Waiblingen, 12/20/2018 | Company press release
Anke Kleinschmit new STIHL Executive Board Member for Development
At its meeting yesterday, the STIHL AG Supervisory Board appointed Anke Kleinschmit as the new Executive Board Member for Development. Anke Kleinschmit will join STIHL AG as an Executive Board Member on May 1, 2019, and on July 1, 2019 will take over from Wolfgang Zahn, the current STIHL Executive Board Member for Development, who has held the post since July 1999 and will be leaving the company at the end of June for age-related reasons.
On May 1, 2019, Anke Kleinschmit will be joining STIHL AG as an Executive Board Member and will succeed Wolfgang Zahn as STIHL Executive Board Member for Development, on July 1, 2019.
Under the leadership of Wolfgang Zahn, several billion euros were invested in the research and development of STIHL products. For example, a new development center was built in 2004, and a center of excellence for environmentally friendly electric and cordless products was set up at the parent company in Waiblingen in 2016. Not only was STIHL cordless technology developed during his term in office, but a number of world firsts and many technical innovations were also launched to market. These made STIHL products both more powerful and more convenient to use, but also improved their ergonomics and reduced their emissions. These included, for example, the STIHL TS 500i and MS 500i, the world’s first cut-off machine and the world’s first chainsaw with electronically controlled injection, and product features such as Ergostart, the STIHL 4-Mix engine and STIHL M-Tronic engine management. Since 1999, the STIHL Group’s revenue has more than trebled from 1.14 billion euros to 3.8 billion euros (fiscal year 2017).
Anke Kleinschmit was previously the head of Powertrain Technology Factory at Daimler AG where, among other things, she advanced digitalization in production. She joined Daimler-Benz as a computational engineer immediately after obtaining her degree in mechatronic engineering in 1992. Following roles as a Development Engineer in Design and as Head of the Drive Electronics Center, she became head of the Transmissions Center of Excellence in 2013. In 2015, she become Director of Group Research before becoming responsible for the Powertrain Technology Factory.
