Local chief administrative officer Habermann visits FGB
In line with the regularly scheduled “Regional Business Talk” the chief administrative officer of Rhön-Grabfeld Thomas Habermann, mayor Müller (Salz) and business development manager Dr. Jörg Geier visited FGB: Fertigungsgerätebau A. Steinbach GmbH & Co. KG on March 19, 2012. The company, located in Salz, which develops and produces individual automation and testing solutions for customers all over the world, was founded more than 40 years ago and has continuously evolved its business activities. In the early years, the company dealt primarily with the maintenance of stone crushing and conveying equipment, but started soon to further enlarge business activities towards additional industry sectors. Nowadays, the company is a leading player in the market of non-destructive and servohydraulic tests systems. The management board of the family-run company (shareholders Rupprecht and Jochen Steinbach as well as the authorised representatives Michael, Thorsten and Bastian Steinbach) informed of this development by means of a corporate video trailer and the following conversation.
Currently the company is working together closely with universities and research institutes and is therefore in great demand by the automotive industry and many other business sectors (e.g. aircraft, bearing, rubber and plastic industry, etc.) Despite a shortage of specialists the company is still successful in recruiting outstanding employees from the region, said Michael Steinbach. At present, the company is searching for two software developers, residents preferred. The “Career Days” for graduating pupils at a local secondary school supported the company in gaining more interest in FGB, continued Thorsten Steinbach. Head of district Habermann added to the topic, that the new technical college for electric vehicle technology is going to further contribute that highly-qualified specialists will be trained in Rhön-Grabfeld. Companies like FGB Steinbach proved that Rhön-Grabfeld is an upcoming region showing qualities of a development and research location and can stand comparison with other regions. This reinforced also mayor Bernhard Müller, who also pointed to the importance of FGB Steinbach as a local employer.
As an example for current projects the management referred to the well-known hexapod test rig, which was developed by FGB on behalf of DFG (German research community) and amongst others is setting new standards in the aircraft development. This is where the manufacturer from Salz can fully demonstrate its strengths, which are based on the flexibility of a midsize company and the proposal of turn-key solutions (including design engineering, manufacture, assembly, control cabinet construction and software development).
During the conversation, the Adolf Steinbach Steinindustrie-Schotterwerke GmbH & Co. KG, was also mentioned, which is a traditional and successful company of the Steinbach group, as well. The latest project of this enterprise, also known as ecoglas, has already started and successfully runs production and sales of foam glass on the basis of waste glass powder. The product is used as insulating material e.g. under bottom slabs or as lightweight fill material. Bastian Steinbach explained that the product sells well even in the in the neighbouring countries while the national market gets further penetrated, still.
After an extensive tour of the company the meeting ended and the management board expressed its gratitude for the visit and interest in the company. The company hopes that the prevailing fast and unbureaucratic support from the local authorities will continue in the future.