A resounding “yes” for Swabia as a location

At the end of 2015, Wanzl invited 213 co-workers from the Leipheim and Kirchheim plants and their partners to an exciting evening at the Landgasthof Waldvogel country hotel in Leipheim. The occasion was in honour of 40, 25 and 10 years of service at Wanzl. We said farewell to the employees soon to be embarking on their retirement. The musical entertainment for the evening was provided by Leipheim's city band, the Stadtkapelle Leipheim, and Trio Saitenklang.

The Chairman of the Wanzl Group, Gottfried Wanzl, greeted the retirees and those celebrating their anniversaries, the outstandingly successful 2015 trainees, the Works Council and the management personnel. He warmly thanked the co-workers for their commitment, effort and many years of loyalty. "You are the backbone of Wanzl, you give the company support and structure." In an entertaining journey through time, he reviewed 40 years and recalled milestones in the company's history in 1975, 1990 and 2005 - the years in which those celebrating their anniversaries started working for the company.

Swabia – a strong location

For 2015, Wanzl recorded stable annual sales of around 600 million euros, "despite tougher competition worldwide and changing consumer habits". We now manufacture at eleven international production sites. The German plants in Leipheim and Kirchheim play a key role in this worldwide manufacturing network. "In addition to strengthening the German sites, we are planning to expand our plant in the Czech Republic in 2016 to meet the growing volume of orders in the logistics sector," reported Gottfried Wanzl. The clear commitment to Swabia as a location is also reflected in the commitment to the next generation and the high quality of training: Twelve apprentices completed their training this year with a grade of between 1 and 1.9. Gottfried Wanzl's words of thanks were echoed by Josef Salger, Deputy Chairman of the General Works Council. He honoured and acknowledged the many years of "expertise and commitment" of those celebrating their anniversaries. “They have helped to make Wanzl a company with international standing.”

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

Dieter Ammicht, Friedrich Vogel, Luigi Mastrantonio, Vincenzo Celozzi, Helmine Fleischer, Johann Makles, Waldemar Schunk, Erich Kieltsch, Werner Müller, Johann Sauter, Wladimir Kunz, Elfriede Bohl, Waldemar Meier, Josef Schleifer, Barbara Wazel, Maria Lange, Richard Stampfer, Paul Gustav Stein, Paul Schlecker, Wladimir Kessler, David Kern, Hildegard John, Ernst Schiffelholz, Lydia Adam, Anton Bäuerle, Monika Hörger, Georg Niederwieser, Ewald Maile, Wolfgang Kasper, Roland Stehle, Rita Vogg, Isabella Pilharcz, Leonhard Müller, Hubert Mutzel, Edmund Koleber, Siegfried Benke

Employees celebrating anniversaries at Wanzl in Leipheim:

40 years

Georg Rank, Ana Fenzl, Rudolf Rösner, Werner Merk, Günter Häge, Mike Hummer, Walter Kral

25 years

Johann Trenkenschuh, Silvia Lux, Franz-Josef Bolcek, Joachim Kolenda, Andreas Schickling, Jürgen Bayer, Friedrich Vogel, Georg Gerhard, Claudia Maier, Hilmi Cinar, Erich Kieltsch, Josef Schikula, Cengiz Balkaymak, Franz Berg, Lia-Maria Pipal, Mustafa Duran-Yilmaz, Gerhard Proske, Heiko Börnchen-Schmidt, Harald Ballin, Frank Repscher, Hasan Temür, Ramazan Basibüyük, Peter Wecker, Benedikt Trapp, Hidayet Öztürk, Falko Ballin, Roswitha Konrad, Stephan Schwab, Peter Hajdukiewicz, Helmut Nather, Rainer Unseld, Reiner Bischof, Klaudia Vogg, Peter Blau, Udo Köhler, Werner Schmidt, Petra Hofmann, Melanie Staib, Ingo Albrecht, Friedhelm Gnewikow, Horst Lux, Karin Roth-Flitsch, Ingrid Beier, Gregor Kuzaj, Hasan Altinzencir, Thomas Ertle, Grzegorz Boruc, Erna Bihler-Dir, Franz Lübcke, Eugenius Piekorz, Horst Wittmann, Erwin Kruber, Thomas Joas, Mehmet Aynur, Gerhard Baur, Tobias Kuhn, Kadir Öztemür, Betina Michel, Albert Wagner, Josef Rauch, Jochen Frey, Erika Weinbach, Fernando Rosato, Ali Tok, Alattin Eraslan, Peter Bender, Stefan Hammerschmidt, Heinrich Hermannstädter, Bruno Nejedl, Harmut Herbert, Franz Weikmann, Sonja Heis, Marco Seichter

