Interview with Jahangir Doongaji and Christoph Loos
| Date | Location |
| November 11, 2022 | Liechtenstein, Schaan |
Hear from CEO Jahangir Doongaji and Chairman of the Board of Directors Christoph Loos how Hilti managed this year’s challenges and what’s in for 2023.
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
2022 has been a turbulent year. How did Hilti manage to maneuver through the various challenges and how would you assess the company’s 2022 results?
We launched Nuron, which is the largest innovation that we have ever launched as a company.
Jahangir Doongaji, CEO
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
You mentioned the war in Ukraine. How has the company handled a crisis of this magnitude?
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
Christoph, you are handing over the management of the company to Jan, who became Hilti CEO at the beginning of 2023. Against the background of the many crises: Is this the right time for a change in leadership?
Christoph Loos, Chairman of the Board:
Change is constant. One of the things that has made the Hilti Group so successful is our long-term succession planning, which allows us to ensure continuity and stability in key leadership roles. We announced this move almost two years in advance. To assess this change, you have to look at the overall constellation in the Executive Board that operates together as a team. Jan and I have worked together on the Executive Board for the last nine years and the only new thing now is his role. All the other members of the Executive Board have a strong track record at Hilti, have known each other for many years and have a great deal of experience in our business.
Jahangir Doongaji, CEO:
It’s not only a change of CEO, but also a major generation change at the levels of the Trust, Board of Directors and Executive Board, where we ensure a lot of stability, such as with Christoph staying on as Chairman. The timing of this change is synchronized with a review of Hilti’s corporate strategy. Lead 2030 will be enrolled in 2023.
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
So, Lead 2030 is Hilti’s new strategy for the next phase. Can you please share some insights into what it entails and what may change?
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
This raises an interesting point as Hilti is investing heavily in software, both in-house and via the acquisition of Fieldwire. Can you comment on this?
With the acquisition of Fieldwire, we now have a software in our portfolio that powers over a million construction projects already today.
Jahangir Doongaji, CEO
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
Can you please tell us more about Hilti’s sustainability journey?
Christoph Loos, Chairman of the Board:
We apply a reduce, replace and offset strategy to minimize and mitigate our own CO2 emissions. Our ambition is to become CO2 neutral within our own operations this year, and we are well under way to achieving this. In 2022, we implemented numerous energy efficiency measures. In addition, we are working on replacing current energy sources with greener alternatives. For example, last year we increased our photovoltaic generation capacity by more than 3000 MWh through new installations in several global locations. Our target is 12,000 MWh by early 2024. Also, by the end of 2022 we increased the number of full hybrid and electric drive vehicles either delivered or on order to more than 4400, which already represents over 30 percent of our global vehicle fleet.
Jahangir Doongaji, CEO:
In addition, we have decided to commit to the Science Based Targets initiative. We will reduce CO2 emissions in absolute terms by 30 percent in ten years’ time and have committed to being net zero by 2050. What needs to be pointed out is that this includes not only our own emissions (Scope 1 and 2), but also the so-called Scope 3 emissions that are outside of our own operations. These Scope 3 emissions are generated predominantly by our suppliers and constitute by far the largest part. Committing to this target is an enormous effort, both operationally and financially. We are, however, 100 percent committed to doing so.
We will reduce CO2 emissions in absolute terms by 30 percent in ten years’ time and have committed to being net zero by 2050.
Jahangir Doongaji, CEO
Christoph Loos, Chairman of the Board:
We have also continued to further roll out our corporate volunteering program, “Engaged Beyond Business”, which has now been adopted by all of our regions. In 2022, we more than doubled the amount of days our team members spent on social and environmental initiatives, which added up to 8564 days volunteered, supporting more than 65,000 beneficiaries.
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
In addition to the many challenges of 2022, what were some of Hilti’s highlights?
Jahangir Doongaji, CEO:
Probably the biggest highlight of the year was the launch of Nuron, which I mentioned earlier. With over 70 new products at once, Nuron represents the largest and most significant product launch ever for Hilti. It is also very different from anything else we have ever developed, or anything that the industry has ever seen. Nuron’s cordless platform radically simplifies our customers’ work on jobsites, drives performance to much higher levels and improves operator health and safety.
Christoph Loos, Chairman of the Board:
In addition, in this challenging year, we have even further strengthened the commitment and engagement of our global team, as measured in our annual employee opinion survey. Nuron was a very complicated and demanding project and was only made possible by an exceptional and highly motivated team of professionals. You also see this engagement in the many awards we were given by the Great Place to Work Institute. Based on employee feedback in 2022, we ranked 4th among all rated employers in Europe and as the 8th best company to work for globally – the first time ever within the top ten.
We ranked 4th among all rated employers in Europe and as the 8th best company to work for globally.
Christoph Loos, Chairman of the Board
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
One final question. What’s in store for 2023?
Melanie Aprin, Journalist:
Thank you very much for this overview, Jan and Christoph. All the best to the company and its employees for 2023!
