Chairman of the Executive Board (CEO), Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA (Dräger)
Stefan Dräger Videobotschaft: 125 Jahre mit dem Herzen dabei
2014 ist ein besonderes Jahr für Dräger: Wir feiern unser 125-jähriges Jubiläum. Und das möchten wir zum Anlass nehmen, "Danke" zu sagen: Danke an unsere Kunden, die sich mit uns für das Leben einsetzen. Danke an unsere Mitarbeiter, die aus Technik "Technik für das Leben" machen. Danke an unsere Geschäftspartner für die vertrauensvolle Zusammenarbeit und danke an unser Aktionäre, die in die Zukunft von Dräger investieren.
Wir möchten unser Jubiläum gemeinsam mit Ihnen feiern. Entdecken Sie mit uns faszinierende Geschichten aus 125 Jahren Dräger und erfahren Sie, was uns heute auszeichnet.
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About Stefan Dräger
Stefan Dräger, CEO of Drägerwerk, has spoken about the company's role during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the company rapidly increased production of intensive care ventilators in early 2020, with a large portion initially going to China. He stated that maintaining factory operations for life-saving ventilators was the highest priority. Dräger also commented on pandemic measures, saying he supported vaccination as a primary measure but argued that vaccination alone was insufficient and that testing should remain available as an additional tool for safety. Dräger has discussed changes in the workplace, stating that work is becoming an integral part of life and that topics once delegated to HR are now CEO-level concerns, citing ESG developments as an example. He described three "old virtues" for companies: equity capital over leverage, diversity over monoculture, and slack over efficiency, arguing that equity capital helps companies survive crises without existential fear. After 18 years on the board of the German Association for Human Resource Management (DGFP), Dräger stepped down in 2023, saying he had aimed to ensure the organization's continued existence, which he described as having been uncertain at times.
Transcript (25 segments)
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Stefan Dräger0:21
Hello and good day. I am Stefan Dräger, Chairman of the Executive Board of Drägerwerk. This year we are celebrating the 125th birthday of our family-owned company.
For many, many years, we have been the pioneers for technology for life. Because our technology is deployed in situations we never want to find ourselves in — situations where life is at stake, either our own life or the lives of others — to protect, support, or save them. That is what everything revolves around at our company.
Throughout our long history, many people have been involved in developing the right products and solutions for our customers. Over the years, something valuable and unique has emerged — a corporate personality that has developed and continues to develop, with its own DNA.
This DNA enables us to continue developing positively today. It is the driving force for everyone connected with our company — our customers, our employees, and business partners. Many of them have been working with us for decades.
For 125 years, we have been committed with heart and soul to the most important asset we have — life.
We in marketing also carry the Dräger DNA. That is why our customers are always at the center of all our considerations and activities. We have a goal: whenever someone comes into contact with Dräger, it should be a positive experience for them.
Our campaigns and initiatives support and advise our customers during the purchasing decision and when using our products. We support this through consistent communication across all media, precisely tailored to the needs of each customer group, to create a memorable impression in the minds of our customers.
Dräger has been continuously family-managed since its founding — starting with the founder Heinrich Dräger, his son Bernhard, my grandfather Heinrich, my father Christian, my uncle Theo, and up to me, Stefan Dräger. That is five generations who have all shaped this over-100-year-old family enterprise.
We have a moving and exciting story to tell that continues to shape our corporate culture today. My great-grandfather's greatest concern was to use his technical skills to satisfy his customers. That sustains us to this day. Our heritage is our future — this well-known saying applies to us as well.
The success of our company is based on four strengths: worldwide customer closeness, engaged employees, continuous innovation, and quality in everything we do. These four strengths are important values that guide us in our daily work.
The Dräger Academy offers its customers, business partners, and internal employees of the sales and service organizations the knowledge they need for their daily work. For our internal employees, we offer a globally standardized training program that enables them to represent the Dräger brand, products, and solutions confidently with customers.
For our customers, the Dräger Academy stands for high-quality training that increases enthusiasm for our products. With us, you learn what you really need — knowledge for real life.
Dräger is a very dynamic company that stands on a solid foundation. Founded in 1889, we have evolved from a small watchmaker's workshop into a global company and are today a world market leader in many of our fields of activity.
Together with our committed employees in research and development, production, marketing, sales, and service, our customers have written the 125-year success story of the company. Many products and solutions have emerged from dialogue and close cooperation.
Our company history drives us toward first-class performance, but at the same time it is an obligation that we proudly fulfill.
Dräger is well prepared for the future. We reinvest more than eight percent of our revenue into the development of new products, laying the foundation for sustainable growth.
Developing innovative and successful products means always staying at the pulse of the times — knowing and evaluating the most modern technologies and integrating them into our products, whether through IT solutions in communication technology or through complex system integration that makes our products more reliable and more powerful.
Developing innovative and successful products also means knowing the customer's world exactly — understanding workflows and work steps. Only then are we able to create solutions with our technology that truly convince our customers.
Together with well over 10,000 employees in more than 50 subsidiaries and our sales partners in almost every country in the world, we have built a network that supplies hospitals, the process industry, mining, fire departments, and rescue services with technology that seconds later is unconditionally entrusted with one's own life or the lives of others.
Dräger Service is one of our most important customer-facing instruments. We are there for them with advice and action whenever they need us. Around the globe, more than 200,000 service technicians are deployed for them daily — regardless of the tasks they perform.
These tasks include maintenance and repair work on our products on-site or in online service centers, training on our products and their applications, individual development of contracts and solutions, as well as consultation and project planning.
After so many years of successful company history, we want to seize the opportunity in 2014 to celebrate together with everyone and to involve all those who have been connected with our company for so long.
With numerous activities worldwide, such as customer and employee events and an exhibition of historic Dräger moments, we want to celebrate our company's birthday. A special birthday website will regularly report on our activities throughout the year.
Together with our customers, employees, and business partners, we will close the circle from our heritage to our future.
I look forward to an exciting year together with you.