2017: 70 years of Wanzl, 700 million euros in revenue

At the end of 2017, Wanzl invited 170 employees who were celebrating work anniversaries from the Leipheim and Kirchheim plants to an exciting evening at the Landgasthof Waldvogel country hotel in Leipheim, accompanied by their partners. Employees who had been working with the company for 40, 25 and 10 years were honoured at this event. Gottfried Wanzl, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Wanzl Group, bade farewell to those preparing to retire and thanked them for their commitment. Musical entertainment on the night was provided by the Stadtkapelle Leipheim orchestra and the Siyou & Joe Fessele gospel ensemble.

2017 was an eventful year for the Wanzl Group. “The company is celebrating 70 years since its foundation in 1947,” reports Gottfried Wanzl. The anniversary is marked with positive numbers: Wanzl has succeeded in increasing its revenue from 610 million euros to 700 million euros. The acquisition of Expedit, a long-standing sales and collaboration partner from Denmark, has contributed significantly to the company’s growth. Through the shopfitting expert, Wanzl is tapping into the Scandinavian and Baltic markets, expanding its foothold in Europe and securing production at its German sites. “The rise in revenue is due in part to the growing business overseas, in England, in Germany and in the Czech Republic.”Wanzl is reporting full employment at its newly built Czech component factory for worldwide logistics business, which began operating this year. “The order volume extends far into next year.”

Largest international outfitter for the retail sector

At present, Wanzl has around5,000 employees and operates 13 production plants in nine countries and 27 sales offices. “We are the world leader for shopping trolleys and luggage transport trolleys and are the largest retail outfitter within our industry,” says Gottfried Wanzl. Wanzl is meeting the age of growth in online retail head-on, with new, networked solutions such as the intelligent, RFID-enabled shopping trolley, which links online and offline channels, and a consolidated production and sales network overseas. The group of companies is optimistic about 2018.

Honoured for many years of commitment

Wanzl’s growth is built on a solid foundation: its employees. “Bringing your experience, you have made a decisive contribution to the development of our Group,” Gottfried Wanzl said as he thanked staff celebrating work anniversaries and those preparing for retirement at the end-of-year party. “You are the backbone of the company; you give it support and structure for the future.”Gottfried Wanzl delivered an entertaining review, looking back on the years in which employees celebrating work anniversaries had joined the company – 1977, 1992 and 2007 – and recalling the important developments that had taken place in each one. General Works Council Chairman Jürgen Bayer reminded those present that long service with the company was always an indication of mutual esteem, fair working conditions and adequate remuneration. “That makes for a good working atmosphere.”Finally, there were also words of praise for the 21 trainees who completed their apprenticeships in 2017, 14 of whom achieved the top grade of 1 (based on the German academic grading system where 1 is the top result and 5 is the lowest result).

Farewells were said to the following employees from Wanzl in Kirchheim entering retirement:

Roswitha Baur, Peter Pannen, Rita Tatzel, Franz Thoma, Herbert Vogel

Co-workers celebrating work anniversaries at Wanzl in Kirchheim:

40 years

Karin Groß, Alfons Haugg, Franz Sailer, Theresia Scheifele, Reinhold Streit, Hubert Wiedemann

25 years

Reiner Hämmerle, Frank Hartwig, Dirk Hase, Georg Langhans, Walter Nieder, Jürgen Paul, Bernhard Rieder, Alexander Schauer, Christian Schmid, Waldemar Schumacher, Sandra Singer, Viktor Stang, Christian Stummböck, Christian Wagner

10 years

Sergej Abischew, Manfred Bisle, Alexander Bruch, Manuela Brugner, Thomas Fendt, Bernd Hauke, Thomas Hemeter, Thomas Horber, Paul Kinsvater, Christoph Kugelmann, Christian Miller, Alexandra Miller-Ruf, Rafael Nogales-Strauß, Andreas Ortmann, Igor Schiller, Günther Seewald, Konrad Wegele, Günay Yüksel

Farewells were said to the following employees from Wanzl in Leipheim entering retirement:

Thorsten Buhl, Renate van Eikelen, Luigi Giannino, Johann Heimerl, Anatol Herman, Wolfgang Kaup, Uwe Klenke, Viktor Koleber, Wladimir Safenreiter, Anna Splesnialy, Anatoli Sturm, Anneliese Uhl, Albert Wagner, Manfred Wecker, Erika Weinbach

Employees celebrating work anniversaries at Wanzl in Leipheim:

40 years

Erwin Baur, Otto Freiwald, Wolfgang Gewe, Brigitte Götz, Anton Hawlitschek, Günter Klein, Helmut Link, Josef Rank, Giovanni Sacco, Josefine Schiffelholz, Wolfgang Schwenk, Erich Stöckle, Adelheid Wagner

25 years

Nikolaus Armbruster, Alfred Böck, Hansjörg Bühler, Konrad Dietrich, Hans-Konrad Fleischer, Marion Förg-Winter, Helga Friedrich, Günter Gallenmüller, Bernhard Haas, Mario Hanzsch, Mike Hoyer, Markus Julian, Bernhard Junginger, Muharrem Karadeniz, Annemarie Kiss, Robert Knupfer, Frank Mader, Heike Merk, Christian Merz, Dilek Narin, Franz Schlecker, Norbert Schmidt, Gudrun Schuster, Bernhard Schuster, Ignazio Simonetti, Eugen Wehrle, Veysel Yilmaz

10 years

Ghaith Al Lalo, Yasar Arayan, Sebastian Ash, Alexander Basner, Jörg Baumeister, Markus Benz, Aleksej Beskerov, Freya Blösl, Ursula Bögel, Herbert Buhl, Safii Demircan, Andreas Dirr, Sibylle Dirr, Herbert Ebner, Tobias Egger, Günter Eser, Alexei Fejzic, Senad Fejzic, Michael Gerstmaier, Süleyman Güler, Markus Handlos, Eugen Hansen, Thomas Hartmann-Staib, Anja Hielscher, Bernard Herman Holz, Sigmund Hyba, Fatih Karadas, Mehmet Karsli, Thomas Kasberger, Stefanie Klingler, Adam Kurpas, Daniel Lauer, Evgenij Lehmann, Christian Martini, Andreas Mayer, Norbert Mayer, Stefan Mayer, Dietmar Merk, Jürgen Mumber, Martin Nieß, Erol Özdogan, Simone Paulin, Keywan Pedrami, Anto Pejic, Abedin Percuku, Christoph Pfauth, Simon Rappold, Georg Rau, Vladimir Renner, Carina Rogg, Helmut Romer, Fatmir Sahitaj, Wolfgang Sailer, Sylvia Sauer-Pech, Paul Schäfer, Ida Scherstnev, Alexei Schill, Susanne Schned, Thomas Schuhmair, Viktor Schulz, Thomas Schwarzkopf, Murat Sezer, Stephan Siegner, Oleg Surzanskij-Zel, Michael Robert Theil, Simone Thoma, Sinan Turan, Georg Wiesner, Maximilian Winkler, Jens Wunderlich, Oguz Yasar, Stephanie Zwesper