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<strong>Company</strong> <strong>profilE</strong>
Side by side with mafa Wurzen<br />
The NEUMAN & ESSER GROUP (NEA) can tell one of<br />
the positive stories about German reunification with its<br />
take-over of MAFA Wurzen in 1991. Other examples of<br />
West German companies taking over firms in the East<br />
shortly after reunification often didn’t end as happily, as<br />
tales of exploitation and asset stripping abounded. As<br />
almost everywhere else in the GDR, the staff at MAFA<br />
Wurzen felt insecure, explains Klaus Peters, Managing<br />
Partner at NEA from 1974 to 2007, and current advisory<br />
board member. Although he clearly stated from the<br />
start, “We are a German family business and if we come<br />
over here, then we mean to stay and invest!” This firm<br />
resolution was carried out. NEA currently employs 135<br />
staff in Wurzen, the town where the poet Joachim<br />
Ringelnatz was born. The production site has long since<br />
become an integral part of the group. Along with Übach-<br />
Palenberg and Stassfurt, Wurzen is one of the three<br />
NEA global production centers.<br />
The future lies in the East<br />
Alexander Peters has been Technical Director in Wurzen<br />
since 2001. He and his sister Stefanie manage the NEA<br />
Holding as Managing Partners, since their father retired<br />
from operative business. When taking up his position in<br />
Wurzen in 2001, Alexander Peters was able to celebrate<br />
the 10 th anniversary of the production site as part of the<br />
NEA GROUP the same year, and said at the time, “This<br />
celebration is a signal to our staff, that our common<br />
future in Wurzen is bright”.<br />
NEA had already been doing business in Eastern<br />
Europe since the beginning of the seventies. The first<br />
systems and compressors were sold to Czechoslovakia,<br />
Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. At that time, the<br />
countries in the Eastern Block were members of<br />
“Comecon”, the body for reciprocal economic assistance.<br />
“The GDR was the main supplier of machine<br />
tools in Comecon”, explains Klaus Peters. In spite of<br />
this, NEA was unable to sell any machines from the<br />
Wurzen site in the initial period following the take-over.<br />
“No one wanted to buy anything made in the GDR”, so<br />
machines were finished up to final assembly in Wurzen,<br />
then tested in Übach-Palenberg and marketed from<br />
there.<br />
an exciting chapter<br />
The most exciting moment for Klaus Peters, however,<br />
was the phased take-over of the „VEB Kombinat<br />
Grimma“, which was put up for sale in Jan. 1990. This<br />
consisted of the production site MAFA Wurzen, an iron<br />
foundry and the works’ kindergarten and central canteen.<br />
On March 20, 1990, Klaus Peters signed a declaration<br />
of intent to take over the infrastructure and staff at<br />
Works III, which manufactured oil-free standard compressors<br />
for air and technical gases. In order to become<br />
economically viable and survive, it became necessary<br />
to spin this off from the Combine and create an<br />
independent company. As a result, MAFA was turned<br />
into a limited company, of which NEUMAN & ESSER<br />
owned 49%.<br />
Klaus Peters began to renovate and restructure the company,<br />
but not without first securing a guarantee of 10<br />
million DM for the BV and V compressor series, should<br />
the deal unwind.<br />
In the autumn of 1990, West German companies were<br />
given permission to take a 100% share in East German<br />
businesses. NEUMAN & ESSER immediately took<br />
advantage of this opportunity and renamed MAFA<br />
Wurzen, the NEUMAN & ESSER Maschinenfabrik<br />
Wurzen GmbH.<br />
On Feb. 15, 1991, Klaus Peters completed the purchase<br />
backed by 100% of the staff. He has never regretted this<br />
move. He saw that there was a large reservoir of highlytrained<br />
employees, to whom it was important to offer<br />
opportunities, so that they would remain.<br />
The catalyst for decentralization<br />
After the take-over, NEA invested 14 million DM in buildings,<br />
infrastructure, and tooling machines in order to<br />
bring both centers in East and West up to the same level.<br />
This intention was carried out, right up to the staff tennis<br />
court. The work processes, order processing and cooperation<br />
with suppliers also had to be adjusted to the<br />
standards set in Übach-Palenberg. The relationship<br />
between the plants is still being actively promoted to this<br />
day, according to Alexander Peters, “and we continue to<br />
invest. No customer should get the impression that they<br />
are receiving lower quality goods from eastern Germany,<br />
or our staff feel that their production center is less important<br />
than those in the west. There has never been a<br />
two-class society at NEA. We have always led the way<br />
in this as a family-run business.”<br />
The take-over of Wurzen, according to Klaus Peters,<br />
was the spark that ignited the growth of NEUMAN &<br />
ESSER, transforming it from a single company into a<br />
global business group. Of course, one could have increased<br />
the size of the plant at Übach-Palenberg, but<br />
this was a faster method. From one day to the next, NEA<br />
increased its production capacity by 70% and, over<br />
night, was able to fulfill significantly more orders. In<br />
1992, the first business on foreign soil was founded, with<br />
the creation of NEA Italia S.r.l. in Milan. “This is when<br />
the internationalization began, which had always been<br />
our vision”, explains Alexander Peters. Since then, the<br />
business has grown to include fifteen companies for<br />
systems technology, sales and service, located in Italy,<br />
Egypt, China, USA, Brazil, Russia, India, Thailand and<br />
the United Arab Emirates.<br />
STaSSKol another great decision<br />
Following this success story, a second one was to be<br />
written in central Germany. In the year 2001, Klaus<br />
Peters initiated the take over of STASSKOL Kolbenstangendichtungen<br />
GmbH in Stassfurt, a longestablished<br />
industrial center in the Salzland. He quickly<br />
recognized the resources this producer of piston seals<br />
and spare parts for compressors had to offer. With an<br />
investment of 6 million EUR, NEA built a new building at<br />
a different site in Stassfurt, as well as a testing center<br />
that is unrivaled by any in the industry, this year adding<br />
a large materials center for materials production.<br />
STASSKOL responded with highly motivated staff, who<br />
managed to increase turnover six fold within eight years.<br />
The company, which commemorated its 90 th anniversary<br />
this year, has a further reason to celebrate.<br />
Next year the administration building will be enlarged<br />
by 360 m².<br />
alexander peters Klaus peters<br />
Excerpt from an interview with Klaus Peters, Zeitungsverlag Aachen, Oct. 2010