SiLibeads - In

English
18 5 4
2004
SiLibeads
SiLiglit
®
®
TRADITION
I N N O VAT I O N
SY M PAT H Y
COMPETENCE
RELIABILITY
TEAM
QUALIT Y
One must use past experience,
to make the best decision in the present.
And be awake, go forwards and develop,
thinking ahead and follow one's intuition.
Then things will move in the way that's best
and success can't fail.
PROVEN SUCCESSFUL
FOR GENERATIONS
In the year 1854 SiLi was
founded by Sigmund
Lindner. Today we are a family
business of the 5th generation and
one of the most important manufacturers
and suppliers of Technical Glass and
Ceramic Beads as well as Decorative Glitter
– worldwide.
150 years of experience and constant
innovation enable us to guarantee the
highest possible benefit and the best
available quality for our customers, now
and in the future.
NO STAGNATION IN SIGHT
Our highly specialized products are known
as SiLibeads and SiLiglit. They have been
manufactured according to a locally
developed process at the company base
in Warmensteinach in Bavaria, Germany.
Various manufacturing technologies
are applied in the complex production
processes. Both the processes and the
applied technologies are continually
analysed, optimised and modernised by
our R&D team.
We have enlarged our
industrial capacities
progressively. Moreover,
new business fields arise
in the course of the renewal
processes. The development of
Ceramic Grinding Beads and the manufacturing of Type I Glass Beads for the
medical field was realized with the most
modern plant- and laboratory technology.
INNOVATION OF THE TOP
The enterprise is owned by the family Trassl
and is managed in the spirit of the family
tradition by the two Managing Directors
Stefan and Rolf Trassl. The wide product
range of SiLi GmbH is well-positioned in the
market. A comfortable position, providing
security for our customers and employees.
We build on our experience. In all areas of
the enterprise we act with anticipation of
the future, adapting fast and flexibly to
short-term changes. It is our aspiration to
always remain up-to-date, improving in the
process. Our innovative management aims
for these targets on all company levels.
PREFACE
5
Stefan Trassl, Managing Director
STEADY DEVELOPMENT IN
CHANGING TIMES
LATEST
TECHNOLOGY
PRECISION
AND PURITY
The product development as well
as the implementation of customer
demands is carried out by our R&D
department. Other than that we
maintain close contacts with universities and International partners.
A local production plant for SiLibeads
of Type ZY was built in 2002. The
latest manufacturing technologies
installed enable us to produce
Ceramic Grinding Beads for the
paint- and varnish industry as well
as for the pharmaceutical-, pest
control- and ceramic industries.
SiLibeads of Type P fulfill the quality
demands of the pharmaceutical
industry, being of the highest quality
and purity grade. A special grinding
process guarantees absolute
precision at production.
7
ENTERPRISE
HEAT
MOLDING
DURABILITY
WITH EFFECT
SECURE
WAREHOUSING
SiLibeads Glass Beads Type S, SL
and H are produced according to
a locally developed heat molding
process - in a revolving furnace.
This production process saves
energy and ensures the highest
quality of rounding.
We manufacture SiLiglit Decorative
Glitter applying the traditional metallization process. The surface coating by sol-gel-process guarantees
extreme durability.
A production and storage area of
approximately 7000 square meters
secures a smooth and punctual
handling of all orders. The latest
storage and packing technologies
protect the goods, thus making sure
the products stay undamaged and
flawless - starting at production right
down to delivery to the customer.
Europe
Rochdale
North America
Paris
SUBSIDIARY COMPANY
Milan
Africa
Middle America
South America
WORLDWIDE AVAILABILITY
FAR AWAY, YET CLOSE
SiLi products are at home everywhere.
A worldwide export network in over 80
countries and with our own sales offices in
England, Italy, France and Moscow as well
as a subsidiary firm in the USA, show the
steady expansion of our international presence.
The customer is the central point of our
business. Modern communication closely
connects the continents today. Nevertheless
it can never replace direct contacts between
people. We seek personal closeness with
our customers.
We pursue this expansive course consistently on all continents. As a global player
in the niche market for Technical Glass and
Ceramic Beads as well as for Decorative
Glitter, our main aim is to be as close to
the customer as possible.
Russia
Moscow
As a global player in a niche market
we are available to our customers,
Asia
all over the world thus creating local
nearness and optimal support for
WORLDWIDE
9
all people working with us.
