Dr. Heike Wenzel, Wenzel Group GMBH & CO. KG, CEO

How did you choose a career in manufacturing and what do you enjoy most about your work?

At the beginning of my career, I did not actually intend to work in my parents’ mechanical engineering company, WENZEL. My studies in business informatics initially led me to IT consulting, but my parents always showed me how much joy it brings to be an entrepreneur! Especially when seeing how machines are constructed from ideas, then produced, and finally used by our customers right across the world from a wide range of industries such as automotive, aviation, and medical technology. This all lead me to join the company in 1998 via international controlling and after a few years working together with my parents, I took over sole responsibility of the WENZEL Group.

What I value most in my work is working with people, with our employees, partners, and customers. I particularly appreciate the international nature of our company. When I travel to our 15 branches in Asia, Europe, and the USA, I enjoy the cultural differences and right across the world I experience a great deal of camaraderie and warmth that you can probably only experience in a family business environment. In addition, it is very fulfilling to be able to see how our innovative strength in development enables us to create new solutions again and again. As a medium-sized company that prides ourselves on being flexible, we always respond to specific wishes. This customer-oriented focus on creating tailormade solutions fills me with joy and pride, so that I look forward to my workday every day!