Jiří Štekr: Czech Zehnder revives radiators, eyes 500m crowns

Jiří Štekr heads the Czech-Slovak division of Zehnder, the Swiss manufacturer of designer radiators, heat-recovery ventilation systems and radiant ceiling heating. Last year the local branch earned around 250 million crowns, and this year it is targeting revenue of 400–500 million crowns.

When a headhunter called Štekr in 2009 and offered him the top job at Zehnder's Czech-Slovak business, he had never even heard of the company. It turned out to be a solid Swiss firm with more than a century of history: founded in 1895, it started out repairing sewing machines and bicycles, then made motorcycles, before eventually becoming one of the world's leading makers of radiators and ventilation systems. What won Štekr over was that the business is still run by fourth- and fifth-generation members of the Zehnder family.

Before that, he had worked at Jihočeská keramika in Bechyně, where he took the marketing manager's job essentially starting “from zero” — literally, down to an empty office with no chair. He then spent 12 years at Zehnder's competitors before accepting the offer to build the brand in Czechia and Slovakia.

He had to start out in the depths of an economic recession, when partners doubted anyone would buy designer radiators or heat-recovery ventilation systems. Štekr racked up tens of thousands of kilometres a year, touring bathroom showrooms and convincing wholesalers that the new technology had a future. He admits he fought hard for Zehnder's current standing on the Czech market, at times clashing with management in Switzerland over the pace of investment and hiring — in one case the dispute nearly escalated into a showdown with head office, though the two sides made peace right at the airport.

Today the Czech-Slovak division, which has 25 employees, has no production facility or warehouse of its own, yet this year it has supplied more than 2,500 heat-recovery ventilation systems and sold almost 15,000 radiators. According to the 59-year-old Štekr, it was Zehnder that invented the bathroom radiator back in 1980 — a fixture now found in almost every home.

The market, meanwhile, is changing: new buildings are better insulated but tend to overheat more often because of large windows and appliances, driving demand for cooling. Zehnder offers ventilation systems with a cooling function for private homes, as well as radiant cooling built into office ceilings. The classic radiator business is changing too, with electric models that don't need pipework running through the whole house growing ever more popular.