Balzers, Liechtenstein, 15 April 2019 – On 6 April Oerlikon Balzers, a leading provider of surface solutions, has celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first customer centre in Austria. All members of staff from the three customer centres in Austria gathered in Kapfenberg to celebrate the occasion in fitting style, and they were joined by Wolfgang J Schmitz, Head of Oerlikon Balzers Europe, who took the opportunity to thank them in person for their hard work and loyalty to the company.
Employees and guests of honour celebrated the 20th anniversary of Oerlikon Balzers Austria. © Klaus Morgenstern
Hans Zechner (centre) received the award of honour from the Municipality of Kapfenberg, handed over by location manager Ing. Wolfgang Wiesenhofer (left) and vice mayor Ing. Erik Lasaridis (right). © Klaus Morgenstern
It was in 1999 that Oerlikon Balzers Coating Austria GmbH began providing coating services at its first customer centre in Kapfenberg, and over the years further customer centres were successfully established in neighbouring Czechia, Hungary and Romania. Today, Kapfenberg is also the centre of operations for Slovakia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. In Austria, Oerlikon Balzers expanded by taking over grinding specialist ROX in 2013 and by opening the Stainz customer centre in 2014.
Over the last 20 years the company has built up long-term partnerships with its customers in order to offer them high-tech surface solutions, personalised services, short delivery times and an unbeatable all-round customer experience. Every year in Kapfenberg Oerlikon Balzers coats an impressive number of industrial tools for tool manufacturers and precision components for companies in the automotive, mechanical engineering, aerospace and many other industries. Just a few micrometres thick and extremely hard, these coatings reduce friction and wear. Johann Zechner, who together with his team showed great commitment and worked hard to lay the foundations for the success of the Kapfenberg site over the 19 years from its opening, handed over the reins as Managing Director to Dr Jörg Paulitsch and Hilbert Hönig MSc in September 2018.
Dr Wolfgang J Schmitz, Head of Oerlikon Balzers Europe, said in his speech: “We are extremely proud that Oerlikon Balzers is the Austrian market leader in surface technologies and that we enjoy the confidence of our customers in Austria. Today, Kapfenberg is the site from where we serve our customers in ten Eastern European and Balkan countries with a high level of commitment, and we have also established centres in Czechia, Romania and Hungary which form part of our Austrian company. Every day our staff demonstrate their passion for applying high-quality coatings to our customers’ tools and precision components using state-of-the-art technologies and systems. Special thanks go to our customers for their loyalty and confidence in our products and to our staff for their outstanding efforts, and I also wish to thank everyone at our business location in Kapfenberg, with which we have always felt a strong connection and sense of responsibility.”
For more information about Oerlikon Balzers Coating Austria GmbH, visit www.oerlikon.com/balzers/at
