Heaven and earth have been moved! September 2008

On September 12th the new company site of P+S Polyurethan -Elastomere GmbH & Co KG at the address Kielweg has been officially inaugurated. Although the distance between the old factory at Thueringer Straße and the new one at Kielweg is "only" three kilometres, the house moving lasted approx. 4 weeks.

The transfer of the large-sized production machines was the most complicated issue. Four special exceptional transports by flat-bed lorries were necessary to bring them into the new production halls. One special figure illustrates the dimensions of this relocation: 73 fully loaded large trucks passed the streets of Diepholz to reach the new premises whose size is 30,000 square metres. "This new building is just the beginning and the precondition to supply competitive products, manufactured under ecological and economical aspects" explained Manfred Heckert (MD) the reason for the move. He continued: "We have looked ahead for our plannings and have chosen a land size with 30,000 square metres, so it will be possible to build up further halls with a surface of approx. 8,000 square metres." The management board hopes that this project will bring new jobs and averts any possible stagnation within the development process. The new location in the south of Diepholz was also chosen to avoid a long journey to work for the employees if the location would have been outside of the administrative district.

The collaboration with the municipality and the public authorities proceeded smoothly although it was a big venture. "The building permission was granted only four weeks after its application. Dr. Schulze, the mayor of Diepholz, was very cooperative. We like to take advantage of this event to thank the authorities that everything was regulated in a simple way " commended MD Ingo Becker. He further declared: "It's a miracle that only 8 months were needed from the date of application until the move-in and this has been a feat from everyone involved."

Hans-Werner Schwarz, vice-president of the Lower Saxony state parliament, pointed out the significance of P+S, as it has "a substantial position in the market, which is conspicious" , and he considered himself as happy to have such an ambitious enterprise in the Diepholz area. He believes that the key to success is to be found in the regional affinity and the outstanding members of staff.

Gerd Stötzel, head of the district authority of Diepholz, completed: "Such companies bring the region ahead" and handed over a white Lower Saxony horse as a symbol of efficacy and performance.

Another bidden orator was mayor Dr. Thomas Schulze, wishing good success to P+S and pointing out the pleasant talks with the Managing Directors Becker and Heckert,whereby he congratulated on courage and sense of responsibilitry.

Apart from the dedication there was another reason to celebrate: The collaboration between the companies P+S and Bayer Leverkusen lasts since 30 years. Guest speaker Reinhold Müller stated that within the 15 years he works with P+S he hasn't seen many companies who break new ground , and the extension of the company is the result of "pefect business policy and a motivated team".

Finally Jens Plenge, the architect, got a word and said:" It seems to be a good sign if the the architect is invited."

The final speech was made by Manfred Heckert, thanking the company founder who laid the foundation to success with ambition, effort and farsightedness, and together with Ingo Becker they handed over amongst other things two golden buffers, as a symbol for more than 10 million sold buffers.

One production department will continue working at the previous production halls. But as soon as a new owner or tenant has been found for the buildings at the Thueringer Straße, this department will be moved to the Kielweg as well. From then on P+S Polyurethan-Elastomere will have the complete production at one site in order to look into a succesful future.

Report from Lars Herrmann, Photos: P+S & Diepholzer Kreisblatt

Diepholz, 09/2008