Handtmann has several reasons to celebrate

From an artisan brass foundry to a technology company with 4,300 employees and production facilities, branches and factory representatives in over 100 countries - Handtmann has existed for exactly 150 years and has written a success story. The traditional company celebrated this with prominent guests. New orders from the automotive industry are additional cause for celebration.

The owner family invited representatives from politics, business and society, managers and companions to a gala evening. One of the guests of honour: Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Winfried Kretschmann. In his speech, he paid tribute to Handtmann's history of development: "Back in the days of the German Empire, you started out as what is now called a start-up." Time and again, he said, the company's existence has been threatened over the many decades, in times of war and crisis. But it is impressive with what creativity, perseverance and effort the respective company heads have decided the situation in their favour. Handtmann is "an engine of prosperity and an economic factor in our country", Kretschmann said.

Handtmann on stage — Company boss Thomas Handtmann (m) hands over the business to the next generation: his son Markus (l) and his nephew Valentin Ulrich (r).

The owner family has taken precautions to ensure that the Group remains on the road to success: Thomas Handtmann, who has been with the company for 40 years, including 25 years at the helm, handed over a symbolic key and with it overall responsibility for the family-run group to his son Markus Handtmann and his nephew Valentin Ulrich. For his services to the city and his life's work, the retiring boss was awarded honorary citizenship by Biberach's Mayor Norbert Zeidler.

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In the future, nothing will remain as it was, said Valentin Ulrich: "But we do well to preserve our virtues, our DNA - even in the face of headwinds and even in turbulent times." "The Handtmann family business should be and remain one thing: human, innovative, sustainable, independent. And for that we need you," Markus Handtmann appealed to the managers and employees. "Together we want to start the next 150 years with you."

As a thank you to the staff, a festival was held for the employees and their partners.

Structural parts for the chassis

The Handtmann Light Metal Casting division unit has been awarded two projects in the chassis segment by German OEMs. These are suspension strut supports and a support frame. Handtmann sees the orders in the structural parts segment as confirmation of its strategic orientation for the future.

The decisive factors for the awards were apparently the speed of the development process and the company's expertise in lightweight construction. "In very close coordination with our customer, we implemented the development process from pre-development to prototype production to series production," said Dirk Seckler, Managing Director Sales and Technical Development in the Light Metal Casting Division at Handtmann. "The potential for lightweight construction, as with the suspension strut mounts, will become increasingly decisive for other structural parts of the body-in-white in the future."

The Handtmann Group of Companies

The Handtmann Group is divided into six divisions with autonomous management structures: Light Metal Casting, Systems Engineering, Filling and Portioning Systems, Plant Engineering, Plastics Technology and e-solutions. At the top of the corporate group, a holding company acts as a management, financing and investment company. Handtmann generated a turnover of 1.1 billion euros in 2022. Consistent retention policy enables high investments in research and development as well as production facilities.

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