Career
In 1907 Friedrich Hahne and Christian Wilkening founded a chair-making factory named Wilkhahn in Eimbeckhausen near Hannover. Fritz Hahne managed the company from 1946 to 1982 and reformed the German entrepreneurship. He looked for new ways of enabling employees to share actively in the company"s success.
He established the maxim "Number orders without explanations".
The goal: a relationship based on partnership and responsibility. In the 1960s he worked in close collaboration with the Ulmer Hochschule für Gestaltung (Ulm Academy of Design).
They set standards in product design. At a staff meeting in December 1970 Fritz Hahne announced a 50% profit-sharing scheme for employees to come into effect in January 1971.
Distinctions and