Two days of Pigments, Powders and Photovoltaics
Visit of Carl Schlenk AG and Wacker Chemie AG
On a two-day trip, the MBA students of the 1st and of the 3rd semester visited Carl Schlenk AG in Roth-Barnsdorf and Wacker Chemie AG in Burghausen at the Austrian border.
Dr. Frank Maile, Director Coatings & Colorants of Schlenk, invited the Pforzheim MBA’s to Roth close to Nuremberg. He teaches “Product Development and Design” in the 3rd semester for the second time already.
The Schlenk group, founded in 1879, is family-owned and has a strong international orientation with subsidiaries in Europe, the USA and Asia: they own ten production sites in five countries where German standards are applied.
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Dr. Alois Seidl and Michael Bauer, C. Schlenk AG
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After an introducing movie, Dr. Alois Seidl, President Schlenk Metallic Pigments, presented on the company’s history, its strategies and challenges Schlenk faces. A clear positioning would lead to a perceived technology and market leader position which guarantees sustainable growth. Challenges for Schlenk are mainly the globalization with its intercultural differences they have to deal with.
The Head of Marketing, Michael Bauer, spoke about current Marketing projects and corporate communication, e.g. the iMetallics App for the iPad and gave the students a demonstration fan which illustrated the different kinds of pigments.
Maria Reiss, the Head of the HR department, talked about possible entry opportunities, internships and master theses at Schlenk what encouraged many students to send in their applications afterwards.
After a delicious lunch, there was a guided tour through the show room, the laboratories, the warehouse and the milling facilities where the group could see what pigments are used for. For example for coatings of helmets and printing inks for labels on beer bottles or chocolate, you encounter pigments in your day-to-day life.
In the evening the world-famous Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt (Christmas market) was included in the program.
On the next day, a visit of Wacker Chemie AG in Burghausen was on the agenda. Wacker was founded in 1914 and employs 17.000 people all over the world. Klaus Millrath, Head of Communications introduced the company's history and its business fields to the students Wacker Chemie processes mainly three key raw materials: silicon metal (for construction, automotive and textiles), ethylene (for coatings, adhesives etc.) and starch/dextrose (for food and household). For example, 50% of the world's chewing gum producers are supplied with pyrogenic silica by Wacker .
Markus Huber, responsible for the recruiting and university contacts, was very interested in our both classes and collected short vitas of each of our students.
Dr. Wolfgang Storm, Senior Manager Marketing Polysilicon, talked about the application of Polysilicons in the photovoltaics industry. Wacker conducted its first researches on silicone in 1974 already which has now become one of the most important and biggest future markets.
A bus tour through the huge industrial plant of Wacker Chemie with its many pipes and pipelines, its own canal and hydro-electric power plant and a dump with a perfect view on the snow-covered Alps topped off the two days of exciting insights into German industry.
For more pictures, visit ourphoto album on facebook.
Text: JS
Photos: Frank Maile (C.Schlenk AG), HS, JS
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