Hess (lighting)

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Hess AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1947
Seat Villingen-Schwenningen , Germany
Branch lighting

Hess AG headquarters in Villingen-Schwenningen

The Hess AG was originally a medium-sized company in the lighting industry . The Hess GmbH Licht + Form emerged from this AG, which produces lights and street furniture at the company's headquarters in Villingen-Schwenningen. The company produces and sells street lights, architectural lighting, recessed floor lights for indoor and outdoor use as well as street furniture, with planning and implementation in public spaces . Customer-oriented solutions (special lights) round off the Hess GmbH product range.

history

Hess has been manufacturing lights at its headquarters in Villingen-Schwenningen since 1974. The company's roots go back to 1947, when Willi Hess, the father of Jürgen G. Hess, founded the Willi Hess KG iron and metal foundry . In the beginning, cast parts for domestic industry were produced using the sand casting process. Hess found the way to its own products at the end of the 1970s through the manufacture of historic street lights that took into account the feeling of nostalgia of that time.

With the start of steel processing in 1986, the development of his own lighting technology and the collaboration with designers, Jürgen G. Hess laid the foundation for the company's current direction. Products with LED technology have also been developed since 2003 . These are increasingly used in outdoor lighting. Until 2007 the company operated as Hess Form + Licht GmbH , after the name was changed to Hess AG , Christoph Hess led the company in the third generation. The lighting manufacturer Vulkan has been part of the Hess Group since 2007 .

In March 2012, Hess AG expanded the stake it acquired in 2009 in emdelight GmbH, based in Frankfurt, to 100%. At the same time, Thomas Emde became a new member of the management team at Hess AG. Christoph Hess hoped from this takeover ( Emdeligent , Emdelight , Emdeoled ) to enter the lucrative future market of intelligent LED street and building lighting.

Since the takeover of Emdelight, intensive work has been carried out on the further development of LED technology in the new Hess LED development center in Löbau. Hess also cited the desired growing involvement in the project business via Emdelight as an argument for the company's indebtedness: It is precisely here that one has to "heavily pre-finance". Insolvency proceedings were opened as early as 2013 via emdelight GmbH and the other companies in the Emdelight Group.

On suspicion of balance sheet manipulation , the supervisory board dismissed the board members Christoph Hess (CEO) and Peter Ziegler (CFO) in January 2013 and appointed Till Becker as the new CEO. The public prosecutor's office for white-collar crime in Mannheim began investigations shortly thereafter.

On February 13, 2013, the proposed Hess AG and its subsidiary Hess Lichttechnik GmbH the opening of insolvency proceedings . On February 28, 2013, the sole director Till Becker was replaced by Andreas R. Budde. The investigations by the public prosecutor's office had already been extended to other facts and persons. With effect from March 14, 2013, the Vulkan subsidiary was sold to the Dutch financial investor group Nordeon .

After the allegations of white-collar crime were confirmed, the insolvency administrator decided to smash the Hess group of companies in the form of an asset deal . The core business with development and production was outsourced to Hess GmbH Licht + Form, founded in September 2013 and based in Villingen-Schwenningen (Freiburg Commercial Register No. HRB 710428) and will be continued there. This company is not to be confused with the in Hess GmbH Light + Form processing company renamed Hess GmbH Light + form , also based in Villingen-Schwenningen (commercial register of Freiburg, HRB 709095), by renaming in May 2013 Hess Vertriebs GmbH was created and Processing of the old company serves. The Hess AG remained as an empty business shell without operational business areas, which is liquidated by the insolvency administrator.

The Löbau / Saxony plant was closed on August 31, 2013 and all 80 employees were given notice.

On October 1, 2013, Nordeon also took over the remaining business of Hess AG in the form of the new Hess GmbH Licht + Form including all assets necessary for business operations in Villingen-Schwenningen, the Stockholm-based sales company and the US production site in Gaffney . The jobs of the 180 employees at the headquarters should be retained.

Company information

Hess produced at two locations: At the headquarters in Villingen and in Gaffney (USA) . In the 2011 financial year, sales amounted to EUR 68 million. The products have been exported to over 50 countries worldwide. In France as well as in Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, China, Portugal, Australia, Singapore and in the USA, Hess AG had its own sales companies.

In 2010, Hess AG was included in the ranks of 1,000 world market leaders in Germany by Manager Magazin . The exclusive study published by Manager Magazin lists the thousand largest German companies that are among the top three international market leaders in their market or market segment.