10 years

Pekbilgin Yakup, Atasever Melih, Johann Heiser, Jakob Richau, Anna Koppel, Oliver Sobolev, Joel Richter, Ewald Marscheck, Firat Erkan, Igor Schabunin, Eduard Malchasow, Iris-Karolin Streufert, Tobias Kreis, Sylvia Schuster, Richard Orlowski, Michael Tscharntke, Alex Bart, Michael Uitz, Ali Bilir, Joachim Laux, Andreas Bilman, Robert Zimmermann, Robert Biskupek, Vjaceslav Nasejkin, Stefan Lohr, Elke Farin, Alexander Kotljarow, Alexander Hansen,Andre Volk, Katharina Walk, Johann Albach, Matthias Steck, Marcel Mayer, Paul Schewalje, Paul Schlecker, Oguzhan Halatli, Florian Geiger, Sandro Sahbaz, Rene Krug, Yusuf Dinckan, Rolf Glökler, Karl Baur, Dennis Witzing, Andreas Neuhäuser, Anouar Benboujema

Trainees with excellent results

Simone Stohr, Maximilian Abold, Philipp Kober, Florian Schiller, Armin Schmid, Maximilian Rueß, Florian Affeld, Pascal Pauler

Gottfried Wanzl, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Wanzl Group and Wanzl Managing Directors Frank Derks, Harald P. Dörenbach, Dr. Klaus Meier-Kortwig and Bernhard Renzhofer (2nd row from the left) honoured the long-serving and deserving employees together with other management personnel. The photograph shows them with employees who have been working at Leipheim for 40 or 25 years.

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

Anton Martin, Maximilian Miller, Waldemar Bruch, Ewald Meier, Michael Steinle, Wilhelm Titz, Josef Wild, Ludwig Buchenberg, Erika Imort, Rosi Negele, Gerhard Pöschl, Karl-Heinz Rieder, Johann Schmid, Marion Schrader-Bölsche, Alois Wagner, Andreas Haas, Peter Hatzenbühler, Otto Hein, Agnes Wolf

Employees celebrating anniversaries at Wanzl in Kirchheim:

40 years

Michael Mayer, Hermann Höld, Rosemarie Müller, Herbert Stegmann, Manfred Ziegeldorf

25 years

Karl Kerler, Martin Wegele, Volkmar Zaumsegel, Andreas Zint, Alexander Dachsel, Jürgen Westhäuser, Petra Douglas, Wolfgang Esser, Robert Gebhard, Walter Gorka, Sven Hause, Klaus Heinisch, Georg Höld, Manfred Leinsle, Franz Mayr, Lothar Miller, Wolfgang Neugebauer, Olaf Nitzsche, Manfred Schorer, Robert Strobel, Ismail Souleyman

10 years

Rainer Schnitzler, Roland Aleiter, Johannes Bergler, Roland Huber, Wilfried Merk, Markus Stempfle, Markus Waigel

Trainees with excellent results

Markus Hölzle, Florian Springman, Kilian Streicher, Johannes Wohnlich

Gottfried Wanzl, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Wanzl Group and Wanzl Managing Directors Frank Derks, Harald P. Dörenbach, Dr. Klaus Meier-Kortwig and Bernhard Renzhofer (2nd row from the left) and the Chairman of the General Works Council Josef Salger (2nd row, far right) honoured the long-serving and deserving employees together with other management personnel. The photograph shows them with employees who have been working at Kirchheim for 40 or 10 years.