At its meeting at the beginning of October, the Presiding Committee of the Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG accepted the proposal of the Board of Managing Directors to separate the Automotive Aftermarket from the Automotive division of Schaeffler AG and to set it up as a stand-alone division, as of January 1, 2018. As a consequence the Schaeffler Group will divide its business into three divisions – Automotive OEM, Automotive Aftermarket and Industrial.
The Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG decided to appoint Michael Söding (pictured) to become member of the board of managing directors, effective January 1. From there on he assumes responsibility for the Automotive Aftermarket business on board level. Söding has been head of automotive aftermarket within Automotive division since 2009. He holds a degree in business and engineering from Darmstadt Technical University. Prior to joining Schaeffler Group he served among others at Pirelli Germany and Exide Automotive Batterie in various management positions.
Georg F. W. Schaeffler, chairman of the supervisory board of Schaeffler AG, said: “With the appointment of Michael Söding we have again promoted an internal top manager to become Member of the Board of Managing Directors of Schaeffler AG. In the last years Michael Söding has contributed significantly to successfully develop our Automotive Aftermarket business. With his experience and know-how across technological, operational and strategic issues he will enrich the Executive Board. On behalf of the Supervisory Board I wish Söding all the best and every success in his new role.”
The three divisions of the Schaeffler Group will in future be managed from Divisional Headquarters; the Automotive OEM division will be headquartered in Bühl. The new Automotive Aftermarket division will be managed from Langen. The Industrial division continues to be located in Schweinfurt. The Corporate Headquarter of Schaeffler Group will remain in Herzogenaurach.
Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler AG, said: “The decisions taken today by our Supervisory Board further underscore our ambitions to shape the future of Schaeffler Group in a fast-changing market and competitive environment and to become even more customer-oriented. These steps shall contribute to further strengthen our global Automotive Aftermarket business, simplify our structures and enable faster decisions.”
