December 2019. The freezing cold warehouse of a recently acquired ZUFALL logistics site is filling up with people for the first time in a long while—logisticians, freight forwarders, and a few consultants from Timmermann are also present. On a stage made of stacked pallets, Peter Müller-Kronberg, the managing partner, speaks and explains what is happening today: the beginning of Friedrich ZUFALL GmbH's innovation journey—heading towards new frontiers.

He took over the leadership of the family business at its headquarters in Göttingen in 2015, supported by an experienced management team. Customer relationships are stable, and the company is on solid footing. While this stability is reassuring for the new management and employees, it also presents a challenge. When an organization is firmly rooted in the past and present, how can it position itself for the future? How can experience be transformed into innovation?

ZUFALL is initiating a process that aims to set the course for an innovative and successful future by the company's centenary in 2028: ZUFALL100. Strategy, organizational design, culture, and communication will all be made future-proof, and this will be done from within ZUFALL itself. Therefore, the Timmermann Group has been brought in as a consulting firm to gradually empower ZUFALL to achieve this on its own. 

The idea of developing important innovations in an in-house future lab, gradually familiarizing more and more employees with new ways of working, agility, and constant innovation, came from ZUFALL itself. The premises for this initiative are thanks to the instincts of PMK, who immediately saw the opportunity to implement his vision for the zufall.lab in the facility.

In the development of the concept, communication, and practicing agile work methods, Timmermann was a driver, sparring partner, and simply a helper in every sense: the opening day was planned and executed by the change facilitators and Agile Coaches from the Timmermann Group. This included the presentation of the space, integration into ZUFALL's daily work routine, and a first hands-on experience of the new working methods. In separate work sessions, the over 100 participants from all locations then had the opportunity to develop innovative ideas for the logistics of lithiumion batteries.

Due to the pandemic, the grand public opening with customers, partners, the press, and politicians has not yet taken place, but the lab has long since settled into its routine. Teams from all locations and departments are developing a variety of ideas agilely until they are ready for decision-making, including ideas that emerged during the work sessions of the internal opening. The first patents are already being filed. This innovative strength is internally described as "Gaining new experiences," because experience ultimately consists of innovations that have been successful.

ZUFALL itself has summarized the most significant moments of the kickoff event in this video (unfortunately, only available in German):