Australia
GROWING WITH THE CUSTOMERS
Our customers have an immediate influence
on our business goals. By our efforts to
take their requirements, needs and wishes
into account, in the context of their culture
and mentality, our partnership becomes
a creative process. Our product developments increase and our confidence grows,
developing from the dialogue with our
customers. They are the center of our
attention and they give us the impulses
which are necessary for permanent growth.
Our customers are our compass, they show
us the direction in a constant development
process.
THE OPTIMUM CHOICE
AT THE BEST POSSIBLE CONDITIONS
Our international presence has another
positive effect: the purchasing of raw
materials. We buy on the basis of three
factors: quality, availability and price.
Knowing the sources gives us the
possibility to make the best choice globally.
The result suits our aim, our customers get
the optimum product at the best possible
conditions.
People first – the suppliers,
the customers, the employees.
Then follow the products and the processes.
Without people everything is nothing.
STRATEGY OF PARTNERSHIP
The high tech production methods which
we employ for our business partners are yet
exceeded by our employees. Their commitment reveals our partnership strategy. It is
based on quality and individual, personal
customer service.
SUCCESS THROUGH SATISFACTION
The satisfaction of the employees contributes considerably to our competitive edge.
We employ our people on a long-term
basis and do our best to support them fully.
Employee satisfaction polls and bonus
systems motivate our team to contribute to
further development. The applied quality
orientation, comprehensive know-how and
high social competence of all employees
are integral parts of our company policy.
We are people working on products for
people.
THE LANGUAGES OF THE
WORLD UNDER ONE ROOF
Our international staff supplies perfect
support for our customers all over the world.
Next to their technical competence their
knowledge of languages makes international
customer service run smoothly, on top of that
creating a pleasant international working
atmosphere in our company.
INTERPLAY OF FORCES
IN CHANGING TIMES
Both our employees and our customers act
their weekly scene in their individual companies. The best part of their time is spent
there. We think it important that this shared
time is based on common ground.
The teamwork of the employees with one
another and in their contacts with our customers must be characterized by human kindness and the desire to continue developing
themselves to encounter the changing
times with awareness and flexibility. Life
means movement. An enterprise is alive.
It develops by growing together with its
employees and customers, set on their
common objectives.
PEOPLE
11
Perfect all around...
SiLibeads
®
Glass Beads for technical applications
Type S
Type SL
Type H
Type P
TRADITION AND STATE-OFTHE-ART PRODUCTION
SiLi has been developing Technical Glass
Beads for decades. We have always
been rightly able to say that our production is according to modern
technologies. Of course, our
products are produced with
the latest machine technology
for various application areas
today. We always try to ensure
state-of-the-art technology, by
our own in-house R&D and by
steady observation of worldwide
technologies.
VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS
SiLibeads are used in various industries and
application areas: Glass Grinding Beads are
used in the paint and varnish industry in
their bead mills in the chemical industry.
There is hardly a limit to their applications.
Note the application for the retroflective
beads for road markings to increase night
visibility. The pharmaceutical industry uses
Precision Glass Beads, the food
industry needs ball caps and in
applied technical engineering beads
are used as bearings and valves. The
range can yet be much enlarged.
ADJUSTABLE FORM AND
MATERIAL
We meet the demand for this
variety of applications. The
steady optimisation and the
expansion of our production
processes consolidate our lead
permanently. Today, three different
design processes and many different
glass types are at our disposal, a variety
which makes us unique amongst our
competitors.
A COMPLETE PROGRAM
Many industries profit from the wide range
of our high tech production possibilities. We
serve this broad “gamut“ with our technologies and materials and consider ourselves
full-range suppliers of Technical Glass Beads,
especially aimed to fulfill specific customers’ wishes.
SILIBEADS
13
Type M
Small beads, great effect ...
SiLibeads
®
Ceramic Beads for technical applications
Type ZY
STATE-OF-THE-ART
TECHNOLOGY FOR BEST
POSSIBLE QUALITY
After a long period of development,
starting in 2002 we have been
producing Ceramic Beads made
of Zirconia Oxide. By this
investment in a manufacturing
method of our own, a completely new production line
was generated. It is based on
self-developed plant- and
process technology, which
secures the high quality standard
of the SiLibeads.
HIGH-TECH CERAMICS
IN SMALLEST SIZES
With the Ceramic Beads made of Zirconia
Oxide we offer our customers a high-quality,
highly-efficient product for grinding, meeting
the current demands of the grinding technology market as to micro particle sizes down
to nano-sizes.
