Noble, courageous and sustainable by conviction - the world of Martin L?rtscher, CEO at Hugelshofer Group

After this short story, you will see the world of business with completely different eyes.

We all know it. You look at the news. It's dark in the world. Wars, political power struggles, divided societies, natural disasters. Sustainability? You find a ‘more talk than action’ approach or pure greenwashing!

Actually quite depressing. At least if you're satisfied with that. But I don't want to settle for that. When I started Elite Experts Conferences over 5 years ago, it was clear to me that we would stand for modern, unconventional human (!) technical marketing and that I would make it my personal mission to showcase exciting personalities who achieve the unusual at the interface of technology and sustainability.

So when Tarcis Berberat , VP and Managing Director of Renault Trucks Switzerland, Austria & Adria area (for more info follow Renault Trucks Schweiz & Renault Trucks ?sterreich ), called me and asked if I would be interested in attending a live event to meet the man who built one of the largest charging parks in Europe, I said: "Yes, of course!"

What could be more exciting than seeing technology in action with all the details and insights told at first hand?

On that particular day, we set off - the three of us: Tarcis, Bruno Blin - the President of Renault Trucks and myself.

We drive through an industrial area in Frauenfeld in Switzerland, park the car on the Hugelshofer site and enter the lobby. Martin L?rtscher himself, the CEO of Hugelshofer Group (for more info follow Hugelshofer Gruppe ), comes to meet us. The greeting is friendly and relaxed - everyone is visibly in a good mood. We are invited into a meeting room and Martin L?rtscher starts the presentation.

We get a brief insight into the history of the Hugelshofer company, which has been ‘on the road’ since 1877 - yes, in the first years of its foundation it was not actually on the road with trucks, but with real horsepower ?? However, we are pretty fast in our time: 200 state-of-the-art commercial vehicles, 380 motivated employees and 24/7 operation since 1999.

Before I talk about one of the largest charging parks in Europe and what makes it so special, I would like to give you a few facts about Hugelshofer:

?? The combination of rail and road transport reduces around 1.5 million road kilometres;

?? The focus is on CO2 reduction through alternative fuels: Biogas, B7 diesel and Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO)

?? There is an in-house recycling centre where 25,000 tonnes per year are sorted with a recycling rate of 75%

?? 26,000 litres of fuel consumption per day (!), which means 17,000 tonnes of CO2 per year

Then came May 21, 2017 - a day that set things in motion for Martin L?rtscher. The Swiss people voted in favour of Energy Strategy 2050 by 58.2%. What does that mean in concrete terms? Well, greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector are to be reduced by 30% by 2030 and reduced completely to zero by 2050. Wow!

And now?

That is precisely the question that Martin L?rtscher and other board members asked themselves the next day, on the morning of? May 22, 2017.

One thing is clear to Martin L?rtscher: this should not be a greenwashing project, it should not just be talk, but action.

In concrete terms, the aim is to switch more to electromobility and set up the company's own charging park.

No sooner said than done?

Well, it wasn't quite so fairytale-like! There were a few stumbling blocks on the way to a project worth almost 7 million Swiss francs. Even though Martin L?rtscher says with a smile that it was born out of a simple idea discussed with his Fleet Manager Erwin Gloor and that the approach was rather naive, the project was successfully completed. All stakeholders were brought together, they worked with a number of experts on a wide range of topics and they systematically moved from one milestone to the next.

But the most important and even the most moving thing was not the charging park itself, not the dimensions, not the technical details.

The most exciting thing for me was Martin L?rtscher's fundamental approach to this sustainability project. He is happy to share the knowledge he has built up and regularly welcomes guided tours from all over Europe that have similar plans and need the necessary expertise. He also says that it was the only thing he could do after the vote on May 21, 2017 - it was the right thing to do.

Tarcis, Bruno Blin and I are absolutely delighted. Martin L?rtscher accepts the praise, but it looks like he is very keen to share it with his employees and his cooperation partners. For him, team performance takes centre stage. And once again it becomes clear that the best and most courageous leaders are not always the ones with the biggest egos.

I don't know whether Martin L?rtscher realises how exceptional he is with his approach, an approach of genuine sustainability in practice? And that in a world where every business idea is driven by money. He proves that there is another way. You can do good and still be? successful in business.

Dear Martin L?rtscher, thank you very much for the great informative and above all absolutely inspiring time with you at the Hugelshofer headquarters ?? With your example you have shown that there are still noble heroes in the business world and that doing good and being economically successful are not mutually exclusive ?????? You ARE an inspiration - thank you for that ?? It was a great honour to be there and I am incredibly happy to share your story with my network - as inspiration, as motivation, as a clear message that being courageous pays off!

Dear Tarcis, dear Bruno, thank you for inviting me to this internal meeting ?? Thank you for letting me take a look behind the scenes ?? Thank you for Renault Trucks always being at the forefront of enabling the decarbonisation of transport as one of the leading technology partners ?????? Yes, they still exist, the heroes of the modern world!

And if you take a closer look, the world isn't so bad anymore and that gives hope - hopefully for you too, my dear reader ??

With optimistic greetings and lots of positive energy ??,

Ludmilla

#DERRtobedifferent

#leadership #AutomotiveIndustry #trucks #innovation #technology #engineering? #sustainability #inspiration #EliteExpertsConferences #LudmillaDerr