News of 04/01/2008

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Pemat Mischtechnik delivers a planetary concrete mixer to Kazakhstan – the mixer is transported by the Haaf forwarding agency in Römerberg

Yesterday morning, a concrete mixer by Pemat Mischtechnik, a company headquartered in Freisbach, began its four-week, 6500-kilometer journey to Kazakhstan. The Haaf forwarding agency will transport it on a flatbed truck to the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, from where it will be taken to Lithuania by boat and then transported on to Semei by train. In Semei, it is awaited by the local company TOO BI Silikat, which needs the device to meet the increasing requirements of the booming national construction industry. Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, is a gigantic construction site. The Build Investment Group (BI) - of which TOO BI Silikat is a subsidiary - is the local market leader in the construction sector. BI focuses on modern construction technologies, for which German expertise is in high demand. That is how the manufacturer of construction materials located in the border triangle of Kazakhstan, China and Russia found Pemat – a regional company that exports 70 percent of its products.

When mechanical engineer Walter Stahl founded Walter Stahl Metallverarbeitung in Freisach in 1976, such worldwide deliveries were still very much in the future. As Stahl himself says, it took a while for the company to grow from a one-man business to its present size. From the start, the medium-sized company focused on the construction of mixers and hoists for the concrete industry. Today, 55 employees manufacture products ranging from small laboratory mixers to entire silo systems. 1986 saw the opening of a new plant in Rohrbach, from where the concrete mixer now began its journey. At a height of four meters and a weight of 16.5 tons, the €160,000 planetary concrete mixer with whirler that is produced exclusively by Pemat looks like something out of a space launch facility.

It took about an hour to load the device onto a special flatbed truck that will arrive in Sassnitz, Rügen today at noon. "The greatest challenge is the organization, which takes about six to eight weeks. When goods of this height are transported, you need special permits and you have to take a special route, because many bridges spanning the freeways are too low. Sometimes you even need an escort?, says Christoph Stoll, sales manager at Haaf, of the ?10,000 job. Together, the more than 100 trucks of the Haaf forwarding agency cover a distance of 21.53 million kilometers per year, transporting goods all over Europe. True to its motto "We represent a unified Europe", the company with headquarters in Römerberg and additional locations in the Main valley, Speyer, Saxony and Poland employs an international staff, ensuring that the respective legislations and mentalities of the countries of destination are dealt with competently.

Internationality is a way of life for Pemat, as well. The company maintains branch offices in France and the Republic of Georgia and has established a worldwide network of agencies and distributors. The staff employed at the Freisbach headquarters is also international. Still, there are no plans to move the production of the high-quality mixers to a location abroad; this is, after all, also a question of quality, explains Stahl. Another thing that both companies share is their tradition as family businesses. The forwarding agency was founded in 1949 as Oskar Haaf Fuhrunternehmen; in those early days, goods were still transported by horse and cart and by tractors. In 1970, Walter Haaf took over his father's business that today employs a staff of 150 and registers sales of more than €35 million per year. Founded by Walter Stahl, Pemat can look back on 32 years of experience. The family business is still run by Walter Stahl, his son Thomas and son-in-law Mathias Mittenbühler. Extensive communication with customers is a cornerstone of both companies‘ philosophies. This service also benefits TOO BI Silikat in Kazakhstan. “If they need a spare part, all they have to do is call or send an e-mail“, says Stahl. In addition, the staff on site is trained in the operation and repair of the equipment.

Die Rheinpfalz – No. 68, Thursday, 20 March 2008