Blueprint for better: How GEA rebuilt itself
January 5, 2026
Since 2019, GEA has risen from underperformer to DAX member – one of Germany's top 40 listed companies – by fostering entrepreneurship and turning sustainability into a competitive advantage. It reached this milestone in its nearly 145-year history without tailwinds or shortcuts, in a world of compounding crises. This turnaround shows what's possible when purpose and performance align.
“In 2019, we were in a difficult situation,” recalls CEO Stefan Klebert, who took the helm that year amid the turmoil. “We had world-class engineers and a highly skilled workforce. But we had built a structure that systematically drained their initiative and prevented them from doing what they do best.”
Six years later, the contrast could not be sharper. In September 2025, GEA achieved a fast-entry promotion to the DAX, Germany’s premier stock index – the first and only pure-play machinery and plant manufacturer to make this leap. This milestone followed a record-breaking 2024, in which the company raised its EBITDA margin forecast twice and hit its strategic financial targets two years ahead of schedule. This ascent occurred even as the German economy struggled, making GEA’s revival all the more striking.
GEA CEO, Stefan Klebert in an interview with Samir Ibrahim (ARD) on the occasion of the company's promotion to the DAX index. (© Image: Deutsche Börse / Martin Joppen)
"In 2019, we were in a difficult situation. We had world-class engineers and a highly skilled workforce. But we had built a structure that systematically drained their initiative and prevented them from doing what they do best."
Stefan Klebert
CEO, GEA Group
Restoring ownership and performance culture
The turnaround began with a clear diagnosis. The organizational experiment had failed. The complex setup wasn't creating synergies; it was creating friction. Klebert and his team responded with a structural reset built on two core principles.
First, ownership and accountability. The rigid structure that had obscured responsibilities was replaced by five divisions, each with their own management team and profit-and-loss responsibility. The goal was to foster agility and transparency, empowering business units to move fast, stay close to customers and focus on their core strengths. The shift restored the entrepreneurial spirit that had been stifled.
Second, performance culture. Managers received clear targets and the authority to meet them. High performers were rewarded. Those who consistently underdelivered were replaced. Klebert’s core principle, often repeated, became a cultural mantra: “A budget is a budget – and it stays a budget.” The clarity of this results-driven approach proved central to GEA’s successful transformation.
Equally important was the consistency of communication. To regain shattered trust, the leadership team set clear financial targets, communicated them transparently – and then reliably delivered on them, quarter after quarter. After years of broken promises, this discipline helped restore market confidence.
The sustainability premium
GEA also made sustainability a strategic priority – and a competitive advantage. In 2021, the company launched what was then the most ambitious climate strategy in its industry, committing to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. The targets were validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, and in 2024, GEA became the first company in the DAX index family to offer shareholders a "Say on Climate" vote on its climate strategy. It passed with 98.4 percent support.
By the end of 2024, GEA had already reduced its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 58 percent since 2019. By 2025, the company’s efforts had earned GEA another Platinum rating from EcoVadis – placing it in the top one percent of rated companies globally – and the #12 spot on TIME’s list of the World’s 500 Most Sustainable Companies, including #2 in Germany.Through its Mission 30 strategy, the company aims to generate more than 60 percent of revenue from sustainable solutions by 2030 – making environmental performance a defining driver of business growth. And the impact is already visible, also for customers. At one dairy producer in Denmark, gas consumption fell so sharply after installing a new GEA system that the local energy provider called to ask whether the plant was still operating.
“Our customers are under pressure from two directions,” notes Dr. Nadine Sterley, GEA’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “They face rising energy costs and tighter climate regulations. They need machines that do more with less – less energy, less water and fewer resources. Meeting that need is both a responsibility and a clear economic imperative for GEA.”
GEA Climate Transition Plan 2040
GEA’s pathway to net zero
Transforming service
GEA also turned its service business into a strategic growth engine. Using AI-driven solutions, condition monitoring and 24/7 remote support, the company is shifting from traditional maintenance to predictive, data-driven service across the lifespan of GEA systems. For customers, that means higher availability, lower costs and fewer unexpected downtimes – the currency of modern production lines.
The impact is clear. Tailored service partnerships deliver gains in availability, productivity and sustainability. A partnership with one UK dairy, for example, resulted in response times under 12 minutes, problem resolution within an hour, a 120-ton annual CO2 reduction – and an 80 percent increase in service investment from the customer. Overall, service revenue at GEA grew from 32 percent of total sales in 2019 to 39 percent in 2024, creating a more resilient, higher-margin revenue mix.Closer to customers
Finally, GEA is embracing a localization strategy to hedge against protectionism and supply chain volatility – and to capture growth in the world's fastest-expanding markets. While maintaining global centers of excellence in countries like Germany and Italy, the company expanded regional production capabilities with next-generation facilities in Poland, Germany and the United States.
Major hubs in China and India position GEA close to markets with strong long-term growth potential. The localization approach shortens lead times, strengthens customer collaboration and insulates GEA from trade barriers. Despite tariffs, for example, GEA has seen no slowdown in North America.
GEA office and production site in Vadodara, India (Image: GEA)
Built for the megatrends
GEA's revival is a story of good management, but also of strategic alignment with transformative global shifts. By concentrating on food, beverage and pharmaceuticals – essential sectors fueled by demographic growth and rising middle-class demand in emerging markets – GEA has built a resilient business model. Nearly 80 percent of revenue now comes from these industries. GEA's footprint in daily life is remarkable: every second liter of beer globally, every fourth liter of milk or a quarter of the world’s pasta – all are produced using GEA technologies.
Re-inventing German industry
At the bell-ringing ceremony in Frankfurt, marking GEA’s DAX inclusion, CEO Klebert emphasized what the turnaround represents. “Anyone looking at GEA today sees a company in excellent shape: profitable, innovative, financially strong and above all: fit for the future,” he said. “The greatest growth opportunities lie directly ahead of us – in the sustainable transformation of industry.”
The timing made the achievement even more striking. In 2025, Germany’s export-driven economy was under strain. Global geopolitical shifts, rising protectionism and domestic challenges like high energy costs left iconic sectors such as steel, automotive and chemicals struggling. Even mechanical engineering – long a backbone of German industry – was feeling the pressure, with an eight-percent contraction in 2024, followed by further declines.
GEA's transformation offers proof: German engineering can compete and win in a world demanding smarter, cleaner, more efficient solutions. The crisis of 2019 forced GEA to confront hard truths. The revival that followed shows what's possible when a company aligns purpose with performance – and gives its people the freedom to deliver.