VERSATILITY
IN ITS APPLICATION
SiLibeads Ceramic Beads come as
Grinding Beads for use in the paint and
varnish industry. Furthermore they
are applied in the ceramic, pest
control, cosmetics and the
pharmaceutical industry.
OPTIMISATION
BY ADVISING
We do not leave our customers
on their own when using SiLibeads.
Besides offering sales services we offer
local technical advice to integrate the
Ceramic Beads into the grinding process
in the best possible way, determining the
optimal application criteria on-site. Thus we
guarantee application of a high-quality
product, achieving a maximum cost-benefit
ratio, the best possible quality at the best
available terms.
SILIBEADS
15
Type Z
Shine, glitter, glamour ...
SiLiglit
Decorative Glitter
®
Polyester Glitter
Aluminium Glitter
Iris Glitter / Hologram Glitter
Deco Polyester Glitter
Glass Glitter / Glass Nuggets / Deco Beads
SILIGLIT –
A SPARKLING BRAND
The brand SiLiglit is another
division in our enterprise,
besides SiLibeads. Our Decorative Glitter Products are sold
under the brand name SiLiglit.
Decades of experience have
established us as one of the
most important supplier in
Europe, with our SiLiglit
products.
WIDE FIELD OF
APPLICATIONS
SiLi Decorative Glitter accentuates effectively and serves a very wide application range.
From glittering Christmas balls, coating of
wallpapers to fashion cosmetics: SiLi Decorative Glitter finds many applications.
A KALEIDOSCOPE OF
COLOURS AND MATERIALS
The base materials of Decorative Glitter are
as diverse as the scope of applications for
SiLiglit. There is Polyester (PET) Glitter with
Iridescent and Holographic effects, Aluminium Glitter with epoxy and polyurethane
coating and SiLiglit made of
glass in innumerable particle
sizes. In turn these materials
are available in most diverse
forms, colours and qualities.
A range as colourful as the
medium itself.
LASTING GLITTER
Besides the variety of forms and
applications SiLi Decorative
Glitter also stands for high
quality. The products impress
with their high chemical,
mechanical and thermal resistance.
FULFILLING WISHES
At present, we run the largest stock of decorative glitter in Europe. For our customers
this means that we serve them fast and can
supply them with many of the products they
enquire about. We guarantee the prompt
handling of enquiries and quick execution
of orders.
SILIGLIT
17
Glitter Shapes
QUALITY AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL
INDUSTRIES WHICH TRUST US
The quality of our product ranges SiLibeads
and SiLiglit is of the highest level. By the
certification of our quality management
according to DIN ISO 9001:1994 in 1996
this claim was also honored publicly for the
first time and consequently officially recognized. Today we work according to the
process-oriented ISO standard 9001:2000.
By our high quality demand we have become a partner to industries that demand
the highest standards. We are a supplier to
the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food
industry and supply them with a perfect
product, guaranteed.
SAFETY BY CONTROL
Our products are subjected to highest
safety and quality controls. SiLibeads
Type P from Type I glass are produced up to
a clean room standard 10,000. On request
the balls are subjected to a 100% inspection
with regard to diameter and surface quality.
Microbiological cleaning of our products for
the food industry goes without saying. We
manufacture according to GMP (Good
Manufacturing Practice) for the pharmaceutical industry and medical engineering.
CLAIM TO PERFECTION
To be able to guarantee this, all products
are tested according to the customers’
demands and our own testing methods.
A completely equipped modern laboratory
and up-to-date testing technology is at our
employees' disposal. Our
endeavour is perfection
of the highest level,
thereby daily proving our
customers’ confidence
justified.
19
QUALIT Y
Quality isn’t simply meeting a certain standard,
but rather: making improvements continually
in a lively and dynamic process.
Dr. W. Edwards Deming
MANAGEMENT SERVICE
ISO 9001
Two things are imperative in our line of work:
untiring stamina and the readiness to,
after having devoted much time and work into
something, throw it away again.
Albert Einstein
THE LATEST INNOVATIONS
We pursue continuous development in all
parts of our enterprise. Besides continual
innovation of the product and production
area, we are always seeking to improve the
company and personnel management, the
quality management, process control as
well as marketing and sales. We interpret
development in this comprehensive sense .
The results of our commitment are mainly
tangible in the product area. The development of high performance Grinding Beads
made of Zirconium Oxide and AluminiumBorosilicate-Glass is still fresh. And recently
some new coating techniques for Decorative
Glitter have enabled production of still more
applications for our customers, even for
critical applications at the highest demands.
