INP is an innovative company:
"We have grown organically. After 25 years, INP International Projects is today a globally active, independent engineering company. Our range of services covers all tasks relating to power plant and major plant construction," explain the Managing Directors, Georg Jester and Knut Mertens, with pride. The company is based in Römerberg near the German city of Speyer.
Its key competences are in process and control engineering, instrumentation & control systems, rectifier and drive technology, electrical engineering, machinery and welding technology – from planning and implementation through to follow-up support. Projects and about 100 customers are distributed all over the world. "We have developed specialist skills and we know the ins and outs of many sectors and markets," continue the entrepreneurs in their description. A further specialisation concerns the topic of energy optimisation. Here, specialists from INP have developed their own regulators for example. The company was founded in 1989 as a small planning bureau in Speyer, called Nicklas & Partner GmbH; it has since grown into an enterprise employing 450 men and women. This success is closely intertwined with the story and commitment of the company founder, Katharina Jester-Lutz: 25 years ago, she took the bold step into self-employment as a means of putting bread on the table for herself and her small daughter following the sudden death of her husband in an accident. This was a courageous move, but after initial difficulties the company soon proved successful and has grown continuously ever since. In 1997, it was time to move to the company's own building in the Römerberg industrial estate.
From 1999 onwards, further sites were gradually added in Switzerland, the USA, Austria, South Africa, France, Brazil and Canada. In 2007, the company was renamed as INP International Projects. "We are also on the lookout for qualified personnel at the moment," stresses Georg Jester. The brother of the company founder has been one of the Managing Directors since 2000. The engineer Knut Mertens has been a Managing Director since 2010. Workforce satisfaction is highly important for the company.
Six apprentices and five students are also working at the headquarters in Römerberg. In its anniversary year, the company displayed its appreciation for the workforce by offering them presents every two months. Customers also received special gifts from the local region, known as the Palatinate. The Christmas party at the Technical Museum in Speyer will be a highlight.
The sales of the complete group last year amounted to more than €43 million. INP Deutschland GmbH posted €27.6 million of this. €600,000 was invested in capital goods, and additional employees were hired as well. During the past three years, according to the company's own figures, it has invested more than €2 million in expanding its sites and in business equipment. Amongst other things, the headquarters in Römerberg have been expanded and modernised. The Managing Directors are expecting that 2014 will finish with a clear growth in sales in the double-digit percentage range.
Challenges facing the company include the crisis in German and European power plant construction, political unrest worldwide as well as the falling oil price, they continue. "Markets are changing. We are responding strategically and flexibly. Our plan is to continue on the course of internationalisation. We are specifically considering three new countries," say Jester and Mertens, looking positively to the future. In this, both of them appreciate the impulses and suggestions from the External Economic Relations committee of the ICC Palatinate, which Jester has been an active member of since 2007. (kahy)
@
