Herrenknecht welcomes Federal Minister Gabriel in Schwanau
Feb 26, 2015
The German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, visited Herrenknecht AG in Schwanau/Baden-Württemberg, the global market leader for tunnel boring machines. Company founder and Chairman of the Board of Management Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht introduced the Vice Chancellor to the company and its global project business. The subjects of retirement at 63, youth development as well as geothermal and renewable energy were also discussed on this occasion.
The German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, visited the world market leader in mechanized tunnelling technology Herrenknecht today. The paths of Vice Chancellor Gabriel and entrepreneur Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht had crossed during a trade mission to China in spring 2014.
Company founder and Chairman of the Board of Management Martin Herrenknecht now showed the Minister the company on the ground and informed him about Herrenknecht’s current international project business. A range of different topics were discussed at a meeting with the company’s Board of Management, the Works Council Chairman and political guests from the region. These included geothermal energy in the renewables mix, inheritance tax in the course of generational change in family-run businesses as well as the development of young talents and demand for skilled workers.
According to Martin Herrenknecht, older skilled workers should be rewarded taxwise and not financially penalized if they do not want to retire at the recently newly legislated pension age of 63 and would like to continue working. They are needed, also in the training and promotion of young talents. For Herrenknecht every skilled worker with years of expertise is an invaluable asset to the company.
The subsequent factory tour then also led directly to Herrenknecht’s industrial training workshop. Here young men and women presented interesting workpieces to Federal Minister Sigmar Gabriel. Martin Herrenknecht explained to the Minister: "For cutting-edge technology from Germany we not only need capable engineers or other graduates. In particular we also need practically inclined, technically adept skilled workers who can build the engineers’ designs with precision and the highest quality of execution." Herrenknecht trains around 200 young people in more than ten different apprenticeship occupations, who, particularly in the trades, generally stay with the company on completion of their training.
Federal Minister of Economics Gabriel: "I am impressed by what I have seen today at Herrenknecht AG. Technological expertise and precision work are top priorities. This impressively demonstrates why engineering ‘Made in Germany’ enjoys such an excellent reputation in the world. It is clear that for sustainable quality assurance skilled workers play a key role here locally and we have also spoken about this. The apprentices of today are the skilled workers of tomorrow – if they are absent in the dual training system, they are also absent later in the factories. In the new alliance for education and training, politicians, business, trade unions and the state governments want to work together with substantial contributions to counter this."
Continuing the tour, in the assembly workshops the entrepreneur showed the Minister an important machinery component being manufactured in Germany with special know-how for the Chinese market. It is a gigantic cutting wheel of an XXL tunnel boring machine (Ø 15.76 m) for a multifunctional tunnel in Wuhan, Central China. The contract for this was concluded in the Minister’s presence in spring 2014 during the trade mission he led.
In the 2014 financial year the Herrenknecht Group achieved a new sales record with an order inflow of 1.2 billion euros. Some of the machines ordered by construction companies are currently in assembly and production. In future they will be used for the construction of road, rail and metro tunnels for example in Paris, Doha, Casablanca, Mexico or Norway. In addition to traffic tunnels, water and wastewater systems, gas and oil pipelines, conduits for electricity, internet and telephone lines and tunnels for hydroelectric power plants are driven quickly and safely with mechanized tunnelling technology from Herrenknecht.
More News and Articles
Apr 24, 2024
News
Sustainable drainage solutions: German Start-up transforms urban water management.
Germany boasts a well-established infrastructure for managing rainwater and wastewater, yet many developing countries lack such systems. Addressing this gap, …
Apr 22, 2024
News
HDD tooling that gets the job done
Horizontal directional drilling is a dynamic process that constantly changes and adapts to suit a range of applications across utilities and infrastructure. Operators looking to get the most from their equipment …
Apr 19, 2024
News
WATCH: Overnight with SAERTEX-LINER H20 in São Paulo
Available through Pipe Core, high-quality liner SAERTEX-LINER H20 performed under pressure in São Paulo, Brazil.
Maintaining aging potable water pipe infrastructure is a constant challenge …
Apr 17, 2024
News
Immersive media provides wastewater experience in Denmark
An immersive media experience (IMX) may not be what most people want when they think about industrial wastewater, but that is exactly what visitors can expect when they visit a new installation …
Apr 15, 2024
News
Spotlight on gender diversity at Pipe Core
Since founding in 2008, Pipe Core’s team has grown across all areas of the business and is now in a position where there are more females than males across the organisation. Research published in Harvard …
Apr 12, 2024
News
New Wave of Startups Scale Innovation to Solve Global Water Challenges
Innovators from Around the World Join Xylem’s 2024 Accelerator Program to Deploy Breakthrough Innovations for Utilities and Industrial Users of Water
A new group of startups …
Apr 08, 2024
News
Integrated sustainable electricity and clean drinking water systems
Altitude Water and New Use Energy Solutions have partnered to create integrated, mobile solar-plus-water generation systems that produce sustainable electricity and clean drinking …
Apr 05, 2024
News
How to Evaluate Hydraulic Fracture Risk in HDD Design
The design of horizontal directional drill (HDD) installations often requires an evaluation of the potential for hydraulic fracture of the soil layers through which an HDD passes. Evaluating …
Apr 02, 2024
News
Historic Project Linking Rome and Vatican City Uses Advanced Technology and Local Knowledge to Keep Water Flowing
Relocation of Major Sewer Infrastructure Enables Construction of Pedestrian Link for 35 Million Visitors to the 2025 Jubilee
Water …
Mar 27, 2024
News
USU Study Looks at Water Main Break Rates in the U.S. and Canada
Report Highlights Correlation Between Material and Diameter
Utah State University (USU) has published new research on water main breaks in the United States and Canada, examining …
Mar 26, 2024
News
Update BE-21: New Material in Course and Modules on Trenchless Pipe Installation
Online training on the topic of pipeline installation in civil engineering: Trenchless technology for underground drainage construction can be a resource-efficient, …
Mar 25, 2024
Article
Bacteria as a new weapon in wastewater treatment
In early November, San Diego based startup Aquacycl officially opened its first European office and test center at the Water Campus in Leeuwarden. The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) …
Contact
Herrenknecht AG
Achim Kühn
Schlehenweg 2
77963 Schwanau
Germany
Phone:
+49 (0) 7824 302-5400
Fax:
+49 (0)7824 302-4730