DEVELOPMENT WITH PARTNERSHIPS
LIFE AS A MOVEMENT
We maintain an in-house research and
development team which works on new
developments and cares for the permanent
optimisation of our processes. Besides this
we also employ and maintain project teams
in cooperation with universities and external
research institutes. All these teams enable
the steady progress in the product development and process optimisation.
One can compare an enterprise with a living
organism. It must never stop growing, developing, learning. In this metaphorical sense
we see ourselves as an organic structure,
steadily making progress in all its areas –
for our own contentment, but especially for
the lasting contentment of our customer.
DEVELOPMENT 21
PERMANENTLY AND
COMPLETELY INNOVATIVE
Central Premises around year 1956
1887
1854
Glass Bead Manufacturer
around 1860
Staff around 1925
THE BEADS MAKERS OF WARMENSTEINACH
THE 150-YEAR-OLD SUCCESS STORY
OF SILI SIGMUND LINDNER
A SMALL SUCCESS STORY
The company history is closely connected
to the history of the families Lindner and
Trassl. The brewer’s son Sigmund Lindner
(1828 - 1883) from the Fichtelgebirge
married into the Steiniger’sche estates in
Warmensteinach in June 1850, which included a brewery, the inn „At the Golden Lion“
as well as extensive farming estates. The
enterprising young man soon got caught by
the beads boom in his new place of residence. After first participating in a
small furnace, he built his
own bead furnace in
1853. That was the
founding of this
traditional Sigmund Lindner
company and
the start of an
uninterrupted
history of
business
success to
date. Now, 150
years later, SiLi is
managed by Sigmund
Lindner’s great-grandsons
Stefan and Rolf Trassl, who
have made the company fit for tough
competition by their targeted
innovations.
HISTORY
This year in spring, SiLi looks back at its
150-year company history. Memories of the
Warmensteinach beads- and diamantine
production come to mind. The history of
beads production in the Fichtelgebirge
reaches back far into the Middle Ages
but it came to full bloom only around
the middle of the 19th century, at
the time of Sigmund Lindner’s
company founding. Local glass
bead production was a lucrative business in these
days through its worldwide
connections. People worked
round-the-clock in modest,
airy wooden huts where, as
a rule, 14 workers each, in
twelve-hour shifts, took turns
at the large melting furnaces.
23
BY BERND MAYER
1925
1920
Glass Diamantine (Glass
Glitter) Blower around 1920
Boiler men and Smelting men at
a woodfired furnace around 1925
Gerda Trassl General Manager
during World War II
A HARD TIME AND A HOT ONE
BEADS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD
There is a world of difference between
today's ultra-modern production center and
the old beads furnaces of the 19th and early
20th century. In those days the workers sat
with small melting pots before the
open powerful furnace made of
stone and loam. Each of them
handled two iron spindles
which were dipped alternately into the soft, fiery,
molten glass in the
furnace to turn beads
of various forms.
According to the
descriptions of the
historian Harald
Herrmann of Warmensteinach this manner of
production was hard and
strenuous.
Already at that time beads went from
Warmensteinach, from Sigmund Lindner all
over the world: to Russia and England to the
Pacific Ocean and to South America but
also to Zanzibar, Calcutta and Bombay.
The reason for this was that glass beads
already had many versatile uses. Mainly
necklaces and bracelets were manufactured
from Warmensteinach beads. Furthermore
they were used as ornaments on textiles,
such as on camel and horse blankets. Also
religious symbols, primarily rosaries, were
made from these beads.
Glass Bead Manufacturer
around 1930
Toward the end of the 19th century Sigmund
Lindner’s descendants, son-in-law Alfons
Trassl and grandson Hans Trassl started the
additional specialization in the production of
glass diamantine, also called glass glitter.
The product range was gradually
enlarged in the course of
time. Today SiLi also
supplies polyester
and aluminium
glitter.
1960
1955
Heinz Trassl - general manager and share
holder from 1970 to 1999 in front of the first
company owned car (1960)
25
The Trassl Family - 4 Generations in one picture
from the right side:
Hans Trassl - owner of the company from 1934 to 1970;
Alfons Trassl - owner from 1892 to 1934;
Rolf Trassl - share holder since 1993;
Arno Trassl - share holder from 1970 to 1993
Glass Producer in
the Fichtelgebirge
with wooden stock
around 1900
A COMPANY ON
THREE PILLARS
The company Sigmund Lindner was the
lone surviving bead manufacturer of this
fatal crisis in Warmensteinach - thanks to
a flexible company strategy. After all, there
were three very different enterprises under
the company umbrella, besides the beads
and glass-diamantine furnace there still was
the brewery Trassl with the traditional inn
„At the Golden Lion“ (burned down on
January 17th, 1999) as well as a farm with
cattle (until 1958). The oxen of this farm
transported Trassl's beer barrels for quite
a while until the first company car - a
Hanomag - was put to use in the beginning
of the sixties.
