When I started working at HÖRMANN on August 1, 1980, there was a large marquee in the company parking lot because the company was celebrating its 25th anniversary at the time. In the 45 years since then, Hans Hörmann has given me the opportunity to work in many different positions and areas of responsibility. The range of activities was as varied as it was sometimes challenging and always characterized by independent entrepreneurial action. From security technology to sirens/warning systems, radioactivity monitoring systems and mobile communications to renewable energies with a focus on geothermal energy, it has been a field of activity that has both challenged and fulfilled me throughout my professional life. Tackling all these different topics is evidence of our company founder's pronounced entrepreneurship; it is to be hoped that this outstanding quality will remain a driving force for the future, even after 70 years at HÖRMANN. Even after retiring a year ago, I remain committed to the company and the Hörmann family in particular and wish them all the best for the future.

My first contact with HÖRMANN was in 1988. As the person responsible for the VW engine plant in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz again, I got to know and appreciate the company's expertise in the field of industrial technology at the time. The professional expertise and empathetic cooperation led to the joint founding of HÖRMANN-BARKAS GmbH after 1989. Since then, "Haus Hörmann" has repeatedly impressed me with its performance and the likeability of a medium-sized family business, both in my work at VW in Wolfsburg and at Porsche in Leipzig.

I am therefore delighted to be able to continue to support the Hörmann family and the entire "HÖRMANNSCHAFT" with my work on the advisory board after my active professional life. I would like to extend my warmest congratulations on the company's 70th anniversary and especially to Mr. Hans Hörmann for his life's work.

I met Hans Hörmann by chance in the 70s while deep-snow skiing on the Arlberg. We became friends, often went sailing together and met up again every year in St. Christoph am Arlberg. Then one day he asked me on the chairlift: Are you coming to me? That was in 1987, and shortly afterwards we founded HÖRMANN Logistik and made it a success.

I still value Hans Hörmann as a friend today, and I appreciate his claim to 'recognize potential, promote potential'. Thank you, Hans. And congratulations.

Congratulations on the company's 70th anniversary. I am proud to have been a member of the Hörmann Group with our company, SITEC Industrietechnologie GmbH Chemnitz, for over 34 years.

We would like to thank the founder of the HÖRMANN Group, Mr. Hans Hörmann, for his special commitment to the founding and development of SITEC Industrietechnologie GmbH.

We wish the management and all employees of the HÖRMANN Group good health and continued business success.

70 years of Hörmann means 70 years of stability and entrepreneurial success for me. I noticed this stability also in the commitment in East Germany, especially in Chemnitz, with joy, recognition and curiosity. My interest led to a job at Hörmann in Chemnitz in 2001, which offered entrepreneurial freedom for the realization of complete vehicle developments. I was impressed by the trust placed in me, the open atmosphere and the great freedom for the management to make decisions. Working under such conditions inspires not only me, but our entire Hörmann vehicle engineering team in Chemnitz, Dresden and Dessau. It is a special experience for me to see how innovations are strived for and the determination with which they are implemented. I am always motivated anew to contribute to the design of further innovative vehicle projects and to Hörmann's good reputation and to continue to postpone my retirement.

70 years of HÖRMANN! A big anniversary for a company in which I was able to share responsibility as Managing Director for more than three decades. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first HÖRMANN company, HÖRMANN Barkas Industrietechnik GmbH, was founded as a joint venture in the former GDR - three days before reunification! From 1990 to 2015, I was the Managing Director responsible for both HÖRMANN Industrietechnik GmbH and Voith Industrial Services, then Managing Director of HÖRMANN Barkas Metallbau GmbH until my retirement in 2023.

I am proud to have been involved in the development of the HÖRMANN Group for over 30 years and wish the HÖRMANN Group continued great success, stable earnings and motivated employees.

"In 1990, Hörmann GmbH (now HÖRMANN Warnsysteme) secured a very large order from Singapore. The SJCDF (Singapore Joint Civil Defence Forces) wanted to plan, produce, install and commission a turnkey siren warning system for the entire island nation. Hörmann had never before realised a project of this size, especially at the other end of the world: 15 million Deutschmarks in sales volume, an enormous sum at the time. The system comprised 220 electronic sirens, which were a brand-new system with technology that was unique worldwide at the time. In addition, there were a large number of so-called ‘indoor warning units’ that were to be installed in large buildings. As it is very hot in Singapore all year round, the aim was to ensure that siren alarms could also be heard in air-conditioned buildings. Added to this was the entire networking of the system and, of course, the associated control system.

At that time, let's take a quick trip back 35 years, there was no internet or smartphones; communication with Southeast Asia was via landline telephone and fax. Locally, people communicated using the latest craze on the market: a pager. Everyone in Singapore who was “in” – and that's everyone there – had one of these little boxes on their belt. When it beeped, the person knew they had to call someone back, and the single-line green display revealed the corresponding number.
The sirens were manufactured entirely in Germany. The electronics were produced by the young subsidiary REMA in Stollberg, and the control cabinets were pre-wired in Kirchseeon. The sensitive electronics were transported to Singapore by air freight, and the heavy mechanical parts by sea freight containers. Over time, the company developed an almost permanent connection with the professionals at the various shipping companies and customs authorities.
An apartment was rented in Singapore to serve as accommodation and an office. True to Mr. Hörmann's motto, “your own people are the best,” engineers, technicians, and electricians flew from Kirchseeon to Singapore and worked there around the clock. The day began at around 8 a.m. and ended at around 11 p.m.

