This year Handtmann Armaturenfabrik, represented by Sales Director for Process Engineering Franz Steinle, once again presented itself in its best light at the “Australian Craft Brewers Conference”.

A week before the trade fair started, Franz Steinle visited 21 brewers in Australia, thus gathering information about the current situation and the requirements. It thereby became clear that there is a great demand for CIP and yeast management systems in particular. He also discovered that small breweries are currently growing at a very fast rate. However, some of them have already reached the limits of their capacity. “The excitement or rather the growth is significantly faster in Australia than in the USA – the references from the USA play an important part in this.”

The CBIA was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre. It brought together hundreds of independent Australian craft brewers. For Handtmann Armaturenfabrik, it was therefore the ideal opportunity to showcase itself at the fair, to further develop personal relationships with existing customers and to acquire new customers.

52 exhibitors and approximately 450 visitors took part in the 2-day trade fair. Positioning the Handtmann/Hopco stand at the main entrance ensured that it attracted numerous interested visitors. Franz Steinle thus entered into dialogue with a total of 34 breweries – an excellent result for Handtmann Armaturenfabrik.

Author: Evelyn Wetzel

In 2017, the SEA Brew trade fair was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for the third time. Handtmann Armaturenfabrik was represented there for the first time. And not only with a stand; Michael Feische (Sales Director, Components and Valves) also gave a presentation on the topic of tank and system protection. 

SEA Brew is an annual conference aimed at brewery owners, brewers and producers. The trade fair is accompanied by a wide range of events – from workshops to presentations and panel debates. The conference is growing in popularity, as can be seen in the number of participants. This year, 250 brewers and 50 suppliers took part, including a high number of micro breweries.

The subject of Michael Feische’s presentation was “Under pressure – effective tank risk management in your brewery”. He explained what has to be borne in mind in connection with pressure tank protection and identified explicit risks. All the participants were impressed by the presentation, which was a complete success.

After the conference, a letter was sent to all the brewers contacted. This included an invitation to the Drinktec trade fair in Munich in order that personal relationships can be developed further.

Author: Evelyn Wetzel

To accompany the World Climate Conference, the Biberach district, town and energy agency held the first Energy Management Forum at Handtmann in the Aspach industrial estate on the evening of 7th November. On the basis of practical examples, speakers identified how and to what extent energy can be saved. “We need an ‘Energy Network’ to enable us to shape the future of energy even more actively and in a more targeted way,” said Walter Holderried, a senior official at the District Office.

The forum had begun with a guided tour through the halls of the Handtmann Maschinenfabrik. Production, quality inspection, logistics – the participants were no doubt soon aware that almost every process step needs energy.  Therefore no one was really surprised as Hermann Hahn, Head of Finance at Handtmann, told the 150 invited guests that, “Our annual energy costs are in the tens of millions.”

Electricity, water and gas should be used as efficiently as possible. This has not only been enshrined in the Corporate Guiding Principles for cost reasons but also to help the environment. Even though the company consumes natural resources, energy is not lost said Hahn. “Because we make something from it,” he explained, referring to the product range of the world market leader. He also presented several projects aimed at saving energy. The guests were welcomed to Handtmann by Managing Director Thomas Handtmann.

A high number of car drivers in Biberach

With 67 percent, industry and trade consume the most energy in Biberach. This is followed by households and public institutions (19.5 percent) and transport (13.5 percent), as Biberach’s Councillor for Building and Construction Christian Kuhlmann explained on the basis of figures from 2010. A similar picture can be seen in connection with CO2 emissions. He added that the administrative departments are trying to improve the energy balance of their institutions by refurbishing buildings, such as the Pflugschule school and the Wieland secondary school, “but we are just a small cog in the wheel when it comes to energy consumption.” Despite this, the local authority has an important role to play in the energy revolution; after all, it can exert an indirect influence on the whole issue. One example mentioned by Kuhlmann is the local traffic concept. A survey of households showed that approximately half of the Biberach residents travel by car for journeys in the town. “The people in Biberach are still primarily car drivers,” he said. With better and extended bus intervals, the town aims to do its part in making local public transport more appealing to the residents of Biberach.

For tradespeople, local public transport will still not be an option for travelling to customers. But alternatives are available for them too. At least this is the opinion of Roland Maier, Managing Director of the Ravensburg family-run company Miele Maier. “Purchase a few electric vehicles and find out for yourselves,” said Maier, addressing the visitors. He has been driving an electrically-powered car since 2016. He also told the guests how the new construction of this company enabled him to reduce the electricity and heating needs. Walter Göppel, Managing Director of the Energieagentur Ravensburg energy agency, presented further practical examples.

Goal not yet attained

Holderried reminded the visitors of what the district has achieved in connection with the energy revolution. “Today, in addition to the district, 14 European Energy Award local authorities have joined the ongoing climate process.” On Monday, he has the honour of accepting the gold medal on behalf of the district. He also named a number of flagship projects, such as a passive house furniture shop, the district’s own “three litre” Gebhard-Müller school and two biogas upgrading plants. “The energy revolution is well underway in the district.”  Nevertheless, the goal has not yet been attained. Small traders and enterprises as well as the towns and municipalities are all needed in order to “make the energy revolution possible”.

Source: Daniel Häfele / schwäbische.de of 09.11.2017

On 17th November, graduate trainees of the Handtmann Group of Companies received commendations at the “Best of...” education event run by the Ulm Chamber of Industry and Commerce and held in the Biberach town hall. 800 guests from the fields of commerce and politics and representatives of social groups took part in the event.

The “Best of...” recognises outstanding performance on the part of graduates of cooperative training courses and approved training employers, as well as the best performance by participants in the Chamber of Industry and Commerce further education exams.

Congratulations on this great success

This year, a total of eight graduate trainees of the Handtmann Group of Companies were amongst those who received recognition: Stefan Birk (electronics technician for industrial engineering, Service), Jens Prall (electronics technician for industrial engineering, Maschinenfabrik), Tobias Härle (electronics technician for industrial engineering, Elteka), Niklas Müller (electronics technician for industrial engineering, Metallgusswerk), Kevin Gosner (industrial mechanic, Metallgusswerk), Kevin Fischer (industrial mechanic, Maschinenfabrik), Franz Zinser (IT specialist for system integration, Maschinenfabrik) each received a commendation. Timo Kloos, a former electronics technician for industrial engineering trainee at Handtmann Service, was even presented with an award.

The numerous well-wishers included Service Managing Director Jörg Hochhausen, Head of Human Resources Ottmar Weggenmann and Training Manager Patrick Schirmer.

Click here to watch a video of the event made by the Ulm Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

Source: Noah Gnandt