Stefanie Heine and her team are shaping the future of ÖLFLEX^® CONNECT in the LA EMEA region

Above all, this success is based on a precise knowledge of the company and its processes. Stefanie Heine studied Technology Management at the University of Stuttgart. After stops working in consulting and at Daimler, she came to U.I. Lapp GmbH as a process manager in 2012, where she initially supervised European training and Kaizen workshops and advanced the optimisation processes in the production plants. By switching to LAPP Holding AG, she was responsible for improving and standardising processes in LAPP plants around the world. In 2017, she became division manager at Lapp Systems and two years later became managing director for the sites in Stuttgart, Much and the Czech Republic. As executive vice president, she has also been responsible for the ÖLFLEX^® CONNECT cluster in LA EMEA since 2020.

This combination of technical know-how, process orientation, internationality and enjoying working with people, coupled with the LAPP Group’s extensive knowledge, provides Stefanie Heine an excellent basis for successfully shaping the ÖLFLEX^® CONNECT business. “The main aim is to combine LAPP’s skills and elements as best possible”, she emphasises.

What makes the ÖLFLEX^® CONNECT business so special is its proximity to the end product, technical application and therefore to the customer. You need to understand the challenge in detail in order to find the best solution. The ÖLFLEX^® CONNECT Operations LA EMEA cluster employs over 600 people with often decades of experience in the assembly business – its’ a precious treasure that LAPP wants to utilise even more in the future. This was the main reason for setting up the cluster, which combines six sites across Europe in Finland, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Together with her team, Stefanie Heine is working on standardising, optimising, digitising and expanding the cluster to be a strong partner for LAPP’s internal and external customers today and in future.

Stefanie Heine clearly defined her guide to daily actions: “Learning and advancing are important to me. I go through life openly and curiously and also boldly take new paths. Value-conscious living and acting are my top priority. And this is exactly what I like to pass on to people and organisations, and I am shaping changes and development here”.

Orientation for the future sometimes also requires drastic cuts. One of the biggest challenges was the decision to close Lapp Systems GmbH at the Stuttgart site in 2021. To remain competitive in the long term, production was relocated to the Czech Republic at the end of 2021. This affected 60 employees, half of whom were finally moved to other LAPP companies in the Stuttgart region. “It was important to me that everyone involved was treated fairly and with respect”, emphasised Stefanie Heine. She also enforced that social criteria were also taken into account with employee severance packages. “It was only possible to tackle such a project in the current turbulent and challenging market environment with an excellent team of colleagues from various LAPP units”.

All that has to be done now is to look ahead. The production site is currently being expanded in the Czech Republic. In future, the new building will contain twice as much space for the ÖLFLEX^® CONNECT assemblies as before. This is just one example of how LAPP is currently working on expanding and shaping the future of LAPP’s assembly business in the LA EMEA region. The team led by Stefanie Heine has a lot to do.

Stefanie Heine is a woman with great power and passion. That is why she is committed to promoting women in management positions. At LAPP, she initiated the “Women@Lapp” network and is volunteering in the Femtec.Alumnae Association, a network for highly skilled, technology enthusiastic and committed women with an academic background in MINT subjects. “I am convinced that men and women experience different realities in management and do not have the same opportunities. For me, it is a matter near to my heart that this changes and that management of the future becomes more forward-looking, more reflective and fairer”, she says.

Video: © LAPP: ÖLFLEX^® CONNECT CHAIN – Connections That Move