Landrat Frank Kilian visits the company Krautzberger GmbH in Eltville and is impressed by the diverse field of activity
In the beginning, the patent application was for a “air-powered sprayer”. That was in the year 1902. Albert had the innovative idea for this Krautzberger from Friedland near Wrocław, who fanned for a long time before he succeeded in creating this ingenious and above all groundbreaking construction for a compressed air spray gun for surface treatment. Exact 125 Years later, the company shall: Krautzberger GmbH as a global specialist for surface finishing, the reference list of the company now based in Eltville shows customers in 84 countries of the world. This is how the Krautzberger GmbH as medium-sized enterprises with 90 Employees individual and tailor-made solutions for the respective customer so that they can have the surfaces of their product coated and refined in high quality. The application possibilities of the diverse company products in very different industries seem almost unlimited.
The company’s managing director, Holger Weidmann, the Head of Human Resources, Dieter Purmann, and Julien Prinz, Head of Marketing, Frank Kilian, presented this fascinating product range and the wide range of applications during his visit to Eltville. “I want to take a look behind the scenes at a company and learn more about its strategic business field,” says Kilian. Krautzberger’s field of activity has expanded significantly, with the compressed air spray gun developed by company founder Albert Krautzberger 125 years ago still playing an important role.
For a long time the company no longer exclusively supplies the automotive and supplier industry with fully automatic painting machines, where specifications have also been made in this area. Weidmann: “Without our services and systems, a new car from a particular automobile company cannot run off the grid.” This is not just about painting certain parts on the car, but also about the fine initial filling with engine oil or the matching coating of the spark plug.
“We offer individual solutions tailored to the customer’s particular requirements and thus suitable in our product areas spray guns, lifting devices paint systems, material containers, pumps, controllers and ventilation technology”, says Holger Weidmann. The company offers complete packages – from design and development to assembly – from the airbrush gun to the complete system. The family business benefits from the extensive expertise gathered in over 100 years, such as employees “who really burn for their company,” said Landrat Frank Kilian acknowledging during the tour of the company. The workforce faces the challenges in order to successfully implement the specifications and ideas presented by the respective customer.
Weidmann: “We invite the customer to our technical test center here at the Eltville site to find the appropriate and best surface coatings and treatments of the product. There, all spraying processes offered by us as well as automated processes can be realistically demonstrated and tested. In the technical test center we tinker, try out, sometimes we reject a proposal before we then offer ‘the solution’ that satisfies everyone.
When it comes to surface coatings, there is (almost) no way past the family business whether textiles, pharmaceuticals, building materials, ceramics, for example in the sanitary sector, shipbuilding, food or cosmetics industry. This involves, for example, the fully automatic coloration of Easter eggs with a variety of colourful colours and decorations, Marzipan gets a slightly darker colour by means of a special airbrush gun, wood or plastic strips are provided with a very fine colour nuance, for example, for a modern kitchenette. Even a whole body spraying with sunscreen or paints for body painting is possible with the help of a special spray gun. “We already practiced spraying with sunscreen 100 years ago, says Weidmann.
Krautzberger provides individual, innovative solutions. “For example, we fly to our customers in the USA to ensure individual support on site. We train their staff. This service sets us apart from our competitors.” Both managing directors, Holger and his brother Thomas Weidmann, and the entire team share the principle: “We grow through the challenges our customers set us.”
Despite Corona-related sales losses in the previous year, the family company looks optimistically into the future. An assessment, however, that gets a small restriction. “For us it is very difficult to find suitable trainees and specialists”, explains Dieter Purmann. “We train in the company,” adds Weidmann. Precision mechanics and machining mechanics are currently being sought. “In order to meet our needs, we offer training places for these professions. We also train as an industrial clerk and look for interested young people for the IT sector in the house, says Dieter Purmann. In this regard, there will be further discussions with Michael Krebs from the Municipal JobCenter of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, who was present at the company inspection, as Landrat Kilian emphasized.
Other topics were digitalisation and the company’s broadband connection. The responsible employee Achim Staab explains the current development.
Photo: Krautzberger GmbH Managing Director Holger Weidmann (3. from left), together with Head of Human Resources Dieter Purmann (2. from left), explains the company’s activities and product range to District Administrator Frank Kilian (right), Achim Staab (left) from the district’s economic development office, and Michael Krebs (3. from right) and Sarah Budzinski (2. from right) from the municipal JobCenter.
