Environmental protection has been an important concern to residents of Wietersdorf for decades. When the RTO was commissioned in 2017, it marked a milestone in emissions control for the Wietersdorf w&p cement works. With its currently unique combination of a mercury-reducing system – “Xmercury” – a fully modern dust collection system and the downstream RTO – regenerative thermal oxidation system – the cement works can claim to be one of the cleanest in the world.

Over the past 30 years, the brand Baumit, which was founded in 1988 (see history of 1988) has become the “Europe brand” it is today. Our partner in Germany and the former east, Schmid Wopfing developed Baumit into a global player; the Wietersdorfer worked the markets of the former Yugoslavia, Baltic countries, Russia, as well as Greece and Italy. The product portfolio has been continuously developed in such a way that Baumit is on par with large global players. In 2016/17, Wietersdorfer changed its strategy to focus on the core competencies of cement and pipes. We have been operating in these fields of business since 1893 and 1931 respectively. For future opportunities and to take better advantage of these business segments, it was decided to hand Baumit over to experienced hands, so that core competencies can be further expanded. The brand Kema was also signed over to Schmid Holding along with Baumit.

The commissioning of the new clinker production plant at Salonit has marked the latest milestone in the history of success of the company, for the time being. Apart from the fact that it is the highest building in the whole of Slovenia, more than one crucial economic and ecological objective was fulfilled along the way. Capacities were increased to 3,500 tonnes per day, energy efficiency was increased in terms of a decrease of calorific consumption per tonne of clinker and, additionally, it is now possible to use alternative fuels; not to speak of saving energy resources and cutting down on emissions, etc.

ur Sicherstellung der erfolgreichen Realisierung der langfristigen strategischen Ausrichtung der POLOPLAST wurde 2008 ein signifikanter Ausbau der Infrastruktur realisiert. Aktuell wurde am Standort in Leonding ein Logistikzentrum mit ca. 6500 m² für 12.000 Palettenstellplätze errichtet, welches im Juni 2008 in Betrieb genommen wurde. Dieses beinhaltet auch eine überdachte “Drive-In” Kommissionier- und Beladezone, in der bis zu vier LKW-Züge gleichzeitig abgefertigt werden können. Durch Inbetriebnahme des neuen Logistikzentrums kann die Produktionskapazität durch die frei werdenden bisherigen Lagerhallen deutlich erweitert werden. Die Erweiterung der Infrastruktur ist eine Investition für die Zukunft. Sie trägt maßgebend dazu bei, das Service zum Kunden noch weiter auszubauen und die Weichen für ein nachhaltiges zukünftiges Wachstum zu stellen.

With the opportunity to manufacture non-circular profiles on an industrial scale, the way was paved for HOBAS for new fields. For the renovation and building of non-circular sewers, HOBAS offers a GRP Product called “HOBAS NC Line” (non circular). These are special profiles produced by filament winding whose shape (in the case of renovation) can be perfectly matched to the dimensions of the existing sewer or, in case of a new construction, allow for adjustments to every desired profile form.

June 1999 saw the ceremonial commissioning of Baumit’s new ready-mixed mortar plant in Sirac (Croatia) and with it the start of a European campaign. Over the next few years, three more ready-mixed mortar plants will be commissioned in Bosnia, Slovenia, and Russia. The total investment volume was around 38 million euros, with all three sites manufacturing both cement-based and plaster-based ready-mix mortars. In 2013, a new customer centre was opened in Klagenfurt. Baumit had evolved from a regional supplier for the Alpine-Adriatic region into a major European brand.

When the Hatschek Group sold its shares in 1991, the Wietersdorf found itself faced with a new partner. However, the new partners could not be more different: one of them was a regionally active family enterprise looking back on 100 years of tradition; the other was an internationally ambitious capital company that pursued totally different concepts and objectives (keyword: shareholder value maximisation). Hardly surprising, the partnership merely lasted a couple of years before, in 1997, the Wietersdorf also bought the other 50%-share in Poloplast. Now that the situation had been clarified, nothing stood in the way of a continuous further development and internationalisation.

