life - GEA Group

2 | EmployEES EmployEES | 25
anD tHe Winner is ...
Lots of good ideas were submitted
but there could only be one winner
of this year’s Process Innovation
Contest. Finally, the M-Division
team edged out the competition. Its
presentation on ‘simultaneous cost
calculation’ in the design process
swayed the jury, consisting of
Division Presidents and Dr. Norbert
Nieswandt. By way of reward,
board member Peter Schenk (COO)
handed a check for 250,000 EUr
to Wilfried Mackel. The money has
been earmarked to promote the
proposal.
Cool tools
GEA Delbag Air Treatment
GmbH will introduce an electrical
filter system for purifying
machine tool cooling lubricants
at this year’s Hanover
EMO from September 17 to
22, 2007 (Hall 7, Stand E57).
niels graugaarD
MeMber oF tHe
gea group eXeCutiVe
boarD sinCe
august 1
Niels Graugaard, 0, president
of the Process Engineering division,
joined the GEA Group Executive
Board with effect from
August 1. He succeeds Peter
Schenk who will be leaving our
company on September 0 to
take up a new position as CEO
of the Viessmann Group. Niels
Graugaard has headed the
GEA Group company Niro A/S
in Copenhagen, and therefore
GEA‘s Process Engineering division,
since 1999. As president
of our largest division, he has
provided important strategic input
for the group as a whole in
the past. With Niels Graugaard,
the Executive Board will continue
to pursue the same successful
corporate strategy from which
the group is already benefiting.
Master WelDer
Head trainer Henning Vache
encouraged him to enter the
competition for young welders:
Apprentice Benjamin Behr (22)
seized the opportunity to show
what he could do. The GEA
Ecoflex apprentice welded his
way to first place in Hildesheim
and to second place in Lower
Saxony. Congratulations!
Foul play
The gray geese who tapped
on the window during a board
meeting in Bochum showed
disrespect for the Board of
Directors and were accordingly
refused entry. Now a fence has
been erected to keep them at a
respectful distance.
Venerable
Our mineral oil separators
turn 100 this year. Labels on
a workbench in the shipping
department document previous
jubilees, namely the 50th
and the 75th.
Congratulations!
tHe streets are
paVeD WitH golD
Nobody knows for sure
how many visitors have
stopped to pick up the
2-Euro coin in one of
the rotunda staircases at
company headquarters
in Bochum. What we do
know is that the coin was
imbedded during renovation
work. There must be
something about it – it
had to be replaced twice
already.