RLG reorganizes: Divisional structure to support global growth
Three divisions focused on global markets – After Market Services, Recycling Returns & Trade and Compliance Solutions – are now the pillars of the Reverse Logistics Group.
They bring together existing business units and individual companies. Each will be headed by their own Executive Vice President. The shared service departments Finance/Controlling, HR and Legal have also been combined into one area of responsibility. IT has been centralized for all companies throughout the Group, and the areas of Business Development and Project Management have been merged with Marketing to create one centralized unit for the Group within the new management structure. Experienced managers, who were recruited internally and externally, have been hired to fill the newly created management positions.
The After Market Services division now encompasses all activities of Cycleon BV, RLG Recare and RLG Healthcare. Ernst Hoestra has been serving as Executive Vice President for this division since the second half of last year. Mr. Hoestra has been with the Reverse Logistics Group since 2009, first as COO and later as CEO of the subsidiary Cycleon, where he developed the business unit for integrated returns management and expanded into the e-commerce and OEM customer segments. Mr. Hoestra previously held management positions at various postal service providers.
Ms. Rühle-Niestroy assumed the role of Executive Vice President for the Recycling Returns & Trade division in November 2014. The division combines the business activities of RLG Trade with the activities of the Recycling Returns & Trade unit at CCR Logistics Systems AG and its international subsidiaries in the areas of workshop waste disposal and individual take-back solutions for lead acid batteries, for example. RLG’s activities in China and Southeast Asia that are focused on these business fields are also included in Ms. Rühle-Niestroy’s area of responsibility.
Ms. Rühle-Niestroy has extensive management experience in Germany and abroad. Following various international positions for TÜV Rheinland, she served as managing director for an exclusive food producer in India in recent years. As a former LifeCycle manager, she also is highly familiar with the specific features of recycling logistics.
Compliance Solutions, the third pillar, is currently still being managed by RLG CEO Patrick Wiedemann. The division includes all compliance schemes subject to legal requirements for used electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and packaging as well as collective take-back systems, deposit clearing services and environmental compliance management in Germany and Europe. This division will also be responsible for activities focused on compliance solutions at RLG Americas with offices and subsidiaries in the U.S. and Latin America.
As part of the restructuring of the business divisions, functional areas at the Holding have also been reorganized. The Executive Vice President for Finance & Administration has been managing the Controlling, Human Resources and Legal departments since the start of 2015. This position is held by Mr. Markus Veit, who previously worked in Finance & Controlling for the Osram Group in Germany and abroad. The Group-wide IT activities have also been combined under one area of responsibility and are managed by Patrick Wiedemann. The Business Development and Project Management unit, which includes Marketing, has been created to function as a further shared service at the Holding level. This department is headed by Mr. Ulf Hallmann, who is an experienced manager and has been active for many years in various positions at RLG and in Group companies.
“It is our goal to position RLG as a global partner for our customers, who are just as diverse as RLG and operate on a nationwide and global scale. This restructuring allows us to create the internal preconditions to continue achieving our ambitious growth objectives in a targeted manner and to distinguish ourselves globally as the focused specialist for reverse logistics in our three business divisions,” Patrick Wiedemann said.