At the compressed air and pneumatics specialist Mader, based in Leinfelden, the signs are pointing to growth. At the end of 2017, the two owners and managing directors Werner Landhäußer and Peter Maier set the personnel course for the future and appointed Stefanie Kästle and Marco Jähnig to the company's management team. Both are to manage the business together with the owners during a transitional period and take over completely in a few years' time.

The four company leaders laid the foundation stone for the new company headquarters at the end of February 2018. The decision to purchase a plot of land with an existing building in the neighboring town of Echterdingen, not far from the airport and the A8 freeway, was made back in 2016. In the meantime, the 5,000 square meter hall has been renovated to meet energy efficiency standards and the office building has been gutted. The next step will be to extend the office building with a new building and revitalize the existing building. The move to the new building should be completed in summer 2018.

"Both decisions - the personnel succession plan as well as the new company headquarters - are entirely focused on sustainability," says Werner Landhäußer. Securing the company's succession in good time with the appointment of Stefanie Kästle and Marco Jähnig to the management board is important for the successful continuation of the company after the planned departure of the two partners Landhäußer and Maier from the day-to-day business in a few years' time. Both Kästle and Jähnig come from the company's own ranks and have already worked in various areas of the company.

According to Landhäußer, business will "finally take place in a sustainable and energy-efficient environment" from summer 2018. The move to the new company building in Echterdingen should be completed by then. Both the existing building and the hall as well as the new building will be state-of-the-art in terms of energy. A combination of an air-heat pump and pellet heating will ensure optimum temperatures in future. The company's energy requirements will largely be covered by the photovoltaic façade. The use of LED lighting, which is completely brightness-controlled in the offices, also promises a further energy advantage.

"For us, sustainability doesn't just mean energy optimization. We also want to be sustainable when it comes to recruiting and retaining specialists," adds Stefanie Kästle. This begins with the training of our own junior staff and continues with the design of modern workplaces and framework conditions that promote individual working methods and support the implementation of agile working methods. Marco Jähnig is particularly pleased about the additional space on the new company premises: "We have reached our logistical limits in Leinfelden with our compressed air containers. Everything will be much easier on the new company premises." as