HISTORY
The summit of bead production had long
been passed at this time and the following
decades saw the further
decline of this economic sector
which had provided so many
people in the Fichtelgebirge
with a livelihood. This process was triggered by a
number of unfavourable factors such as by the growing
competition from machinemade beads but also by
the loss of the German
Colonies, where beads
had been a very popular
merchandise. The
effects on the local
labour market were
devastating: The rate of unemployment in Warmensteinach reached a sad
peak of eighty percent in 1932.
Flexibility was preprogrammed in the family
Trassl, all family- and
company members
could make themselves useful, whether at
bottling, haymaking or
by helping out in the
beads factory. The
company even ran its
own forge for a while.
FROM SKYSCRAPER
TO BEADS NECKLACE
The company also produced glass buttons.
Meanwhile, the afore-mentioned glass
Aerial Photograph
around 1970
1972
1965
Glass Bead Production at
woodfired furnace year 1954
Staff member with
pearl making tool
diamantine was to become particularly
important. These Sigmund Lindner
product became a selling hit in the form
of glass sequins primarily in the thirties.
There were many applications for the glass
diamantine covered with genuine silver,
whether as Christmas tree decoration, for
use in crafts or as shop window decoration.
Furthermore, glitter had become an export
success: the shine of glitter was in demand
for the façade of skyscrapers as much as
for female cosmetics.
Thus Warmensteinach made its
contribution to the shine of
the International World of
Glitter of this modern
age. Heinz Trassl,
the father of today’s
head of company,
reports that in
those days
glass glitter
was shipped
from Warmensteinach to New
York by ship containers as raw
material, where
it was then used in the exterior render of the
New York skyline.
The Company Sigmund Lindner adhered to
pearl production for more than one hundred
years. As the last beads factory in the Fichtelgebirge it still produced beads in all sizes
for a long time after the second World War.
An employee could produce up to 15 000
pearls in one shift with incredible dexterity.
The demand was still huge in the sixties at
times as Heinz Trassl recalls. “The market
situation was just great – people simply
tore them from our hands.“
On the other hand it got
ever more difficult to
gain young qualified
employees for
production.
The break came
in the seventies
when the first
bead mills for
pulverizing paint
pigments entered the market.
The fashion beads
stopped being in the
String of Pearls produced by
homeworkers around year 1950
2004
2001
1987
Central Premises
year 2001
focus of SiLi’s commercial attention. The
main business now shifted to the small
grinding beads of 0.4 mm diameter and
upwards, which have since been shipped
from Warmensteinach to all over the world.
The retroflective beads for road marking
and for road signs already were a SiLi
product at that time.
The technology in our production
plants has been systematically
and consistently modernized
over the decades. An
outstanding step forward
was the development of
the rotary furnace for
production of industrial
glass beads.
The company of craftsmen has developed into a
highly modern and innovative industrial plant in just the
last 30 years. Our company
employs approximately 70 employees
today, a number of those representing us
in our worldwide sales offices.
After having disposed off the beer brand
Trassl and the complete machinery and
equipment of the Trassl brewery in the
years 2002 - 2003, the enterprise now
concentrates fully on the business of
Sigmund Lindner GmbH. Having started
the production of ceramic Beads in 2002
will mean another important milestone in
our company history.
Much has changed. The
enterprise stands on a
solid foundation today.
This is a good basis,
motivating us to
continue combining
our innovative
energies and flexibility with the
traditionally lively
spirit of the enterprise.
Text: Frank Fingerhut, Bernd Mayer, Stefan Trassl · Photographs: Thomas Köhler · Concept and Design: GMK Werbeagentur · Print: Ellwanger Bayreuth · Date of issue: May 2004
HISTORY
27
Central Premises
year 1987
www.gmk.de
SIGMUND LINDNER GmbH
Oberwarmensteinacher Strasse 38 • D-95485 Warmensteinach/Germany
Phone (++49) 92 77 - 9 94 10 • Fax (++49) 92 77 - 9 94 99
E-Mail: sili@sigmund-lindner.com • www.sigmund-lindner.com