“Once an engineer, always an engineer”

After 32 years of service, Managing Director Reinhard Böber leaves Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH to retire.

Dr Reinhard Böber is leaving the management of Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH on 1 September to begin his well-earned retirement. He co-founded the company 32 years ago with the “Continuous Fluidised Bed” research group of the Magdeburg Heavy Engineering Combine (SKET) in Weimar and was largely responsible for the company’s development. Dr Böber’s farewell ceremony was attended by shareholders, executives and partners of the Glatt Group, as well as numerous representatives from Thuringia’s business community, society and politics.

“What counts is the result,” is how Reinhard Böber sums up his time with the company. “Glatt Ingenieurtechnik is doing brilliantly in a difficult economic environment and the decision to take a broad approach to global markets is paying off, especially during the current crises. The company’s DNA has not changed in 32 years.”

Problems that seem technically difficult have a much stronger attraction for Glatt than economic trends and management fashions. The company’s “engineering mindset” and holistic methodologies have been maintained and further developed with today’s interdisciplinary team. What started out as 20 employees has grown to more than 300 and, impressively, none of the original team has left the company before retirement.

During its history, Glatt Ingenieurtechnik established its headquarters in Weimar and has opened further locations in Dresden, Wiesbaden, Cologne, New Delhi and Moscow. “The course for the future has been set,” adds Dr Böber, “with Lutz Heinzl taking on the task of operational management.”

With its broad and specialised portfolio of about 20 processes, Glatt Ingenieurtechnik markets its technological competence to a worldwide network of manufacturers and suppliers, and has won many regional and national business awards. “We imbue all the advanced technologies and processes that the company has developed with a solution-oriented spirit,” comments Böber: “This, in addition to process knowledge and diversification, is it above all what makes Glatt Ingenieurtechnik so successful.”

“Status quo is not the end of development,” he adds, as he hands over the reins of management. “What’s ultimately important, whether we’re adapting to accommodate short-term change cycles or variable run times, is that the process works. We’ve learned so much together, but, in the end, either the process works … or it doesn’t. And that’s why, throughout my career, I’ve always remained an engineer.”