Repositioned for the Future

The studied mechanical engineer and PhD in business administration Dr. Werner Boysen, a business consultant specializing in restructuring and long-term stabilization of companies, has been serving as the interim CEO of Carl Stahl GmbH & Co. KG since the beginning of 2024. "Until last year, Carl Stahl produced safety belts for Tier-1 suppliers in the automotive industry by 90%. We wanted to move away from this almost exclusive focus on automotive," he reports. "That's why I brought Udo Meining into the company in January this year, who is very knowledgeable in the textile industry. Together with him and another employee, we have started to develop a range of non-automotive products." Before joining Carl Stahl, Udo Meining was CEO and marketing head at a manufacturer of technical textiles and before that, Vice President of a US textile company. "With Carl Stahl, we will take new paths," he is confident. "We also want to increasingly develop B2C products and have already started several projects with the Textile University of Albstadt, such as making bags and handbags from material we obtain from recycling our production waste. Another project is a hanging system for balcony railings and boxes, which should contribute to the greening of cities. More projects are in the pipeline." A major strength of Carl Stahl, according to the sales expert, lies in the people who work for the company: "There are so many professional, innovative-thinking employees here," says Udo Meining, and Werner Boysen adds: "Many good ideas come from our staff. This is another strength of Carl Stahl, along with the unbeatable quality of our products, our delivery reliability, and excellent cooperation with customers." 

In Conversation with Customers

In the medium term, it will be important to increase output and make production more effective through digitalization and automation, Udo Meining knows. It will also be necessary to show more presence at trade fairs. Thus, Carl Stahl has been present with a booth at R+T in Stuttgart and TechTextil in Frankfurt and has come into conversation with customers. "We aim for a good mix of customers," says Werner Boysen. "Ideally, in the future, 50% automotive and 50% non-automotive, with industries such as mechanical engineering, where belts can replace traditional chains. Other products include complete belt systems in the field of cargo securing and transport, such as in cargo bikes, safety belt systems for roller coasters, belt systems for emergency services, fastenings for airbags, and roller shutter belts – here we already cover 40% of the demand in Germany." For the future, Werner Boysen and Udo Meining aim to achieve further development and modernization as well as profitable growth. "There are always opportunities to successfully transform a company," Werner Boysen concludes.