Familiar leadership in a new role: Dr Birgitt Bendiek is immediately taking over as Managing Director for the German business division of the ZINQ Group, making her responsible for almost 1,000 employees at over 20 locations. The metallurgist has already been with the company for 20 years, many of them in a management position. By appointing her as Managing Director, the market leader for surface technology is relying on in-house expertise and continuity: „For the demanding German business, Birgitt Bendiek combines precisely the qualities that matter: professional know-how, many years of management experience and, above all, an appreciative approach to people – to employees just as much as to our customers. The appointment from within our own ranks underlines the value of our long-term HR strategy,“ says Lars Baumgürtel, Managing Partner of the ZINQ Group.

As an energy-intensive company, ZINQ is currently facing major challenges: developing new potential for proven ZINQ surfaces in a difficult economic environment while simultaneously driving forward the transformation of surface technology towards climate neutrality and the circular economy. „Consolidating while investing at the same time – to achieve this, we need to consistently align our services with current market developments and drive forward the transformation of the company. This requires a change in mindset and new structures – and we have already initiated precisely these at ZINQ in order to make our production more efficient. I see my central task as shaping the transformation process together as a team and leading it responsibly,” explains Birgitt Bendiek.

She has the ideal background for this: Birgitt Bendiek has been with ZINQ since 2005, initially working in the field of technology and integrated management systems. Following her first operational role as plant and divisional manager, she had been responsible as Managing Director of ZINQ Technologie GmbH (ZT) since 2014 for the development of new surface technologies and thus also for the company's material and energetic transformation.

The transformation towards circular surface technology is a key objective of the ZINQ Group, which has been driven forward within the company for over ten years with the Planet ZINQ business model. „Our goal is a genuine circular economy – based on the principles of triple zero: zero emissions, zero waste, zero pollution. I am convinced that we can sustainably strengthen our competitiveness through future-orientated action. The path there is demanding, but we at ZINQ will continue to pursue it consistently. My task now is to implement this transformation across all German ZINQ sites,“ says Bendiek.