Hamburg, 10 January 2022. The Hamburg-based family-owned company Pfannenberg has appointed Dr Tobias Merl as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Pfannenberg Group. Merl will succeed Andreas Pfannenberg, who has led the company as managing partner since 1995 and is now moving to the supervisory board, on 1 January 2022.
Founded in 1954 by Otto Pfannenberg, the medium-sized company supplies its customers worldwide with components and system solutions in the field of control cabinet climatization and signaling technology. Due to its global positioning, the company is represented in many industries and protects people, machines and the environment in numerous manufacturing processes today.
Tobias Merl started his professional career as a management consultant at the Competence Centrum mittelständische Industrie (CCMI) and earned a doctorate extra-occupational in management & engineering before joining Pfannenberg as Business Development Manager in 2016. In this role, he was responsible for building up product management and developing new business areas. Since 2020, he has been a member of the management board as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and has made a significant contribution to further increasing the company's innovation capability. Merl is considered an expert in innovation strategies and transformation processes.
As part of the Pfannenberg family, Merl is continuing the success story of the traditional company in the next generation. At the heart of this is the vision of "One Pfannenberg for Our Customers", with which the company is focusing on its strength of producing innovations in close customer contact. "Specialised teams will ensure that the needs and concerns of our customers are clearly placed at focus for each product area and that advice, products and services are aligned towards individual added value. Supported by digitalisation, we can thus offer a unique customer experience worldwide," says Merl about the further strategic orientation of the group.