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ZF Way - It’s About Community ZF Way - It’s About Community
CompanyStrategy ZF Way - Our Principles

Our Principles

It’s About Community

ZF is pursuing the ZF Way. In times of transformation, when the pace of change continues to accelerate, the Group-wide and long-term program provides ZF employees in all functions, divisions and regions with orientation towards the future.

ZF Way: Powered by Teamwork

Winning together in the race for future mobility

The ZF Way is a transformation program for the organizational development of ZF and describes the “how” behind the company’s “Next Generation Mobility” strategy. It formulates the way we do things as an organization, expresses what the people at ZF stand for and how, together, they will win the race for tomorrow’s mobility.

Our Principles

How do we successfully transform our business? Our method is based on the five proven and timeless principles that helped ZF rise as a company and organization over decades to become a leading mobility specialist on global markets. They are: passion, anticipation, diversity, empowerment and accountability.

Passion

Strong will to succeed!
We work with passion to achieve outstanding results through bold decisions that are in the interest of our customers.

Anticipation

Excel & Explore!
We recognize changes at an early stage, look for new solutions and work continuously on improvements.

Diversity

Team beats silo!
We act as a team and use the advantages that arise from different mentalities, ideas and geographical regions. This is how we generate a culture of creativity.

Empowerment

Engage!
We work as a team in a collaborative and committed manner, sharing tasks and creating an atmosphere in which everyone can expand their own competencies.

Accountability

Promise made! – Promise kept!
We act pragmatically and feel accountable as a team for the promised performance as well as for the result. We act in accordance with the law and our company policies.

Intrinsic motivation

ZF Way in Practice

Next Generation Mobility is the name of the strategy, the ZF Way describes the implementation – with five principles that are lived and breathed within the company. It’s a concept that works. One proof point for this is the internal ZF Excellence Award. Since 1995, ZF employees worldwide have had the chance to receive internal recognition by submitting their creative and meaningful projects and ideas. The quality competition has thus far encompassed five categories. 2021 saw the addition of another – The ZF Way.

Numerous divisions, regions and functions submitted projects with the aim of winning the coveted award. All the ideas demonstrated a high level of commitment, creativity and determination. The projects submitted show that the ZF Way has been embraced by employees across all hierarchies and locations.

The winner of the ZF Excellence Award 2022 in the category ZF Way: The project team “Ahrweiler Flood Recovery & Crisis Management” organized and supported the reconstruction of the ZF plant in Ahrweiler, Germany, after the flood in summer 2021.

ZF Way Excellence Award: The Winners

The award is hugely important to ZF employees. In 2022, 630 creative ideas in six categories were submitted from all over the world. Here is the selection of the winners. One representative of each winning team was invited to the Award Ceremony happening in Friedrichshafen, Germany:

Learning Organization

Group-wide qualification campaign rolled out

20,000 employees have already taken part

Everything started with the E-Cademy – a further training initiative of ZF’s Electrified Powertrain Technology Division to prepare for requirements of the future. The initiative proved a resounding success, with some 20,000 employees already having taken part. In the Talent & Learning category, the E-Cademy even won the Personalwirtschaftspreis 2022.

All 82,000 ZF employees with a PC workstation have access to the successful concept under its new name: SkillsHub. After the experience with the E-Cademy showed the importance of understanding trends to be able to follow the transformation, the course material was expanded with the megatrend digitalization and incorporated into the SkillsHub.

The concept is proving popular: Just six weeks in and we had already received the ten thousandth registration. And more people are registering all the time. Moreover, it is now also possible within the scope of the SkillsHub to add learning contents for further trends.

The ZF Way - From the past into the future

For more than 100 years we have empowered and grown our ZF family. We are proud of the people who shaped our successes in the past, who do it now and will do so in the future.

Further Information

ZF Strategy: Next Generation Mobility

Our mission for clean and safe mobility – automated, convenient and affordable for everyone, everywhere.

Code of Conduct

The code of conduct underpins ZF’s principles of business behavior.

Careers at ZF

Find out entry opportunities, vacancies and good reasons for ZF here.