Review 2020 Going strong in challenging times – The LESER year in retrospect2 | leser.com On March 31, 2020, LESER concluded one of the most suc- cessful fiscal years in corporate history. We want to thank all those who have helped make this happen. Almost exactly at the time the new LESER fiscal year started on April 1, 2020, we found ourselves confronted with circumstances forced upon us by the COVID-19 pan- demic: cancellations of trade shows and customer visits, tight travelling restrictions, temporary disruptions of global supply chains, and various project order postponements or cancellations. Much like other companies, LESER promptly took the necessary steps to adjust to these new conditions. So far, LESER has been successful in implementing these chang- es, thanks to its global team – which is good news in these times where the pandemic seems to eclipse everything else. The world is changing, and the changes are not a con- sequence of COVID-19. What does this mean for LESER, and what are these changes all about? Digitalization, mobil- ity, environmental protection and climate change, competi- tive pressure and increasing protectionism around the world: All these are issues LESER, like others, must face up to. But we are in quite a good position – a position that al- lows us to see the opportunities in this changing world. One-half of the earth’s population has not yet caught up with the rest of the world in terms of economic develop- ment, and even a pandemic like the present one may open up new perspectives for LESER products – for instance, when new pharmaceutical production plants are built in many countries, so vaccines can be procured without de- pending on imports. At the beginning of the new year, a new LESER corpo- rate brochure will be ready for you. It will give you plenty of additional insight into what defines LESER. In this Review 2020 you will learn about many things that have kept LESER moving this year. Of course, a news- EDITORIAL Dear Business Partners and Friends , Dear LESER Employees, REVIEW 2020leser.com | 3 Joachim Klaus Thomas GellweilerAlexander Vocke The Board of Management. Thomas Gellweiler, Joachim Klaus, Alexander Vocke letter like this can only present a small selection of our ac- tivities. Nevertheless, it can give you an impression of what our path into the future looks like. We thank our customers, sales partners and suppliers for working closely with us during this unusual year, and we look forward to further joint activities next year. At the same time we would like to thank our employees at LESER for their hard work and their personal contributions to our com- pany’s bottom line. We wish all of you and your families a peaceful holiday season and a great start into the new year. Enjoy reading, and stay healthy! REVIEW 20204 | leser.com LESER USA LESER India LESER Singapore LESER Hohenwestedt (Germany) LESER Hamburg (Germany) LESER Brazil LESER Bahrain LESER France LESER China Sales by Division 2020/21 Budget Plan Americas 17.8% DACH Europe Asia FACTS AND FIGURES LESER Overview With more than 132,000 safety valves manufactured worldwide, nearly 147 million euros in predicted consolidated annual sales revenues (+10%), and more than 1,000 employees working at nine global LESER sites, LESER has been able to continue its success story in the 2020 fiscal year despite a challenging business environment. LESER employees, globally as of: October 2020 Employees by country as of: October Sales in million euros, consolidated 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2020 2021* 2015 2016 2016 2017 2017 2018 2018 2019 2019 2020 Fiscal years *Budget plan 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 20202019201820172016 1,053|1,057 employees globally Total: 146.6 million euros 25.0% 20.7% 36.5% 253 | 250 2020|2019 438 | 459 35 | 30 15 | 15 151 152 92 | 82 39 41 16 16 14 | 12 36.7 million euros30.3 million euros 26.1 million euros (USA share: 14.0%/ 20.5 million euros) 53.5 million euros REVIEW 2020leser.com | 5 Number of proposals & orders 2019/20 fiscal year Sales by customer group 2019/20 fiscal year, consolidated, all sites, euros Safety valves manufactured by product line Germany High Performance OEMs Sales partners globally S&R Other Compact Performance Tianjin (China) Paithan (India) Clean Service End users Best Availability Modulate Action Resellers High Efficiency Critical Service BRUSCNINSIFRDE 0 10,000 5,000 20,000 15,000 Orders Proposals 28,000 17,112 Safety valves manufactured by site November 2019 to October 2020 Hohenwestedt (Germany) Day by day Other EPCs 103,435 Units 132,749 Units API Series 43,705 20,373 6,499 10,858 1,701 484 1,086406 963 4,267 103,435 25,047 20.0 million 20.0 million 9.5 million4.5 million 14.0 million 21.5 million 45.0 million 17,360 Total: 134.5 million euros REVIEW 20206 | leser.com HEALTH & SAFETY Of hygiene concepts , remote work and large warehouse inventories The coronavirus pandemic is keeping the world on tenterhooks. Like others, LESER has adjusted some of its work processes and responded to a few local cases. Its