Podcast „Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“

Around ten million electrical appliances leave the plants of the WIK Group every year. Anyone who pulls an espresso in the morning or blows their hair dry has a good chance of using one of them without knowing it. The manufacturer from Essen develops and produces espresso machines, fully automatic coffee machines, and hair dryers for major brands – its own name remains invisible. “The stage belongs to the brands,” says CEO Christoph Dörn.

At the helm of this electrical appliance manufacturer is a man who originally wanted to become an actor and considers himself a marine conservationist. His father thought that was incompatible: “You are either an entrepreneur or green.” Christoph Dörn, CEO in the third generation since 2016, wants to prove the opposite.

When he joined the company, he still believed a clear announcement was enough: “If I go there now and announce that this is the new direction, it will just work.” But it didn't. Programs were launched and fizzled out, the workforce hesitated. The turnaround only came when he involved the entire organization in strategy development and shared personal stories for the first time: “Suddenly people saw Christoph and got to know Christoph,” he says. “Now I am in the fortunate position that the whole organization is really embracing the topic.”

WIK wants to produce according to the cradle-to-cradle principle, without toxic materials, and the manufacturing facilities are already certified. On a scale of one to ten, Dörn still sees his company at only 0.8. He says he is never satisfied because he always feels that “it’s all too little and far too late anyway.” Nevertheless, he looks at the company's development with confidence.

Christoph Dörn also talks about why he doesn't believe the solution lies in producing less, and why his eldest son admonishes strangers not to litter. Recorded live at Maschinenraum Momentum 2026 – in the podcast “Alles neu…? Aus dem Maschinenraum” with Tobias Rappers and Katja Michel.

How can the origin and future of Mittelstand companies be courageously united? What are the challenges facing family businesses and what experiences do they gather in digital transformation? These questions are answered by “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“, the interview podcast for German Mittelstand*. Once a month, Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Nils Kreimeier, Senior Editor of the business magazine Capital, talk to thought leaders and makers from the heart of the German economy and focus on the personalities and their motivation. *The podcast is in German.

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