GEANOVA 6 2024 EN

GEALAN

REINVENTED

ISSUE

#06/2024/2025

AROUND

THE WORLD

Singapore, London, Oberkotzau: Vera Lahme’s career has taken her around the world.

Thinking globally defines her work as a sustainability strategist.

Living by the lake – and at

the heart of the action of

the booming metropolis of

Leipzig: In addition to being

barrier-free, this house with

two flats and a penthouse

also meets the highest energy

standards and offers

smart home convenience.

Its windows made from

GEALAN-KUBUS ® system

profiles establish a symbiosis

of thermal insulation and a

clean look. The large glass

surfaces, framed in deep grey

GEALAN-acrylcolor ® , perfectly

showcase the magnificent

view of the lake – for maximum

daylight and living

comfort.

| CONTENTS |

6

Vera

travels the world

Well-travelled,

cosmopolitan:

sustainability is Vera

Lahme’s passion.

11/43

GEANEWS

More profile

design, sustainable

PVC and maximum

innovation:

GEALAN news

at a glance

12

In the spirit of

reformation

New direction,

new customers,

new foundation:

Alessandro Brignach

heads GEALAN Italia.

18

From a bird’s

eye view

Demand Manager

Ronny Müller’s

mission is to find

better IT solutions.

26

Detailed planning

with just a few clicks

Architect

Jana Breuch on

GEALAN tools

and

GEALAN support

30

Updates

and upgrades

Optics and technology:

GEALAN has

implemented many

modern upgrades

in its production.

34

‘We triumph

as a team’

Hans-Peter Kreft

is an SAP expert.

Forging teams is a

key element of his

recipe for success.

38

The man

behind GEANOVA

Götz Gemeinhardt

on the GEANOVA

concept and six

years of working

for the magazine

44

The crossborder

commuter

Trip to the Ukraine:

Jaunius Šileikis

captures new

markets for

GEALAN.

54

Imprint

GEANOVA. GEALAN REINVENTED | 3

Ivica Maurović, Spokesperson

of the Management

Board, Managing Director

Sales, Marketing and System

Development

Tino Albert, Managing

Director – Technology and

Finance


| EDITORIAL |

Dear readers,

Window construction industry – quo vadis?

Many people are wondering the same thing.

Since 2022, our industry has seen a continuous

decline in market development. At the same

time, there is hope that geopolitical stabilisation

and a positive interest rate policy in many

European countries will have a positive impact

on our industry.

For an economic recovery, we need stability so

that end customers can invest in energy-efficient

refurbishment and new homes. According

to forecasts, the first signs of a market recovery

will become apparent by the end of 2025. Like in

many European countries, the hope in Germany

lies in the renovation sector, as less and less

affordable housing is being built, even though

demand is high. Some countries have ramped

up real estate investments based on the assumption

that property prices will continue to

rise. But will they actually rise again? Will interest

rate policy boost demand for property and

energy-efficient renovation – and at what level

will both happen? How will the ongoing geopolitical

uncertainty affect the markets? Business

publications such as the Financial Times,

Handelsblatt and Wall Street Journal are constantly analysing the situation,

but even they cannot come up with simple answers.

What we can say with certainty, despite all the uncertainties, is this: There

is a lot to do at GEALAN and a lot is happening at GEALAN. We cannot

change our market environment, but we can do our best to assess the

environment, roll up our sleeves and get on with our tasks. The only continuity

there is change – and we are facing up to this reality. Our focus is

on implementing our corporate strategy and living up to our values. We

strive to improve our processes, increase our efficiency and monitor our

expenses. We have already developed innovative products – with particular

emphasis on our unique GEALAN-acrylcolor ® surface – and new

services for our customers, and we are preparing to enter the market in

2025. Our structures have been expanded. New colleagues are going

through the onboarding process and training to provide targeted support

to GEALAN customers. We have teams of experts for sustainability,

artificial intelligence, new business models, increased digitalisation and

capturing new markets. Together, they work on innovations within the

company and for the benefit of our customers.

GEALAN – quo vadis? Find out more in this issue of GEANOVA: how

GEALAN has found its way to success in Italy, how the situation in Ukraine

is impacting our ambitions, how our IT and sustainability specialists work,

and how we successfully collaborate with architects and consultants.

You will also get an entertaining look behind the scenes at GEANOVA.