ability to deliver internationally was maintained at all times. ■ In spring 2020, the coronavirus pandemic gradually advanced into all parts of the world. LESER itself had an employee who tested positive at the Hohenwestedt site as early as the beginning of March. The compa- ny established a crisis task force called “Corona Local Management Team”. This group reports to the owners as well as the Board of Man- agement and continues its active work. The crisis task force developed a hygiene con- cept and a pandemic plan. These include measures such as reorganizing work shifts or regularly supplying em- ployees and customers with information. The objective is to keep employees healthy and to protect LESER's operation- al continuity so customers can be served reliably. Remote work was expanded at all LESER sites. In pro- duction, the shift schedule was changed to avoid employ- ees from different shifts interacting with each other. Be- cause of the large order book, high production capacity was needed to meet the demand while adhering to infec- tion control measures. ONLINE MEETINGS AND NEW WELCOMING ROUTINES Most meetings have been held online, and within record time everybody became an expert in Teams and Skype conferences. In particular, the ICT department reacted to the situation very quickly. Watching meeting participants' hair getting longer and longer was indicative of the fact that even hair salons had to lock down for a while. The traditional custom of wel- coming people to the LESER Kontor with a handshake is not an option for the time being. INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY CAPACITY Some LESER sites had a few isolated cases of coro- navirus infections, all of which were handled effectively lo- cally. In India, the spring lockdown resulted in some found- ries having problems delivering castings. But thanks to a targeted, single-part procurement strategy, this did not have a major impact on LESER's delivery performance. The well-stocked semi-finished parts warehouses turned out to be a great benefit. Because appropriate measures were taken at an early time and clear responsibilities had been defined, business operations at LESER were safeguarded at all times. To make sure LESER is always ready to face the future and can emerge from this crisis stronger than ever, LESER will follow through with its investment plans. The discipline and prudence of our employees have kept the number of infections very low at LESER. This has enabled LESER to continue being a reliable partner for all customers despite the pandemic. ■ Photo: LESER Crisis team. A “Corona Local Management Team” coordinates the safety and hygiene measures on site Meeting. Conferencing tools enable LESER employees to communicate across continents REVIEW 2020leser.com | 7 AVL – APPROVED VENDOR LIST A list with added value Getting accepted onto a customer’s Approved Vendor List is not an easy feat. But tackling the challenges is well worth the effort – for all parties involved. ■ Customers such as plant engineering companies or op- erators specify the suppliers for their contracts, purchasing components exclusively from manufacturers that have suc- cessfully passed an approval process and been placed on the customer’s Approved Vendor List (AVL). Without under- going this process, a vendor has no chance of bidding on or delivering anything. Even being admitted to the AVL ap- proval process is challenging. When a potential customer believes it has qualified a sufficient number of suppliers, LESER has to do a lot of convincing to even be considered for the procedure. For this purpose, customers use extensive questionnaires to request data on all aspects of the company, from the previ- ous years’ sales revenues and the number of employees to the equipment available at the Hohenwestedt site, and from certifications and environmental protection measures to the product range. Nearly every company has developed its own forms or templates for collecting this information. KEEPING POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS IN FOCUS LESER launched a project to examine its internal approach to these processes and define some goals for the future. Potential customers were selected based on their potential safety valve requirements in future years. To ensure fast, timely processing of AVL applications, the worldwide ad- ministrative procedure was centralized and assigned to AVL responsibles in the Marketing department. A team of six employees (including two SMDs, two divi- sion managers and two AVL responsibles) are now in charge of ensuring that any potential obstacles are elimi- nated, the current AVL status is always visible, and there is a clear focus on target customers. In a first step, the team identified six potential customers and developed a strategy to get LESER’s name on the AVLs of all those companies. Employees from all divisions (Marketing, Sales, PS, Devel- opment) are working across divisions and sites to persuade these customers to give LESER a chance. From 2021, global pre-qualifications will be processed