project and, in representation by Antje Kucher-Freudenthal, took part in the official roll-out event of the new racing car at Aalen Univer-sity on 23rd October 2012.

The E-motion racing team Aalen e.V. independently designed and manu-factured a formula racing car to com-pete in the Formula Student electric with other teams worldwide. By the independent work in designing and manufacturing, team members are not only improving their skills beyond their theoretical knowledge, but also their soft skills.

Besides the technical design and manufacture of the car especially project management, controlling, marketing and public relations are important elements that must be processed with appropriate interest and use. The important thing is the communication between the various working groups and the supporting partners.

This aim in mind, students should assume that they’ve been hired by a production company to develop a prototype for small-batch production.

Target audience is the non-profes-sional weekend racer. This requires that the race car, for example, has very good handling characteristics in terms of acceleration, braking and handling. In addition, its market value increases due to other factors such as aesthetics, comfort and standard parts.

At the beginning of the racing season, the Apex Tool Group supported the team with professional tools for pro-cess safety. We would like to wish even more success in the future!

SponsoringRoll-Out E-motion racing team Aalen

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SponsoringThank you from the racing team EsslingenSocial Media provides many appli-cations: In this case, we received a nice “Thank you” by the racing team Esslingen for our support in the current season.

The Apex Tool Group helped the young team with tools from the tight-ening technology sector and the ma-terial removal portfolio.

We would like to wish even more suc-cess in the future!

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Therefore, an optimum of coopera-tion, consulting and trust is nec-essary in a company where all re-gions are represented.Accordingly, the understanding of languages, cultures, mentalities and operation methods as well as the personal contact with the col-leagues in other regions are turn-ing into essential factors for suc-cessful companies.

This was the reason which brought me to the US for three months to ex-perience, feel, practice and live glo-balism.My path initially led me through De-troit, MI to Auburn Hills, MI, where my colleagues welcomed me warmly. During the daily work with the col-leagues we discussed strategies for global Marketing activities concern-ing markets and products together. Also, we planned and coordinated actions, collected market- and com-petitor data, evaluated them and pre-pared them for decision making.

Visits in several American car com-panies showed me the differences or similarities of assembly philosophies as well as the application and the us-age of tools compared to European companies. Thereof, one can draw

conclusions for the development of globally used tools.

The accommodation in a nice apart-ment in Rochester helped me to eas-ily get in touch with the local people which sometimes challenged me re-garding understanding and speaking regional dialects. Usually, this could be solved with the second pint of beer. However, the general solution was actually a linguistic crash course.The library of Rochester was a fre-quent destination for my evening activities. My objective was, besides American literature and the history of the country, to understand the Ameri-can way of life and the attitude “yes we can”.A very special experience was the visit of a baseball game of the “Detroit Tigers” in the stadium in Detroit which my colleagues made possible.

Two trips of one week each sent me to Lexington, SC to also practice the close cooperation with the colleagues in Marketing and R&D there. In this case, market analysis and technolog-ical questions were in the focus.

Luckily, I was able to use some week-ends for excursions to Northern Mich-igan. I spent one weekend on Macki-

How do you do “global”?The increasing complexity in all areas

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Auburn Hills, MI

Lexington, SC

nac Island, a treasure in Lake Huron, and I admired the force of nature at the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. Impressive moose left a long-lasting impression when they crossed my way on the trip to the North and forced me to an unscheduled stop.

This stay has been a very special ex-perience for me regarding personal and professional aspects.The insight into processes, activities, operation modes and communication were essential to me since they are a must in a well-functioning sustainable company in a global environment.

Also, the versatile personal contact, that exceeded the professional con-tact by far, impressed me since it influenced the daily work, the under-standing and reasoning and the open and honest interaction together very positively.A procedure like this could become a program for many areas in the com-pany to generate global thinking and action.

http://batchgeo.com/de/

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Imprint

PublisherApex Tool GroupGmbH & Co. OHGIndustriestraße 1D - 73463 WesthausenPhone: 0049 7363 810Fax: 0049 7363 81222E-Mail: tooltimes@apex-toolgroup.comWeb: www.apexpower-tools.eu

Editorial staffKlaus Wohlfarth (Business Development & Enginee-ring)Antje Kucher-Freudenthal (Marketing)Siegmar Schreyer (Marke-ting)Carolin Stürzl (Global MarCom)Peter Wiedenhöfer (Re-search Management)

Andreas Kowol represents the Apex Tool Group GmbH & Co. OHG in the Senate for Economy Germa-ny. The handover of the Senator-certificate took place during a ce-remony in the Bavarian Parliament in Munich together with the Fede-ral Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger on November 23rd, 2012.

The Senate for Economy is compo-sed of personalities from business, sciences and society who are espe-cially aware of their responsibility to-wards the nation and its community. They all contribute to the practical realization of welfare-oriented targets of a sustainability in terms of the eco-social market economy.

The Senate for Economy revives the traditonal thought of the senates in the ancient world. A well-balanced circle of friends with different spirits followed the welfare instead of just particular interests.

Therefore, the Senate for Economy is only welfare-oriented and stays in constant contact with representati-ves from politics and sciences. Our honorary senators Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Prof. Günther Verheugen,

Prof. Klaus Töpfer and our active consultant Prof. Roman Herzog are very exciting sources of inspiration besides many other experts.

The ethnical principles of the Senate could also be basis and guideline for the economical activities of the mem-bers of the Senate. Fairness and partnership in business life as well as social competence of entrepreneurs and executive managers form the work of the Senate.

The Apex Tool Group is now a proud member of this selected circle. The appraisal is mainly based on the in-itiatives regarding environmental and resources protection as well as the appointment as a FairCompany.

Apex Tool Group up frontIndustrial tools producer appointed to Senate for Economy