One further milestone in the corporate history was the POLO-KAL S3 pipe: the innovative factor being the composition of the pipe. The three-layered mineral substance-reinforced domestic waste water conduit system is characterised by its highly sound insulating properties. The system found its major application in the field of down pipes (maximum noise development). Just a few years later, in 1994, the POLO-KAL NG was developed. It was meant to cover the segment of floor conduit systems. POLO-KAL NG and POLO-KAL 3S have become an indispensable product and have meanwhile met with an enthusiastic response.

In 1988, Baumit was established by the two family-owned companies Wietersdorfer & Peggauer Zementwerke and Wopfinger Stein- und Kalkwerke. The objective was to sell high-quality construction materials under a joint umbrella trademark. The managing directors Dieter Kern from Wietersdorf (left in the photograph) and Friedrich Schmid from Wopfinger (right in the photograph) thus brought together the strong points of both enterprises; i.e. cement and insulating plasters on the one hand, and lime and machine-applied plasters on the other. This is how the foundation of a new European trademark was laid. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, 1991 saw the founding of “Baumit Kft”. In Hungary, a first step was made in an easterly direction. 1994 Baumit also started to conquer Austria’s southern neighbourhood in the form of Slovenia, Croatia and Italy. In 2008, Baumit counted amongst Europe’s leading construction material brands and had a turnover of EUR 750m.

The management in Wietersdorf realised the potential of CC-GRP (centrifugally cast glass fibre reinforced plastics) Pipes and strove to establish a legally binding business with HOBAS. In 1984, this led to the joint venture with HOBAS. Today, the Wietersdorf holds 100% of the shares in HOBAS, managing this branch with a very successful team. The foundation for this positive development was laid way back in the 80s.

Adjacent to the existing works in the north, a highly modern plant was built with a rotary kiln and satellite coolers. The “old” plants from the 60s remained in operation for the time being, but were closed down in the subsequent years for economic and ecological reasons. Salonit Anhovo thus reached an annual output capacity of one million tonnes cement per year.

In 1968/69, the thermal products were developed together with the Graz University of Technology and were launched onto the market in 1970 (“ThermoMörtel, ThermoPutz, ThermoSchlitz”). All the products were made from the volcanic rock perlite. In this process, perlite is expanded at higher temperatures and its volume increased by factors of 15 to 20 while, at the same time, intensifying its thermal insulation properties. In the late 70s, polystyrol was added to the plasters as an alternative to perlite, and a plaster called ThermoExtra Putz was born and introduced to the market. This, again, meant an improvement in thermal insulation behaviour, but on the other hand some of the pressure resistance was lost. As the façade insulating slabs appeared, the heyday of insulation plasters and mortars suddenly came to an end.

1965/66 saw the addition of a third rotary kiln in the Wietersdorf works. Not only was the first kiln of its kind now almost thirty years old, it could also no longer be run economically. The capacity limits of the works had long been reached, and the time had come to set up a kiln north of the existing plant with a daily output of 1,000 tonnes of Portland cement clinker. (This meant that what was the annual production of the whole of 1913 could now be produced within half a month!). The most extraordinary feature of this kiln was its special burner which allowed for a firing by natural gas, oil and/or coal dust, separately or mixed. Towards the late 80s, more and more surrogate fuels, such as old tyres, processed plastics, etc. started to be used. Externally, too, the kiln underwent a change; it was roofed. And it still rotates although, of course, rebuilt since and with the addition of cutting-edge technological plant components, globally speaking (basically shifting from semi-dry procedure to dry procedure with five-step cyclone pre-heater and calciner).ybr />In this way, the specific internal energy consumption was once more able to be reduced significantly.

Growing demands caused the management of Salonit to invest in a modern rotary kiln with a daily output capacity of 350 tonnes. (Peggau saw the commissioning of a rotary kiln of the same dimensions in the same year, too.)

