"We have never invested so much in the company as in the previous year." This message was sent to staff of foundry expert M. Busch, Managing Director Wolfgang Krappe at the company meeting in Velmede.
The expansion of the foundry 3, including the melting plant at the Meschede-Wehrstapel site, represents the largest single investment in the 186-year history of the iron foundry. "This was one of the biggest challenges we ever had to manage" In addition to the extensive planning, an eight-week production stoppage caused by the construction measures had to be compensated by massive inventory build-up in the previous months. His thanks go to all those who have contributed to the success and to the families of the employees, who had a lot of understanding during this phase.
But not only in the foundry in Wehrstapel was invested in state of the art technical equipment, but also in the machine shop at Bestwig works, where the raw parts casted in Wehrstapel are finished, ready for assembly.
Wolfgang Krappe presented the current order situation to the staff on the basis of the customer structure. Busch is a supplier to practically all major manufacturers of the commercial vehicle industry, with the largest share of sales being achieved with the parent company BPW Bergische Achsen from Wiehl.
At present, M. Busch employs around 530 people, 23 of which are trainees. According to Krappe, the success of the company is closely linked to the constructive interaction between the works council and the management. This fact was also taken up by the chairman of the works council, Manuel Fritsch. He especially thanked Wolfgang Krappe for his 18-year career as managing director at M. Busch. Wolfgang Krappe will retire on 1st March 2017 and leave the company. With Andreas Güll, a foundry engineer and operator with almost 30 years of professional experience in iron casting, his successor is already groomed. Since 1st October the 52-year-old Andreas Güll has started his activity as managing director of the company. He took the opportunity to introduce himself to all employees at the Annual General Meeting for the first time. Güll, who worked for a well-known competitor before, clearly confessed towards the staff to continue the successful investment strategy within the company and to unite the plants in Bestwig and Wehrstapel even closer.
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