The range of services offered by Hess GmbH includes two business areas: Lighting Products and Lighting Projects. The Lighting Products division focuses on the development, design, manufacture and sale of outdoor lights. The Lighting Projects division includes the conception, planning and implementation of individual lighting solutions. In addition, Hess offers street furniture such as tree grates, park benches and waste bins that are designed to match the lighting families.

Projects

Hess illuminates the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the San Francisco International Airport and the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center in New Caledonia. The marina in Monaco, the Fulton Street Mall in New York, the public viewing area of ​​the 2008 Olympic city in Beijing and the outdoor area of ​​the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, Ukraine, are also illuminated by Hess. Projects in the Middle East included Wadi Hanifa, the valley in front of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, and the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, with space for 40,000 people. In Germany, for example, Hess illuminates the Mercedes-Benz-Arena (formerly O 2  World ) in Berlin, the SAP Arena in Mannheim, the Köln-Arena in Cologne, the Postplatz in Dresden, the ADAC headquarters in Munich as well as streets and squares in the city center from Stuttgart.

Honourings and prices

Hess AG was considered a pioneer in outdoor and street lighting and has received several awards, including for example:

  • red dot award : product design 2002 for the SERPO product family
  • Design Plus 2002 from the International Forum Design IF for the SERPO product family
  • International Design Award Baden-Württemberg 2003 for the LEDIA LL light line
  • International Design Award Baden-Württemberg 2009 for the Lledia FP facade lighting product line
  • red dot award: product design 2011 for outdoor light Pasadena
  • red dot award: product design 2011 for outdoor lamp Campone

Cultural engagement

Schminke House (south view, house entrance)

In the Saxon town of Löbau , one of Hess's former production sites, the Schminke factory owner's house built in 1932/1933 by the architect Hans Scharoun (1873–1972) is one of the most important German architectural creations of the interwar period .

In 1993 the house became the property of the City of Löbau, which brought the cultural monument into the Haus Schminke Foundation, which was established on May 24, 2007 . This foundation was established jointly by Hess AG and the city and was recognized as having legal capacity in May 2009 by the Dresden State Office . Today, thanks to the cultural commitment, this leading building of modernity is open to the public and is shown to the public in guided tours.

Web links

Commons : Hess GmbH Licht + Form  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hess AG In: Südkurier, accessed on June 9, 2013
  2. Emde companies now insolvent
  3. Hess fires board members ( memento from January 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Econo , January 23, 2013
  4. ^ Raid on Hess AG , Südkurier Online, January 31, 2013
  5. Hess AG files for insolvency , faz.net ; since October 25, 2012, the Hess AG share has been in the [Prime S February 13, 2013]
  6. Hess is broke ( Memento from February 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), econo , February 13, 2013
  7. ^ Hess: Becker is leaving, Budde is coming ( memento from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), econo, February 28, 2013
  8. ^ Hess: Daughter sold ( Memento from May 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Econo, March 19, 2013
  9. Hess: Investigations before the end? ( Memento of April 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Econo, April 5, 2013
  10. ^ Villingen-Schwenningen: Sham stores in the Hess-Schattenwelt , Südkurier Online, April 11, 2013
  11. ^ Hess is smashed ( Memento from April 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Econo, April 13, 2013
  12. Hess AG becomes a shell ( memento from September 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in: Econo.de, from: May 27, 2013, accessed on June 9, 2013
  13. Hess is now trading as a GmbH in: Südkurier from: May 27, 2013, accessed on June 9, 2013
  14. ^ Heilbronn voice: Lights out: Löbauer company Hess closes at the end of August. July 12, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013 .
  15. website of Hess GmbH Licht + Form ; accessed on April 22, 2014
  16. dpa-AFX: After bankruptcy - investor takes over Hess AG. August 23, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2013 .
  17. a b Hess AG moves into the thousands of German world market leaders , October 13, 2010
  18. World market leader: 1000 German companies are international leaders
  19. Germany's 1000 world market leaders: Part 10: 1000 world market leaders: Rank 901-1000
  20. Focus Open award-winners Baden-Württemberg International Design Award 2009 , Design-Center Stuttgart, accessed on August 21, 2012
  21. a b Hess scores twice in the international design comparison | “Red dot” for outdoor lights Pasadena and Campone , Hess AG, March 28, 2011
  22. ^ Foundation Haus Schminke . Retrieved July 17, 2020