The window as a symbol can mean the future, retrospect, separation or even connection between the inner and outer worlds. You can see who is coming – as with nice guests – or what might come, for example in bad weather. And so, in our “Room with a View” section, we always look outside with one person, at what moves us. First, we take a look at the company’s website: At the Kellergroup, an international logistics group, it shows us the state capital Stuttgart from above. However, looking down is not Stephan Hewel’s thing – on the contrary. He is someone who likes to act on an equal footing, without airs and graces. And he is someone who can look back without melancholy, but who keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the future. Especially since, as he tells me, he is retiring in January. If that’s not a perspective! Hewel is as you know him – casual in boots, jeans and a simple white shirt. Behind the billiard table, we look through floor-to-ceiling windows at the surrounding buildings – all world market leaders such as Trumpf, Thales and Porsche. On the one hand, this is good for the region, but on the other hand, it takes away the space for medium-sized companies like the Kellergroup to expand. From the window you can also see a quiet and healthy environment here – in today’s world really not a matter of course.
It is important to him that the people around him are doing well. After his own health setbacks, the 60-year-old is now gradually handing over responsibility to the next generation. His son Alexander Hewel will continue to run the business together with his wife Kora and his brother Christopher. Contract logistics, freight forwarding and consulting will remain the cornerstones of the family-owned company in the future. In addition, the company is planning another prestigious project: In addition to the goods distribution center for Breuninger, the electronics chain Euronics, which is also located at the site, the shirt manufacturer Olymp, the fashion retailer New Yorker and the KaDeWe in Berlin, a state-of-the-art logistics center in Walsrode is currently being planned and implemented. “This will be a lighthouse project,” says Stephan Hewel. “I want to preserve the values of the company. My grandfather and father dedicated themselves to the company and built it up with a lot of personal commitment. We have done a lot of things right over the past decades. This must be continued.” Hewel actually wanted to become an architect, but then decided to focus on logistics instead of Opel. “I was a free spirit as a child, not very consistent at school. I didn’t want to study, I wanted to deal with people, to make a difference.” Speaking of moving: Before we get to the Babbelrunde via his social commitment such as Stare Care and Power Child, we go to the in-house casino for lunch with photographer Frederik Dulay. The casino is squeezed between two warehouses, but that doesn’t say anything about the quality of the food. It is first-class – here too there are no compromises at Hewel. Over the main course of pink roasted saddle of venison, red cabbage and spaetzle with hazelnut butter, he tells us that, in addition to international cuisine, he likes the Swabian cuisine with roast beef, spaetzle and ravioli best. So much so that he ran a Swabian restaurant in faraway New York under the name “The Schwob – Schwob’s Original”. Over espresso, we talk about his network, such as the Babbelrunde. Babbel… what? The group meets once a month, usually in the evening at a company, and participation with food costs about 100 euros. 100 percent of the money goes to a social institution. The group now has over 300 members, including Mark Bezner
(Olymp) and Volker Gerstenmaier (head of the private bank Ellwanger & Geiger). Stephan Hewel is extremely well connected, he decides who is there. But even Hewel can’t do without Swabian tradition: If you make a deal at a meeting, you have to make a thousandth of a profit.
of which to the Babbelrunde. Nothing comes from nothing.
Change. Transformation, change, digital, AI. These are precisely the big issues for which a new generation of minds and managers is needed. The Kellergroup is repositioning itself for the coming decades. In addition to handing over to the next generation, it is important to master the current difficult economic situation with rising inflation and recession even after crises such as Corona, the Ukraine war or currently in the Middle East. “I expect that it will take a long time to get out of this difficult situation, especially since the general conditions are anything but positive.” He is also critical of the online business for the retail trade, which is causing the entire economic situation in this area to be in trouble. “With our consulting company, we are trying to optimize processes here using new logistical approaches in order to keep the retail trade efficient and economical and thus strengthen it again.”
Well, the appointment with photo shoot and interview is over. I say goodbye to Stephan Hewel – the man who is looking forward to a new phase of his life.
Keller GmbH Spedition + Logistik
Dieselstraße 13-15
71254 Ditzingen
