25 years full of challenges and full of changes!
Today we all know how unique and historical this period of reunification was; how eventful and exciting it was, and how much change it brought for all of us.
After the borders were opened, we opened our first sales offices in Erfurt at the start of 1990. At the same time we also found our first customer from one of the "new" Länder: Erfurt Medical Academy.
Our first contacts with MPL and Injecta had already come about in the days of the old GDR. After lengthy negotiations with Treuhand, the state holding company, an agreement was reached for the acquisition of Injecta and MPL on 01-Jul-1990 by Walter Sarstedt.
Injecta was a precision mechanical engineering company based in Klingenthal that primarily manufactured tubes and cannulas for human and veterinary medicine.
From its site in Lichtenberg and subsequently Weigmannsdorf, MPL was and is a plastics processing company. They produce disposable medical devices including urine drainage systems and transfusion equipment.
Following the acquisition of the companies, dramatic changes needed to be made. Not only were many of their products no longer competitive on the free market, but existing markets particularly in Eastern Europe collapsed, the production facilities were in need of improvement and lots of the equipment, machinery and plants was technologically outdated or needed an overhaul. As a result, around €70 million has been invested in the two sites since 1990. 460 employees are now employed in Klingenthal and Brand-Erbisdorf.
It was a process of adjustment and realignment; a process that not only posed technological challenges, but one that in particular also challenged the people and the way in which they work with each other.
These 25 years together were celebrated appropriately with a customer day at MPL in Brand-Erbisdorf on Thursday 24 September 2015.
Among the approximately 250 guests were many long-standing customers and business partners, employees and the mayors of the boroughs of Klingenthal and Brand-Erbisdorf, as well as the mayor of Lichtenberg.
(Speakers from left to right: Jürgen Sarstedt – Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Thomas Hennig – Mayor of the Borough of Klingenthal, Dr Martin Antonov – Mayor of the Borough of Brand-Erbisdorf, Jens Weißflog – three-times Olympic Champion in ski jumping, Rainer Schuster – Board Member for Sales/Research & Development)
There was an entertaining programme with speeches, an exhibition in the large marquee and a tour of the production facilities. On top of this there was also plenty of time for animated conversations in a relaxed atmosphere with a generous buffet.
Alongside the speech given by guest speaker Jens Weißflog (three-times Olympic champion in ski jumping), one of the highlights of the day was the announcement by chairman of the board Mr Jürgen Sarstedt that up to €15 million will be invested in the sites in Eastern Germany over the next years, and that the 25th anniversary was to be marked by a one-off bonus payment of €458.000 that would be shared among all employees at both plants in September 2015 in recognition of their achievements.
