We

asked…

… Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth,

Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group’s Family Trusts

(Photo: Frank Blümler)

Which Würth product last made you say “Wow!”?

First, it was our ABS 18 POWER COMBI cordless impact drill driver; it offers a combination of top performance and a fantastic design. Second, there was also our new packaging for machining tools, which is made of 100 percent recycled plastic, meaning that it leaves an entirely green footprint.

Are you actually a good craftsman yourself?

Not really, I would not have the time.

Can you still remember your very first customer visit?

Yes, it was in Sulzbach an der Murr. I was traveling with my father, and he sent me in to see the customer. I was wearing traditional leather pants that day at the height of summer, and the customer asked me if visiting customers in those leather pants was standard practice at our company.

If you spot the red Würth logo when you are out and about: What do you think?

Well, look at that.

Würth offers over 125,000 products: Which one still needs to be invented for the future?

Our sales portfolio is constantly changing. Old products are being discontinued, and new ones are being added. A lot is set to change, especially in the car repair industry: Repairing and maintaining electric vehicles will call for completely different tools and spare parts in the future, including vehicle-related IT software specifically. There is a great deal of latitude for new products in this area in particular, and this falls within the sphere of responsibility of our wholly owned subsidiary WOW! (Würth Online World GmbH).

As a family business, we bear a great deal of responsibility in times of crisis

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Readers,

With the outbreak of the war in Ukraine at the end of February 2022, the world order has been turned completely upside down. After the gift of living in peace and freedom for decades, war and suffering are now closer than they have been in 76 years. Concerns about the outbreak of a Third World War are mounting in the minds of many—including myself. I have always emphasized how grateful we should be to be the first generation after the Second World War to live in peace and freedom. I could never have imagined that this might change again.

We are very concerned about our employees in Ukraine and are doing everything we can to bring them and their families to safety. But what continues to encourage me in this situation is the sense of solidarity based on our corporate culture, which is evidenced by our employees’ donations for their colleagues in the crisis-hit region.

Given these circumstances, the new sales and earnings records set in the Würth Group’s 76th fiscal year almost fade into the background. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group’s Family Trusts, the development of our business naturally comes as a very welcome surprise to me, and one that I am very grateful for, especially as these results have been achieved in a very unusual global situation: Supply chains came to a standstill due, among other things, to a shortage of transport capacities. The COVID-19 pandemic and its variants gave rise to many difficulties and problems I had never seen before in my 72 years of working.

The fact that the Würth Group is setting new records in this difficult situation is due, on the one hand, to our global operations—after all, we serve more than four million customers. On the other, our management pursued a wise strategy of accumulating substantial inventories in advance, which has enabled us to maintain an above-average delivery capacity even during the pandemic. This allowed us to continue our success story in the first two months of 2022, with growth of over 20 percent compared with the first two months of 2021.

As a result, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to our more than 83,000 employees across the globe for their loyalty and commitment in the interests of our customers, the company, and the quest to safeguard jobs. I would also like to thank all of our customers for their loyalty to Würth, in some cases over the course of decades. It is thanks to this very loyalty that the two-man business I took over in 1954 after my father’s early death was able to evolve into a company of the size it is today. Going forward, our employees will continue to do their best to live up to our company’s reputation of top quality at fair prices. The company’s success shows that following my father’s principle of “quality beats price” right up until the present day has been the right approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic will surely be defeated before 2022 is out. These days, all of my hopes are pinned on those in power coming to their senses and letting diplomacy speak instead of weapons.

My most sincere wish for everyone reading this annual report is that they can live in peace.

Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth