Interview - Carsten Weidel, Wanner Technik GmbH

Petr Betáš conducted a short interview with Carsten Weidel, Sales Manager of Wanner Technik GmbH

How do you evaluate the beginning of this year commercially regarding to the situation with COVID 19, has this situation affected the operation of Wanner Technik in anyway?

The begging of the year 2020 was already partially subdued due to the crisis in the automotive industry. After the outbreak of the corona crisis in March/April our orders also fell. We had to switch to a kurzarbeit system and stop the slump. As in 2009 the goal was to maintain all jobs and successfully manage the crisis. We have succeeded and we are glad that we are currently working at almost the standard 100% level as before the crisis.

How busy is Wanner in terms of production and which groups of products are currently the most required?

Currently, the greatest demand is for central knife mills of E series where we are completely sold out with the production for next 3 months. The situation is more balanced with the other mills of C and D series and we are able to continuously fulfill production so that the standard delivery dates are not extended. The largest declines are recorded in Spain, Brazil and also in Italy. These are countries that are still severely affected by the consequences of the crisis. However it is interesting that for example France despite the high incidence of the disease is currently experiencing its second best business year with the regard to sales of our products.

Are there any new innovations that Wanner plans to introduce in the near future?

We are planning to introduce a new model of the mill named CLE for the year 2021. This abbreviation is based on "Compact Low-Noice-Emission", it means a compact mill with low noise emissions. We will crarify the exact information on what this means and for which applications th mill will be primarily intended in the coming weeks. I can say so much now "our goal was to design and construct a strong knife mill that will be as quiet when crushing massive PA inlets as, for example, gear mills. 

Thank you for the interview and we wish you a lot of success!

Ing. Petr Betáš, 1.PLASTCOMPANY, spol. s r.o., regional representation of  Wanner Technik GmbH brand in CZ, SK, HU.