The ever-evolving pharmaceutical industry demands leaders who are passionate, innovative and driven – qualities that Stephan Göttsche exemplifies. These attributes have quickly established him as a dynamic and influential leader in this space. As Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer at ATEC Pharmatechnik GmbH, Stephan is motivated by the opportunity to drive change and make a significant contribution to the development of ATEC within the rapidly expanding pharmaceutical sector.
He is involved in manifold topics across all functional areas of the company. It allows Stephan to maintain a clear overview of their progress toward the company’s future aspirations – to achieve market leadership and excellence in both, processes and products.
The Professional Journey
Stephan is a seasoned veteran of operations and technology management, with a career spanning 30 years. He has worked in various industries, including shipyards, machinery, systems, automation technology, warehouse logistics and electronics, and at the beginning of 2024, he decided to enter the pharmaceutical industry. “I own an extensive and broad knowledge in the international setup of production sites and the design of global supply chains,” Stephan says.
After graduating from a university in Hamburg, he began his career as a Team Leader at a subsidiary of Thyssen Group, responsible for production logistics and purchasing in the shipyard business. Two years later, he moved to the renowned Danish company Grundfos, where he stayed for 19 years. During his time there, he progressed from Segment Manager in production to Factory Manager and ultimately took over the role of Managing Director for a large subsidiary of Grundfos Group in Northern Germany.
In 2016, Stephan moved to the Business Area Automation Technology of the global Körber Group. He oversaw the operations as COO. Two years later, in 2018, he transitioned to the Körber Supply Chain business area, where he was responsible for R&D, production and supply chain as both COO and CTO.
After working in Southern Germany for more than seven years, being far away from family on weekdays, Stephan seized the opportunity to start as CEO & COO for the system builder ATEC Pharmatechnik GmbH, a position located just one hour from his home residence.
Transitioning to the Pharmaceutical Industry
Stephan has experience across several industries, but what drew him to the pharmaceutical sector? “There are two major reasons,” he explains. “With my deep understanding of various industries, I’ve developed a passion for advanced high-tech solutions.” ATEC provided him with the perfect opportunity to further pursue that passion.
He points out that ATEC specializes in engineering and manufacturing customized, sterile processing and handling equipment for the premium segment, serving the needs of demanding pharmaceutical companies across the world.
“The second reason is that at ATEC, we make a significant contribution to ensure health and extend human life across the globe,” he adds. “The COVID pandemic is still fresh in our minds, reminding us of the critical importance of safe and reliable medicine.”
Challenges and Achievements
A leader’s journey to the top is never without its challenges. Over his long and illustrious career, Stephan too has faced many hurdles. One of the most significant personal challenges he encountered was during the global economic crisis of 2008–2009. At the time, although the business of the core products remained strong, the company he was working for experienced a sudden and steep decline in turnover. Stephan recalls that this was primarily due to investment restraints in the market. He says that they anticipated a market rebound, and thus, they had to find ways to retain employees as well as drastically cut costs to prevent layoffs.
“Through open and sincere dialogue with the employees, we secured their support for the company,” Stephan says. They allowed the top management to reduce work hours considerably and dispense salary and Christmas pay. Stephan remembers that it was an incredibly difficult period for all of them, requiring immense trust and loyalty.
“Due to a very fast and positive recovery of the business by the end of 2009, we were able to pay the entire salary back to the staff at the beginning of 2010,” he adds. “You can imagine how much trust and commitment this built for the years that followed.”
Stephan has turned multiple challenges into achievements. He has plenty of successes to his credit because of that. During his time as Managing Director at a German machinery company, consisting of 800 employees, Stephan was not only tasked with leading but also transforming the organization into a global benchmark within the Grundfos Group. Stephan says that the company in Germany evolved from an unstable and underperforming entity into a high-performing unit in terms of financial and operational KPIs. This transformation led to the staff earning accolades and rewards.
For the entire staff, it was a unique achievement to be officially recognized as a finalist for “The Factory of the Year” and to win the European Excellence Award in “Achieving Balanced Results.” Stephan attributes this success to the sustainable reorientation of the entire organization according to the principles of “Business Excellence and Lean Manufacturing.”
He also points out that to involve and motivate their people, they introduced a dedicated ‘group work’ approach, encouraging employees to actively contribute by sharing their ideas and taking personal ownership of their implementation. Stephan recalls. “It was a challenging journey for several years, but we ended up creating incredible team spirit and motivation.”
Fostering Innovation and Growth
At ATEC, Stephan and his team intend to expand their international footprint by establishing additional subsidiaries for service and sales, for example in the USA and Asia. They also plan to further strengthen their cooperation with strategic partners. Stephan explains that this will support their ambition to become even closer to markets and customers in order to ensure the best accessibility and quality of products and services.
