Annual Report 2022

What a Year It Was

Looking back, there was the end of Covid, a turning point and a war in Europe, increasing climate change and growing energy problems, critical infrastructure and struggling digital strategies… headlines that have been thrust into our focus, whether we like it or not. Yes, there have been simpler times. But as always, current problems have a tendency to act like a burning glass on issues that were previously neglected – or were assessed differently.

Putting Our Own House in Order

As a company, you know the problem all too well. No matter how urgent an issue, there are two more important ones, and no matter how important an issue, there are two more urgent ones. But because “just carrying on as usual” is not an option, Fichtner took the milestone of its 100th anniversary as an opportunity to look ahead and break with cherished “traditions” to do so. One specific example is this blog article. As nice as a printed annual report was, it was time for a break, for communication reasons as well as environmental ones. So from now on, we will be using the Fichtner blog as a medium for topical discussions on issues and projects, on technical and human aspects – for a more international, more interactive and more informative approach. In conjunction with social media, above all LinkedIn, the blog will increasingly be a sign of change and our contemporary communicative contribution to it. Here’s to year 101 onwards!

Infrastructure Issues – A Trend?

Back to the “big issues”. The critical infrastructure already mentioned above is certainly not the only infrastructure issue that needs to be scrutinized. Especially in Germany, many topics have been debated without significantly increasing the pressure to take action. And so all of us – our clients and we as service providers – are heading for ever-growing challenges. One of the biggest at the moment is:

Staff Shortages

Now, staff are certainly not considered infrastructure, but a shortage of them leads to an exacerbation of the same problems. And there are hardly any sectors, industries or markets that it does not affect. Various factors are increasingly multiplying into one big, all-encompassing evil, that being demographic change, especially in the Western world. Declining attractiveness of technical degree programs and industrial apprenticeships. A changing work-life attitude and balance among younger generations. Major transformation processes in industry to cope with the energy transition require more staff, who simply do not exist in terms of numbers and expertise.

What That Means for Fichtner

Clearly, it means being a good, safe, reliable and attractive employer for our employees. Providing exciting and varied projects, fostering human interaction, broadening interdisciplinary experiences, and offering sustainable personal careers. Arguments that I think are very much in favor of Fichtner, our size, structure, internationality, values and convictions, and of course our breadth and depth of content.

Leading, Also in Issues for the Future

Another issue for the future involves hydrogen – as a basis for transforming industry, building sustainable industrial value chains and, last but not least, opening up new options in the field of sustainable mobility. Here, too, Fichtner benefits from its knowledge and experience in all subject and application areas: renewable energies, power grids, heat, transport, process engineering, water treatment and IT.

Better Infrastructure Is Climate Protection

In many regions of the world, we have to increasingly expect longer dry spells, cope with low annual precipitation and learn to deal with heavy rainfall. This calls for new ways of thinking to enable us to make more effective use of water and wastewater, while ensuring an economically viable water supply.

The complexity of all these tasks requires systemic approaches. For this to succeed, independent consulting services are called for, which Fichtner can provide, employing innovative and integral approaches that transcend system boundaries and enable sustainable economic activity. Our aspiration and our strength lie in precisely this intelligent combination of all expertise to create a sustainably better overall solution.

A Brief Conclusion

2022 was a year that showed us how quickly times are changing and how critical it will be to respond just as quickly. Unfortunately, time does not heal all wounds. They are best healed together.

From the many projects that Fichtner supported, managed or oversaw worldwide over the past year in its Energy, Renewable Energies & Environment, Water & Infrastructure, and Consulting & IT business sectors, I would like to highlight the following ones. Each one describes a particular task and tells a special story. At the same time, they combine to provide an overall impression of what makes Fichtner so unique. I will limit myself to a short introduction for each of them. Each project has a blog article dedicated to it, which you can then access directly with one click.

Fichtner Is One of the Best Management Consultants in the Energy Industry

It’s always good to finish on a high note: The Handelsblatt Research Institute (HRI) has identified the most renowned consulting firms in 22 consulting fields. Fichtner Management Consulting (FMC) was voted Top Consultancy 2022 in the energy industry. For the ranking, a peer group of 15,815 management consultants from 320 consulting firms was identified and asked about the most renowned companies in their consulting fields. The top list is the result of that survey.

We are very pleased to receive this accolade and to be recognized for our trusting cooperation with our clients. This is a fine way to round off our anniversary year, while also demonstrating how intensively and successfully Fichtner and its employees are working to help shape the future.

July 2023