at the LESER Kontor; the same applies to questionnaires to be completed by LESER subsidiaries. Through these mea- sures, LESER has centralized the responsibility for AVLs. Filing pre-qualification applications is time-consuming. Placing all related activities in the hands of a dedicated team relieves Sales of these extra duties. Some potential customers have a very complex AVL approval procedure which a single LESER employee would hardly be able to handle. BECOMING A QUALIFIED PARTNER Once LESER has made it onto the plant operator’s AVL, all relevant OEMs, EPCs and sales partners know for sure they can use LESER products for the end user’s projects. LESER maintains a list that clearly shows its AVL status with all customers, including pending pre-qualifications. Currently LESER is on the Approved Vendor Lists of about 500 cus- tomers worldwide – a good basis for future orders. ■ Selection criteria In a pre-qualification procedure, LESER must submit information about many different aspects of its business, such as: ■ Finance: Sales revenues, banking data ■ Quality: Quality standards, certificates, tests, environmental protection ■ Production: Machine count, welding procedures ■ Supply Chain Management: On-time delivery, capacity utilization Process. LESER must undergo a qualification process to be put on an AVL Photo: Andrey Popov - stock.adobe.com REVIEW 20208 | leser.com Hot spot. Houston is the hub of the oil and gas industry in the United States USA PROJECT BUSINESS “Houston , we have a solution” Customer satisfaction first, then growth: New proposals for large industrial projects and plant operators in the U.S. and Canada. ■ In April 1970, astronaut Jack Swigert sent an emergen- cy message from the Apollo 13 mission to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston which has since become proverbial: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here”. 50 years after this legendary phrase, LESER is on a mission of its own – right on its doorstep: “Mission CR-20-10” is the in- ternal code name for the entry into the American project business. LESER has been successful in the USA for nearly 20 years. For customers in North America, this means: ■ Customer focus: A network of 70 LESER sales and service partners in the USA and Canada act as local customer service contacts for all plant operators. The LESER site in Charlotte, North Carolina provides support as well. ■ Technical expertise: 10 Regional Managers support the local sales and service partners. ■ Fast availability and delivery time promise: The LESER site in Charlotte has a warehouse inventory worth seven million dollars. Seven technicians assem- ble and test safety valves at this facility. They can deliver any standard valve within one to five days, and spare parts within 24 hours. ■ Short response times: Ten in-house employees make sure proposals are sent out within 24 hours. With this footprint, LESER has built a 15 percent market REVIEW 2020 Photo: ASP Inc - stock.adobe.comleser.com | 9 share in the USA and Canada, making it the largest interna- tional supplier of safety valves within North America. ENTERING THE PROJECT BUSINESS The project business in the USA now confronts LESER with new challenges. There are complex technical specifica- tions, large volumes of process data, and many unique pro- cesses. All this needs to be coordinated globally between plant operators, equipment engineering firms and suppliers, and specified and documented on hundreds of contract pages. But the general expectations are the same as always: Being close to the customer by providing local advice and expertise, meeting the delivery time promise reliably, and ensuring fast response. Today LESER can accomplish that in the USA as well. How? The key to it all is a unique team located in Houston that is specifically tasked with handling the requirements of the project business. ■ Customer focus: LESER opened an office in Houston in July 2020, where customer trainings can also be conducted. Six sales representatives stand ready to support plant engineering firms and operators locally. ■ Technical consulting, expertise and short response times: A team of engineers located in Houston, Charlotte and Hamburg coordinates processes on a daily basis to make sure valves are configured and selected according to customer specifications. They review and approve the contracts and answer technical questions promptly. The customer gets a proposal within the timeframe requested, typically 1 to 14 days. ■ Delivery time promise: Once an order has been received, a project manager and his team will make sure the order is shipped on time. The safety valves are made at the Hohenwestedt, Germany factory on an assembly line specifically set up for this purpose, called Project Line. LESER wants to send a clear message to American plant engineers and operators: “Houston, we have a solution!” ■ Service The LESER office, which is headed by Doug Sweeney, is located close to the famous space center Focused on solutions. The LESER team in Houston REVIEW 2020 Photos: LESER USNext >