As one of the world’s leading producer of fire-fighting vehicles and equipment, Ziegler thinks beyond the product to those who work with it every day
In the final assembly hall in Giengen, Germany, powerful fire-fighting vehicles of different types are just waiting to get their high-tech interior and the final finishing. Mrs Stefanie Koch is a passionate Ziegler employee who is working with the fire-fighting vehicles every day. She is in charge of the installation of the telescopic slides for heavy equipment in a fire-fighting vehicle that is designed especially for the international market. “It was an absolutely logical step for me to start an apprenticeship as an vehicle body and vehicle construction mechanic in September 2011 at Ziegler”, explains the now 20-year-old woman. Already as a child she was very interested in fire fighting vehicles. Now she has successfully completed her apprenticeship and is fully accepted by the predominantly male colleagues. “I can imagine no better profession”, she says, “and if I can work in such a traditional company like Ziegler – this is even better.”
125 years ago everything started in the Klingelmühle, an old mill in Giengen, Germany
The history of Ziegler extends over 125 years and goes back to the founder Albert Ziegler, who was active in the local Fire Department in the last two decades of the 19th century. In 1891 the focus was on the manufacturing of hoses.
The firm’s hoses made it famous in the circle of European fire-fighters. Ziegler’s fire hoses won a bronze medal at the Antwerp World’s Fair of 1894. In 1901 the hoses received the silver medal at the International Exhibition for Fire Prevention and Rescue in Berlin. The preferred material was hemp, which welled up in wet state and provided the tightness of the hose during operation”, explains expert Wolfgang Wunderle, Head of Hose Weaving at Ziegler.
Mr Wunderle has been working at Ziegler for more than 30 years. He has also completed an apprenticeship to become a steel construction locksmith. His locksmith skills are also beneficial in the hose manufacturing, where he is now responsible for more than 20 circular looms that produce about 6,000 metres of fire hoses at a wide range of variants a day.
“The circular weaving process has prevailed from the 1950s”, reported Wolfgang Wunderle, “and likewise, polyester was also introduced at that time as a fibre material. But as polyester fibres do not work quite as well”, he added, “an elastomer has to be inserted as inner lining in the tube in a high-tech procedure to ensure the tightness.” For Ziegler, hose manufacturing is still an important traditional branch of the company. The 60 million metres of hose that the company has made to date could wrap around the world about one and a half times.
From the hose to the pump up to the fully equipped fire-fighting vehicle
Kurt Ziegler, the son of Albert Ziegler, shifted the company’s focus in 1922. He had good relations with the Fire Departments and decided to offer more products for this market segment.
Therefore, he installed a mechanical workshop beside the looms and started developing a new product – the centrifugal fire pumps and portable centrifugal fire pumps. The company was doing so well that its facilities in the Klingelmühle were soon far too small.
Ziegler moved to new premises, a move that was completed in 1923. In 1925 the first portable pump could be delivered. “Of course new, more modern and technically sophisticated models emerged in the course of many decades, although for example the 1953 developed portable pump 8/8 is still a highly valued product by fire-fighters”, notes Hans Mayr, who benefits from over 30 years of experience in the sales department at Ziegler. In 2011 he assumed overall responsibility for the sales in Germany.
“Today’s core competence of the company is certainly based on an idea by Günther Ziegler, the son of Kurt Ziegler.
“In 1953 he made the decision to start the construction of fire-fighting vehicles and thus to become a full supplier to the Fire Departments,” adds Hans Mayr. On the German market Ziegler sells up to 500 fire-fighting vehicles of various types a year. This constitutes a market share of about 30% in Germany.
Nowadays high-tech vehicles do not have much in common with the first Ziegler fire-fighting vehicle, which was built in 1953 on an Opel-Blitz chassis. Ziegler is particularly proud of the patented aluminium-panel system ALPAS, which offers a high-quality and flexible base for all superstructures. Whether this is the centrifugal fire pump, which delivers up to 10,000 litres per minute and is very easy to use, or the Ziegler crew cabin Z-Cab that is spacious and equipped with safety in mind, demonstrating the company’s decades of experience in all the details.
Since the 1990s, it has become increasingly international at Ziegler
It started with the company’s 100th anniversary, when Ziegler opened a production facility in Rendsburg in 1991.
In the following years further production sites in Mühlau, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Croatia were added. Sales offices are currently located in Italy, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and since 2014 also in China. The number of employees has thus grown to more than 1,100 people, where still about 600 are employed at the headquarters in Giengen.
Günter Dörflinger, who has a special affinity to the company, has led the international sales department since 2011. His father also spent his career at Ziegler. Günter completed his apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at Ziegler, and later acquired a business degree. After his apprenticeship he has always been working in the international sales department. As head of this department, he sees great market opportunities particularly in the Chinese market after the acquisition by the CIMC Group in 2013.
As part of CIMC, Ziegler is well funded and excellently positioned for the future. Consequently, large investments were already made especially in the production capacities in Germany, as well as in manufacturing and development during 2015. This also supports Ziegler to provide customers all over the world with reliable and robust fire-fighting vehicles and equipment.
www.ziegler.de
