Performing under pressure: How businesses stay operational in an uncertain world
CustomersArticleMay 29, 2026
From fire risk and climate hazards to cyber threats, MANN+HUMMEL, a global leader in filtration solutions, is embedding resilience into its global operations. Working closely with Zurich Resilience Solutions, the company is building the capacity to withstand disruption.
Filtration is everywhere. It shapes the air we breathe, the water we drink and the technologies we rely on every day. Few companies illustrate this better than MANN+HUMMEL, headquartered in Ludwigsburg, Germany.
For more than 85 years, the family owned company has continuously evolved – expanding beyond its automotive origins into cleaner air, cleaner water, cleaner mobility and cleaner industry. Today, with more than 80 locations worldwide, MANN+HUMMEL remains a global leader in filtration solutions that separate the useful from the harmful.
Yet producing filtration technology brings its own risks. Fine dusts, fibers and particles – combined with heat and electrical equipment – can create serious fire and explosion hazards if not carefully managed. For a global manufacturer with continuous operations, a single incident can have far reaching consequences.
Our collaboration with Zurich Resilience Solutions helps ensure we’re not just resilient but genuinely prepared for what comes next.
That reality lies at the heart of the company’s close collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich), and in particular Zurich Resilience Solutions. Since 2020, the two organizations have worked side by side to strengthen fire protection, and operational resilience across MANN+HUMMEL’s manufacturing plants worldwide.
“In today’s unpredictable environment, we must be prepared for the unexpected,” says Kurk Wilks, CEO of MANN+HUMMEL. Working closely with Zurich has helped the company integrate risk engineering directly into operational and governance structures, rather than treating it as a reactive or standalone activity.
A partnership built on prevention
From the outset, the conversation went well beyond traditional risk transfer. Zurich risk engineers worked on site with local teams, inspecting fire protection systems, reviewing manufacturing controls and delivering hands-on training at production sites around the world.
“With Zurich Resilience Solutions, we built a global risk engineering framework that reached every production facility,” says Monika Köth, Director Group Insurance at MANN+HUMMEL.
It is about embedding risk awareness deeply into day to day operations and helping businesses prepare for uncertainty before it materializes.
Over time, risk engineering became fully embedded into governance processes and tracked as a key performance indicator – reinforcing the idea that resilience is not a one-off project, but an ongoing discipline.
Resilience across the whole risk landscape
As the partnership deepened, MANN+HUMMEL broadened its resilience lens – moving from a primary focus on fire protection to a more holistic view of risk. Today, this covers climate risks, natural hazards and cyber threats.
“For customers like MANN+HUMMEL, resilience is about understanding how different risks interact and compound,” says Robin Matthias, Global Head of Zurich Resilience Solutions. “By combining global insight with local expertise, we help businesses anticipate disruption, adapt faster and protect what really matters.”
Climate analytics and forward-looking financial modeling support decision-making around adaptation and investment, helping prioritize measures where they have the greatest impact.
“Across the whole picture, prevention is becoming as important as protection,” says Petra Riga-Müller, Head of Commercial Insurance Germany, Zurich Insurance. “It is about embedding risk awareness deeply into day to day operations and helping businesses prepare for uncertainty before it materializes.”
In fact, MANN+HUMMEL understands resilience as more than the ability to recover from disruption. This mindset is reflected in the principle of anti-fragility. Rather than simply returning to a stable state after periods of stress or volatility, the company is structured to learn, adapt and emerge stronger under pressure.
This concept shapes decisions across the organization – from diversification into Life Sciences and Environmental solutions, to investments in sustainable materials, digital monitoring and localized, more agile production models.
Leadership plays a central role in this shift, with risk awareness and prevention increasingly seen as enablers of innovation and growth, rather than constraints.
Prepared for what comes next
“To be ready for tomorrow, you need the right partners today,” says Kurk Wilks. “Our collaboration with Zurich Resilience Solutions helps ensure we’re not just resilient but genuinely prepared for what comes next.”
With Zurich’s support, resilience at MANN+HUMMEL is now built into the fabric of the business. Much like the company’s filters themselves, its approach to risk is designed to perform under pressure.