At that time, let's take a quick trip back 35 years, there was no internet or smartphones; communication with Southeast Asia was via landline telephone and fax. Locally, people communicated using the latest craze on the market: a pager. Everyone in Singapore who was ‘in’ – and that's everyone there – had one of these little boxes on their belt. When it beeped, the person knew they had to call someone back, and the single-line green display revealed the corresponding number.
The sirens were manufactured entirely in Germany. The electronics were produced by the young subsidiary REMA in Stollberg, and the control cabinets were pre-wired in Kirchseeon. The sensitive electronics were transported to Singapore by air freight, and the heavy mechanical parts by sea freight containers. Over time, the company developed an almost permanent connection with the professionals at the various shipping companies and customs authorities.
An apartment was rented in Singapore to serve as accommodation and an office. True to Mr Hörmann's motto, ‘your own people are the best,’ engineers, technicians and electricians flew from Kirchseeon to Singapore and worked there around the clock. The day began at around 8 a.m. and ended at around 11 p.m. 

It was an exciting, exhausting, but also absolutely eventful three months in Singapore. Never before or since have I ever accumulated so many overtime hours in a row, but never before or since have I been able to learn so much in such a short time about the technology of our sirens, the importance of smooth teamwork with mutual appreciation and support, and the trust that Hörmann places in each and every employee. And it is difficult to put into words the feeling of happiness that flows through you when the work of two years in total and three hard months on site becomes visible and audible in the nationwide siren test through the successful and flawless commissioning of a project on site. The customer was also very satisfied with our work, as demonstrated by a special gift: we were presented with official commemorative coins from the city-state of Singapore, which were issued in memory of the installation of this system. 
Even today, I could probably replace the plug-in cards of a siren blindly without making a mistake and sketch the wiring, provided that someone placed a Hörmann siren from the nineties on my desk."

Bettina Siebenlist, Office Management/PR and self-appointed ‘girl Friday’  at AIC HÖRMANN GmbH & Co. KG

A slaughterhouse, a vision and a typical HÖRMANN success story

"In the 1980s, I received an unusual assignment: Hans Hörmann had acquired an abandoned slaughterhouse in Santa Cruz, California – typical of his entrepreneurial nature, always on the lookout for favourable opportunities. This old complex was to be converted into a state-of-the-art production facility.

Shortly before, Hörmann had bought a promising company there called Raytek Inc., which had developed a groundbreaking technology for non-contact infrared heat measurement. This innovative company needed a new home, and the old slaughterhouse was to become it."

Bavaria meets California: a transatlantic construction site

"Since Hans Hörmann did not quite trust the Californian construction workers, he decided to fly in civil engineer Theo Dörr and craftsmen from his own company in Bavaria. They were to manage and supervise the planning and implementation of the ambitious project on site. What followed was a remarkable collaboration between the Californian craftsmen – bricklayers, plumbers and other specialists – and the traditional Bavarian engineers with their unmistakable dialect. This unusual cooperation transformed the huge, dilapidated slaughterhouse site into an absolute prestige showcase project, which received an award for outstanding achievement from the local authorities.“

The entrepreneur who left nothing to chance

"Hans Hörmann spent several months in Santa Cruz during this construction phase to personally ensure that the project was implemented exactly as we had designed it on the drawing board. After Raytek Inc. had flourished in its new premises and become the global market leader with its Raynger infrared measuring device, Hans Hörmann successfully sold the company to a large US optical products group in the early 2000s."

Heinz Runte, managing director of individual HÖRMANN companies until 2017 and member of the Advisory Board of HÖRMANN Holding until 2020

HÖRMANN again and again: A NAME THAT STUCK

"During this time, one name kept cropping up: HÖRMANN Industrietechnik. I regularly encountered the company at numerous Volkswagen events – as a strong, reliable player with firm roots in Chemnitz and clear growth momentum. The HÖRMANN Group was already a household name in the region at that time – known for its innovative strength, entrepreneurial stability and as a potential player in the expansion of the Saxon vehicle industry."

More than just sheet metal and engines: THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

"The SMWA gave us at AMZ an expanded mandate: in addition to the automotive industry, we were also to explore new perspectives in general vehicle construction. This led to in-depth discussions with leading figures from business and industry – including representatives of the HÖRMANN Group.“

The enabler: HEINZ RUNTE BRINGS MOVEMENT INTO PLAY

"Heinz Runte, who was responsible for HÖRMANN's activities in Saxony, was a particular source of inspiration and an interested contact. He was known for his keen sense of opportunity, his decisiveness – and for getting things moving."

A conversation with consequences: CHEMNITZ MEETS ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

"On Heinz Runte's initiative, a meeting was arranged with Hans Hörmann. In Chemnitz, I met an entrepreneur with a genuine desire to shape the future – enthusiastic about the idea of anchoring rail vehicle development within the group. For him, this was not a side note, but a logical extension."

Support from the top: POLICY THAT SHAPES

"The vision fell on fertile ground: Dr Norbert Walther, then head of the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labour (SMWA), also signalled his unconditional support during a visit to HÖRMANN in Chemnitz."

From sketch to steel: HOW AN IDEA GOT ROLLING

"What began as an idea is now reality: HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering is a leading engineering service provider for rail vehicles – with current projects in India, Poland, German cities and Europe's first hydrogen-powered tram."

Dr.-Ing. Volkmar Vogel, Senior Vice President HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH