“There are situations where it’s good to be forced into a fortunate position,” says Wolfgang Oehm. And his almost mischievous smile almost makes you forget just how serious he is. In less than 35 years, the now 79-year-old has built one of Germany’s most successful companies in Lindlar. With a good idea, perseverance, the ability to be self-critical—and because he occasionally let himself be forced into a lucky situation.
In the early 1980s, Oehm was a plant manager at a plastics company—and was frustrated that his employer had to buy heating oil on one hand, while the machines were releasing their waste heat unused on the other. So he developed a technology to harness the waste heat and thus save energy and money, hoping that others would take care of marketing it.
“But that was the TV show ‘Make a Wish,’” says Wolfgang Oehm today. After a short time, he had to face the fact: Either he would take charge of his idea himself, or nothing would come of it. And so, for the first time, he let himself be pushed into taking a chance: In his mid-40s, he went into business for himself and, with just 60 square meters of space, two employees, and the support of his wife and daughter, founded the company ONI. Today, the company has about 480 employees.
The latest expansion alone—a production hall that went into operation in 2013—covers around 4,000 square meters. What sounds like a unique success story was hard work. For the founder personally, too. The first conversations with potential customers, Oehm recalls, didn’t go very well. If it were all that easy, they said, someone would have done it long ago. “At first, I thought the customers were stupid,” says Oehm. “But then I had the brilliant idea to take a closer look at the concept of self-criticism.” So he called the prospective customers again, asked what he had done wrong—and let them convince him to give it another try.
Because, as is a guiding principle at ONI, there’s always room for improvement. And so, over the years, more and more business areas have been added—eleven to date. The latest addition to the company is called “AquaClean.” Since there was no decent solution on the market for keeping the water clean in the cooling systems that ONI builds, they simply developed one themselves. It all started at the end of 2017, and the first systems are now installed at customer sites.
From the day it was founded, today’s Volksbank Berg has supported Wolfgang Oehm and his company.
Incidentally, it’s the only bank. “I don’t see why we’d need five or six banks when we’re satisfied with just one,” says Oehm. Because even though his products go all over the world, he values the personal connection with his bank. “A relationship of trust has developed over the years,” says Wolfgang Oehm. And anyone who sees how bank advisor Roland Pohl is greeted at the company almost like an old friend—and knows nearly all the employees by name—understands exactly what he means.
It was also Pohl who nominated ONI for the Initiative Award from the cooperative WGZ Bank, which the company won in 2012. Just one of more than 40 national and international awards, ranging from four gold medals at the plastics trade fair in Kielce, Poland, to the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Federal Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, and even the Federal Cross of Merit. In 2016, ONI was honored by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Foundation as “Opportunity Provider of the Year.” In the final round, the Lindlar-based company prevailed over competitors including the Ford plant in Cologne. Oehm and ONI are deeply committed to causes beyond mere business. Through donations, certainly, but above all as an employer and training provider—for both young and older employees. “Over the years, we’ve certainly hired more than 300 employees over the age of 50,” says Oehm. And the company is already known as a first-class training provider—and has received multiple awards for it.
Not entirely without self-interest, as Wolfgang Oehm readily admits. After all, his company can always use motivated and well-trained employees. “For every 50th system we install anywhere in the world, we need another fully trained service technician,” says Oehm. “But not just any old clown, but a really good one.” So ONI takes care of this itself, is once again forced to make its own fortune—and simply brings the trainees and employees along for the ride.
