CUTTING THE CORD

HORST AND STEPHAN PUDWILL are growing Techtronic Industries to take on the global giants of the power tools industry with a relentless focus on cordless innovation.

- SHU-CHING JEAN CHEN

In early 2020, the top three executives at Hong Kong-based power tools maker Techtronic Industries (TTI)—chairman Horst Julius Pudwill, vice chairman Stephan Horst Pudwill (his son), and CEO Joseph Galli Jr.—were growing concerned.

As the pandemic unfolded, the news was grim from both TTI’s biggest customer, Home Depot, and its biggest factory in Dongguan, China. The factory was shut for ten days in February due to the pandemic. The month before Home Depot had cut its stores’ operating hours and put a limit on customers allowed inside at one time—and the year before the U.S. DIY chain had contributed nearly half of TTI’s sales.

The pandemic has been one of the biggest challenges to TTI since Horst, 76, cofounded it in 1985 (Stephan, 44, joined the company in 2004, and Galli, 62, in 2006). On a Zoom call in early April, the trio huddled with the TTI executive team to take stock. Rather than pull back, they decided to stay committed to the company’s long-term growth plan, such as holding R&D spending at 3% of annual revenues. The company did make some adjustments to the pandemic, such as allowing inventories to pile up as clients cut back on orders.