Kick-off 2020
This year's annual kick-off under the motto “2020 - our year” took place on January 17, 2020.
The special thing about this year's kick-off is that we celebrated it in our own four walls. Some 200 employees from Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain, and China all celebrated at our newly opened Plant II on the same day.
It was completely different than in previous years: Everyone sat on wooden benches at wooden tables, where we were spoiled by the excellent buffet supplied by Sonne Malterdingen (www.catering-sonne.de) and had a very pleasant and unforgettable evening, thanks to the great support provided by Zimmer Event & Technik. The mood was quite festive, and it was more than apparent that the employees enjoyed the evening and felt very comfortable in their own four walls.
The entire, entertaining evening, which was moderated by Anna Merkle, passed in a flash. Christen Merkle looked back on the year 2019 and then ventured a forecast for the new year, 2020. He expanded on the motto which had just been issued on that evening and voiced his desire that all employees should follow the “100 x 8 rule” every day: Everyone should give 100% for 8 working hours every day in 2020. Total commitment, full throttle. Because, as the past has shown again and again, only by working together can we get a lot done. We call this the “AHP spirit”.
Following this presentation, General Manager Katrin Merkle presented a bouquet of flowers and a gift to each person in attendance celebrating his/her 15th, 20th, 25th or 30th jubilee at the company. Then a film was shown in which the employees who were celebrating their 30th jubilee reviewed the past three decades. We once again wish all of our jubilarians all the best, good health, and pleasant cooperation in the future.
Then there was also another exciting item on the agenda. During last year's kick-off, we initiated a challenge: Each employee was permitted to take part in a “fitness challenge”. For this purpose, each participant received a fitness bracelet that recorded steps, calories, etc. throughout the entire year in 2019. The winner was awarded a sports voucher worth €200. The winner among the ladies was a member of the Sales Team who had taken an impressive 3,922,952 steps and burned 153,816 calories in the process. Close behind her was an employee from the Work Preparation Team, who had walked 3,431,133 steps and burned 127,240 calories. The winner among the men was a young employee from the Turning Team who had taken an unbelievable 6,057,041 steps and burned 380,096 calories in the process. 2nd place was awarded to an employee from the Bar Stock Team. He walked 5,247,309 steps while consuming 287,499 calories. We congratulate all of our winners on their performance and are proud to have such employees at our company!
Towards the end of the evening, three employees from different teams went on stage together with their representatives to cordially thank the general management in the name of all employees!
It was a long, successful day. On the road to “2020 - our year!”. To ensure that this goal will be achieved, we will make the best out of every single day.