ESSEN (dpa-AFX) - The new CEO of steel and industrial group Thyssenkrupp, Miguel López, on his first day on the job, gave the company a key role in shaping the green transformation. "Our technologies offer tremendous potential for this," he wrote on his Linkedin page Thursday. He also praised the motivation of employees from various divisions he met on his first day on the job. "This is exactly the basis to continue building our businesses as pioneers of green industry."

In recent years, Thyssenkrupp has built strength, he said. "It's time for us to score goals, or as they say in the Ruhr region, "Entscheidend is' auf'm Platz!" said López. He couldn't put the ball in the net on his own, he said. "However, I believe that together we can get the best out of our team and the company as a whole."

Among other things, the company wants to convert its steelmaking operations to be climate-neutral. There are also plans for the Borsengang of subsidiary Nucera, which specializes in the construction of hydrogen electrolysers.

The 58-year-old López replaces Martina Merz (60), who had taken over the Group's management in a difficult situation since October 2019. The German-born Spaniard, whose full name is Miguel Ángel López Borrego, worked at Siemens for many years. Most recently he worked as interim head of auto supplier Norma. His contract at thyssenkrupp initially runs for three years.

The multi-industry group with more than 98,000 employees is active in areas including steel, naval shipbuilding and materials trading. For some time now it has been being transformed into a "Group of Companies" in which the individual businesses are to operate more independently than before. The main features of the strategy initiated are to be continued under López: "With him at the helm, we will continue along the path of transformation on the basis of the strategic lines developed," explained Supervisory Board Chairman Siegfried Russwurm at the end of April when the personnel appointment was announced./tob/DP/ngu