Heinz Dürr Award was handed over

Press Release May 27, 2024

Bietigheim-Bissingen, May 27, 2024 — With the Heinz Dürr Award, the Dürr Group honors outstanding achievements by employees in the areas of innovation, customer experience, and sustainability. This year, for the first time, the awards were presented to the spokespersons of the winning teams by Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexandra Dürr.

The employees of the Dürr Group associate one piece of advice in particular with Heinz Dürr, who passed away in November: “Stay curious!” For the legendary entrepreneur, curiosity was the driving force behind innovation and thus progress. In December 2001, he created the Heinz Dürr Award, an internal competition to recognize innovation. In 2019, the categories of Sustainability and Customer Experience were added.

This year, three teams were recognized in the Innovation category. One of the awards went to a team for the development of the EcoProBooth paint booth. Employees from the HOMAG subgroup also impressed the jury with a system for the individual printing of furniture edge bands, as did a German-Indian team from the Schenck subsidiary with a software solution for wheel production lines. The Heinz Dürr Award for Customer Experience went to HOMAG employees for the customer-oriented and ultimately on-time completion of a project that had initially been severely delayed. The Sustainability award was presented for equipping the world’s largest factory for the serial production of timber house elements.

This year, Heinz Dürr’s daughter, Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexandra Dürr, took over the patronage of the traditional award. Together with Dr. Lars Friedrich, Head of the Application Technology Division, she honored the winning teams at the award ceremony. Each winning team received a prize money in the amount of 7,500 euros.

Press photos

Trophies of the Heinz Dürr Award — Five projects and 47 colleagues were honored with the Heinz Dürr Award for 2023.

The Heinz Dürr Award is handed over — This year, the awards were presented for the first time by Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexandra Dürr — here to Josef Zerle, who won the Heinz Dürr Award for Sustainability together with his colleagues.

The Heinz Dürr Award Ceremony — Dr. Lars Friedrich (right) hosted this year’s award ceremony together with Jürgen Haas (left), one of the first winners of the Heinz Dürr Award.

About the Dürr Group

The Dürr Group is one of the world's leading mechanical and plant engineering firms with particular expertise in the technology fields of automation, digitalization, and energy efficiency. Its products, systems, and services enable highly efficient and sustainable manufacturing processes – mainly in the automotive industry and for producers of furniture and timber houses, but also in sectors such as the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, medical devices, electrical engineering, and battery production. In 2023, the company generated sales of €4.6 billion. The Dürr Group has around 20,500 employees and 142 business locations in 32 countries, and it operates in the market with five divisions:

Paint and Final Assembly Systems: paint shops as well as final assembly, testing, and filling technology for the automotive industry
Application Technology: robots and products for the automated application of paint, sealants, and adhesives
Clean Technology Systems: air pollution control, coating systems for battery electrodes, and noise abatement systems
Industrial Automation Systems: automated assembly and test systems for automotive components, medical devices, and consumer goods as well as balancing and diagnostic technology
Woodworking Machinery and Systems: machinery and equipment for the woodworking industry

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