Hermann Abtmeyer

Hermann Abtmeyer (born December 26, 1907 in Badenstedt (now Hanover ), † May 27, 1970 in Stuttgart ) was a German industrial manager. He held numerous management positions with the American International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) from New York . He was best known as the long-standing CEO and later supervisory board of the German subsidiary Standard Elektrik Lorenz , based in Stuttgart.

Life

Abtmeyer first went through practical training at the telephone factory vorm. J. Berliner in Hanover. In 1928 he took a position at Mix & Genest AG , a company from the early days of the German electrical industry with a focus on telegraphy and telephone , which was taken over shortly afterwards by Standard Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (SEG), a holding company of the American conglomerate International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT). Abtmeyer started out as an engineer in the Hanover office with the construction and revision of telecommunications systems, but soon switched to management. From 1941 until the end of the war he worked as assistant to the general director Alfred Hoffmann at the company's headquarters in Berlin . In 1949 he was finally appointed general manager himself. A year later he also took over this position in the SEG . In the following period, Mix & Genest and other ITT subsidiaries were merged into the former management holding company and renamed Standard Elektrik AG in 1956 , which finally became Standard Elektrik Lorenz AG (SEL) in April 1958 through the merger with C. Lorenz AG . There, too, Abtmeyer took over the management of the board and accompanied the rise of the company to one of the ten largest companies in Germany.

Abtmeyer was the driving force behind the takeover and integration of Graetz KG into the SEL “Audio-Video” division in 1961. However, not everyone in his company's management was happy about this acquisition. Graetz had been in crisis for some time and could no longer have survived alone. In general, the radio and television market lost significant momentum. In 1966, in view of the growth stagnation of the entire company and after a decline in sales and losses in the entertainment electronics sector, Hermann Abtmeyer reacted “hard and fast” with layoffs and closings. In 1967 he moved to the supervisory board and Dieter Möhring, two years his junior, took over management .

In addition to his role at Standard Elektrik Lorenz , Hermann Abtmeyer was "ITT Senior Officer Germany", member of the supervisory board and vice-president of International Standard Electric Corp New York and ITT Europe, Inc. Brussels . He sat on the supervisory boards of other companies such as Alfred Teves GmbH , Friedrich Grohe Armaturen-Fabrik , Deutsche ITT Industries GmbH , Standard Telephon und Telegraphen AG in Vienna , NSU Motorenwerke AG and the central company VFW-Fokker mbH .

Abtmeyer was a presidential member of the Central Association of the Electrotechnical Industry and Chairman of the Telecommunications Technology Association in the Central Association of the Electrical and Electronics Industry (ZVEI), commercial judge in Stuttgart and member of the German-American Chamber of Commerce.

In 1967 he was appointed Royal Norwegian Consul Elect for the State of Baden-Württemberg .

Achievements and awards

In 1954, Hermann Abtmeyer received the Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his work in rebuilding the economy .

Web links

Consul Hermann Abtmeyer died (1.3 MB; PDF). In: Frequency Volume 24 (1970), Issue 9, Page 285

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hermann Abtmeyer 25 years at Mix & Genest (PDF; 1.4 MB). In: Frequency , magazine for vibration u. Schwachstromtechnik, Volume 8 (1954), No. 10, p. 321
2. ↑ Günter Friedrich Abele: Historical Radios: a chronicle in words and pictures , Volume 1, Füsslin, 1996, ISBN 978-3-9803451-4-9 , p. 104
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3. ^ Günter Friedrich Abele: Radio Chronicle: from the post-war period to the present . Füsslin, 2003, ISBN 978-3-9803451-8-7 , p. 107
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4. ↑ CD: SEL: Determined . In: Die Zeit , April 28, 1967, accessed on May 29, 2016