The development of the Polo-Kal pipe was a first big step in the direction of a strictly forward-looking technology. The pipe differs from conventional pipes through its multi-layer composition which also means an improved insulation from sound, and this is, of course, an important criterion for domestic waste water contexts. By the way, the German syllable “Kal” is an acronym and stands for “plastic, drain, water piping”.

Innovations that come about by accident are often the most successful – as happened in Switzerland over 55 years ago. It was then that technicians of the Basel textile dyeing factory were looking for an alternative to the wooden cylinders around which the fabric was wound during the dyeing process. Splintered and coloured wood was a danger to the expensive textiles and a replacement was urgently required. The new material had to be able to be manufactured in the form of a cylinder with a circular cross section and constant outer diameter, be resistant to corrosion, have a low weight and a smooth surface to guarantee a uniform dyeing result, and moreover, it had to be economical. The roller made of fibreglass and polyester resin was born.”

On 1st March 1949, the Alois Kern company leased the Peggau plant. The cement works that had been planned and even started before the War were completed in no time. In September 1949, cement production was taken up although the situation was not at all very economical: both the raw materials and the cement had to be ground in one and the same mill, and it was not until 1953 that a separate raw mill went into operation. In the first few years, the average output was 30,000 tonnes of cement; by 1955, the average output had already risen to some 50,000. It was only in 1958 that Alois Kern was able to purchase the plant, which was still in German hands and administered by the allied occupation forces. In 1959, a settlement was reached concerning the shares in the Peggauer Zementwerke Alois Kern on the one hand, and the Wietersdorfer Zementwerke Phil. Knoch & Co. on the other hand.

In 1931 the Wietersdorfer Zement- und Durit-Werke Phil. Knoch & Cie. company as it meanwhile called itself applied to the authorities to be issued a permit to establish a pipe manufacturing plant. The demand for asbestos-slate plates remained strong, and the programme was supplemented by “glossy slates” (the slates being coated with a glaze). Surprisingly, first signs of environmentally-conscious thinking were experienced even then in that the authority ruled that the outgoing water from the existing sewage plant “should be once more clarified from now on”. The issue of the permit to build pipes laid the foundation for the meanwhile extremely successful branch “pipes”.

The first cement works at today’s Anhovo site were put into operation. On 2nd May 1921, after two years of construction, cement production was started. 16 shaft kilns with an output of 160 tonnes per day, which was then a highly respectable performance, were set up. The choice of the location was perfect, and owing to sources of abundant raw materials the growing demand for cement was able to be met even in the long term.

The Alpine asbestos slate works “Durit” with their headquarters in Villach started a production plant in Wietersdorf in the immediate vicinity of the cement works. In 1915, the works was taken over by the Knoch brothers who started the production of roof slates on the so-called “Prosig” machine. In the war years, cement was crucial for the building of emplacements, and for this reason a considerable share of the production was sent to Tarvisio in Italy. Due to the First World War, the production of asbestos-slate plates was suspended, and it was not until 1919 that it was resumed.

Three Roman kilns, three Portland kilns, three (Liban) rotary kilns, one Schlegel kiln – the Knoch brothers wasted no time in expanding the Wietersdorf works! The erection of the first three Roman kilns was completed in 1896, followed by three more Portland kilns set up between 1897 and 1900 and, immediately after the turn of the century, three rotary kilns plus one Schlegel kiln which went into operation in 1902.

The parent plant of the Wietersdorf was the company “Wietersdorfer Cementwerke Phil. Knoch & Cie” founded in 1893 by Philipp Knoch together with his brother Gottlieb. Wietersdorf is a place some 35 km north of the provincial capital Klagenfurt, and the cement works was then one of 7 in the province of Carinthia. It was first put into operation on 10th October with a workforce of 21. As early as 1894 there was the construction of three additional Roman kilns