Tackling problems and growing together in challenging times is an important part of Semperit’s DNA and is also in the nature of the Adelbauers. A portrait of a family whose history is inextricably linked to that of Semperit.
“Semper it”, there is always a solution – this is not only Michael Adelbauer’s motto, but also lived experience, as he is the longest-serving member of the Semperit management team. The current Director Operations for the Semperit Industrial Applications division started to work for the elastomer specialist after various Semperit internships and after completing his studies at TU Wien in 1986. Since then, he has overcome many crises with his team and they always emerged stronger than before. Things got off to a turbulent start at the end of the 1980s. After all, the tyre division had just been sold and the company was ready for restructuring. “I set up quality assurance. Mr. Zellner, the general director at the time, let us, the young ones, shape things. That was an important mosaic piece for the success of the restructuring. In 1994, we recorded operating profits again for the first time,” recalls Adelbauer.
The manager grew up two kilometres from the plant in Wimpassing, Lower Austria. His father and grandfather already worked for Semperit, and he came into contact with the wide range of Semperit products at an early age. Adelbauer’s aunt Anni Weiner, Semperit’s executive secretary for many years, always gave him presents from the company’s own shop at Christmas and for his birthday. “From fins and air mattresses to swim rings, there was a lot to suit my taste. Unfortunately, I never got an inflatable boat,” Adelbauer smiles. As the restructuring progressed, this variety of products soon became history.
There’s life in the old dog yet
The hydraulic hose division would also have almost become history in the 1990s if it had been up to renowned consultants. They had probably not taken into account Semperit’s very own fighting spirit and cohesion in their recommendations, because “to this day, our motto is: even if nobody else can do it, we can,” Adelbauer says with pride. With a highly motivated and loyal team, the products and material consumption were optimised, and many resources were invested in production processes and technology. The result: the previously written-off division is now the world’s largest independent manufacturer of hydraulic hoses, which, together with industrial hoses, achieves a capacity of well over 100 million metres per year at four production sites worldwide and generates a solid double-digit EBITDA margin.
“To this day, our motto is: even if nobody else can do it, we can."
Michael Adelbauer, Director Operations Semperit Industrial Applications
Change of scene from Wimpassing, Austria, to Newnan, USA, where Michael Adelbauer’s nephew Herbert Adelbauer is currently based. He has been with Semperit since mid-2018, currently as Product & Process Development Engineer Handrails, and has been traveling a lot. “Of the last ten weeks, I spent five weeks traveling. From splice trainings in England and Israel to customer visits in Poland, there was a lot of variety – in addition to the regular R&D activities at the Wimpassing plant. That makes the job very interesting,” emphasises Adelbauer. As it happens every now and again, the current assignment in the USA came up at very short notice: “After the plant manager, who was also responsible for the handrail agendas, left the company, I stepped in. In doing so, I also advanced the organisation of handrail production. Somehow it always works, I like the flexible and creative work in the R&D team.”
A Semperit family
“To be honest, I was born into it,” says Herbert Adelbauer when asked why he was drawn to Semperit, just like his uncle. If you look at Herbert Adelbauer’s family tree in an old Semperit newspaper (see illustration), this becomes perfectly clear.
It says: “Under Johann Nepomuk Reithoffer, Simon Grabner, the great-great-grandfather of today’s youngest generation of the Grabner-Grobner family, moved from his farm in Altendorf to the valley with his five sons and found work in our traditional Plant 1, which has remained a place of work and home for his descendants to this day. His sons settled in the neighbouring villages of the plant and sent their children to the same workplace. Through their perseverance and devotion to the factory, they became the archetype of a Semperit family.” And that’s how it has always been until today.
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