Additionally, under his leadership, the team is increasing its focus on a systematic and structured development of the future generation of products in stopper processing and transfer systems. According to Stephan, to generate unique and promising innovations, they have set up an internal Innovation Hub at ATEC, which offers them enough room to be creative and address upcoming market needs.
A Leader’s Typical Day
Stephan’s day at work is packed with meetings, jour fixes, and alignments. In the morning, he usually takes care of daily operational topics while engaging with different functional leaders. Every day around lunchtime, he meets briefly with his personal assistant to review the tasks for the current week and the next week. “By doing this, I manage to always look ahead, prepare myself, and initiate required actions,” Stephan says.
Later in the afternoon, he answers e-mails, prepares important documents, and tries to finish some more conceptual work. He shares that the good aspect of his day is the one-hour drive from home to work and then from work to home. In the morning, he uses this hour to prepare mentally for the tasks of the day, while in the evening, he reviews what went well and what didn’t go as expected during the day. “On Friday, I occasionally work from home office to do some diligent work with less interference,” Stephan says.
Like most leaders, Stephan finds that maintaining a work-life balance can be difficult at times. He says that he consciously blocks some leisure time for himself – from his demanding schedule – to enjoy a good time with his family and friends. “Twice a month, I play guitar and piano in a band, and always when time allows, I love to go hiking on my own to relax and recover from job,” Stephan says. On weekends, he normally doesn’t work and prefers to spend time with his family.
“It might sound strange, but when we travel on vacation as family, I never check emails,” Stephan shares. “If something truly urgent comes up, people leave a message on my mobile, and I call back. Believe it or not, this approach has worked well for the past 20 years.”
He also admits that sometimes it is quite a challenge to wear different “hats” and make different decisions. One moment, he has to decide what is right for the overall company, and then the next moment, he has to dive into daily operational challenges.
“My long experience in Operations, having dealt with various critical situations, helps a lot to guide my operations teams to solve current challenges in the best possible way,” Stephan says. “However, in case I get surprised by new, unexpected situations, I try to stay calm and look for a quick pragmatic solution by applying common sense.” He believes that leaders must have the ability and willingness to make decisions; otherwise, the demands of a dual role can become overwhelming for them.
Motivating and Empowering the Team
Stephan is an exemplary leader and offers his team the space to work with freedom. He believes that “You are just as strong as your team.” Stephan explains that it means that leaders need to develop and empower their people to take ownership and responsibility. “It`s not a one-man show, it`s always a team challenge,” he adds.
Stephan encourages his team to consequently take their holidays to recharge their batteries from their demanding job. Additionally, all team members have the possibility to work from home—when appropriate.
Personal Values and Leader’s Attitude
First and foremost, Stephan believes that authenticity is crucial for establishing credibility regarding personal values. “As a successful leader, it is essential to provide clarity and orientation to people, helping them understand what matters to you and what doesn’t,” he says. For Stephan, values like openness, trustworthiness, sincerity, respect, and tolerance are the most important.
He strives to be empathetic and close to people – making sure that he is approachable. Stephan points out that he learned that this is often the best way to motivate people and bring them along on a journey of change. In his view, both enthusiasm and courage are needed for an organization’s long-term change, as well as for a team’s.
To manage the challenges and pressures of being a CEO/COO, Stephan always likes to maintain a good balance between hard work and enjoyment. For him, a positive, “glass half full” attitude is vital, along with the support he receives from his family.
Future Trends and Company’s Plans
Stephan notes that the global pharmaceutical industry’s growth is predicted to remain on an upward trajectory over the next decade. According to him, there continues to be a huge requirement for major investments in R&D and production capacities.
He expects the global demand for medicines to further increase due to population growth across the world, increased life expectancy, and improved access to healthcare systems. He also points out that in addition to the continuous need for mass production of medicines and vaccines, there is a clear trend towards more personalized medicine to fight diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, and mRNA-based vaccines against malaria and tuberculosis.
Stephan informs that ATEC will provide the best possible solutions to guarantee 100% sterile components in the filling process, in accordance with the stringent regulations in the pharmaceutical industry. There is a rising demand for less manual intervention by humans in the filling process, and therefore, the company intends to increase its focus on developing improved, automated solutions for handling and transferring components into the isolator.
Advice for Aspiring Leaders
Stephan has two pieces of advice for aspiring leaders planning to make their mark in the pharmaceutical industry. One piece of advice is more personal, and the other is a more general industry-related suggestion.
As a majority of pharmaceutical players may need to handle a strong growth agenda in the future, leaders should prepare their teams to become familiar with the challenges resulting from rapid growth, Stephan says. He explains that these challenges include recruiting and integrating new colleagues and adjusting processes, structures and capacities to match the expansion of the company. “This can feel like a burden, and it’s key to staying organized while being pragmatic simultaneously,” he says.
Stephan adds, “Good and regular communication becomes even more important to bring your team along in these turbulent waters.”