We hope you enjoy reading this edition!


| SUSTAINABILITY |

Vera travels the world

Vera Lahme knows the strong desire to travel.

‘I remember picking up my grandma from the

airport as a teenager – and suddenly having

the urge to jump on a plane to travel the world,

to go somewhere I’d never been before. I don’t

know why I had this sudden urge, but I think

this general feeling has always driven me and

helped shape my life.’ Vera Lahme’s biography,

which takes place on three continents, has

moulded her to think globally. Her journey combines

completely different worlds: the feeling of

security during her childhood in West Germany

in the 1980s, the challenge of finding her

bearings in a foreign language and culture as a

schoolgirl in the American South, the departure

to tropical, multicultural Singapore as an adult,

then the move to the metropolis of London, the

heart of Great Britain. Vera Lahme’s personality

has been shaped by many different linguistic,

cultural and professional experiences. With this

worldly sophistication, she is now working for

GEALAN. As Head of Sustainability, she plans

where GEALAN aims to go in terms of sustainability.

This is no longer just about environmental

issues. Nowadays, sustainability requires a broad

perspective.

When Vera Lahme was nine years old, she was sitting on a plane to Florida

with her parents and big brother, her feet dangling in the air. In her head,

she was practising the alphabet in English, followed by the numbers from

one to ten, then this one sentence: ‘I don’t understand you. I’m German.’

Her father taught it to her, to get her started. As an Air Force officer, he

worked in Florida for three and a half years, and his family, who until then

had lived in North Rhine-Westphalia, came with him to a small town called

Niceville. ‘In the beginning, we were the weird Germans for everyone’, recalls

Vera Lahme. ‘And the outsiders at school.’ But then she learned English

within six months, and after nine months she only spoke English with

her brother at home. She made friends at school and became a straight-A

student.

Three and a half years later, the family moved back to Germany. As a

sixth-grader at the grammar school in Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia,

Vera Lahme was now the odd American out. She got into trouble because

she addressed her teachers with the informal “you” and understood English

texts better than her teacher. She made new friends and learned how

to use proper German sentence structures. For example, Germans say ‘I’m

seeking my glasses’ instead of ‘I’m looking for my glasses’. She discovered

her inclination towards scientific subjects, especially maths and chemistry,

and passed her A-levels without any problems. Unlike many of her classmates,

Vera Lahme did not only learn academic material by the time she

turned 18, but also what it means to start from scratch. She learned to

cope with big changes and to master them.

When it was time to choose a career, Vera Lahme listened to her grandfather’s

advice. She wanted to pursue a pragmatic and solid career. She

became a wholesale and export merchant at Thyssen-Schulte in the steel

trade, generally considered to be a man’s world. Disrespectful remarks

about a woman’s competence – ‘sure, they existed back then.’ But Vera

Lahme asserted herself by learning quickly. She did well and was accepted.

But at the back of her mind, she was plagued by her nagging wanderlust.

She actually wanted to go to university and leave to go out into the

big wide world. Even as a schoolgirl, I knew that I wanted to work abroad

for an international company.’ Vera Lahme left the security of her job behind

and studied industrial engineering at the South Westphalia University

of Applied Sciences – a degree programme with a stay abroad, which

Vera Lahme completed in England.



Like GEALAN, the Fernwehpark

(Wanderlust Park) Signs

of Fame is based in Oberkotzau

in Upper Franconia. It

brings together almost 4,000

plaques from all over the

world. The Fernwehpark is an

international peace project.

With its international characteristics

and its desire to foster

understanding between people,

it matches Vera Lahme’s

personality perfectly.

She is not ashamed

of flying, not a

vegetarian, not

an tree-hugger,

but a fan of very

conscious transport

and consumption.

Vera Lahme enjoys

cycling, buys organic

and local produce

and still wears a

denim jacket she

bought when she

was 15. Quality

and longevity

of products are

important to her.

She earned two qualifications: the German

graduate diploma and the international Bachelor

of Science. The degree was her springboard

into the world. Barely finished, a friend

who worked at BMW asked her by chance if she

knew anyone who would like to do an internship

at BMW in Singapore. Vera Lahme listened

to her inner wanderlust, seized the opportunity

and responded without hesitation: Me! ‘I just

thought to myself, this is an opportunity I won’t

get again’. She moved to Singapore – not just

to another country, but to a completely different

continent. Professionally, things were going

well for the dynamic young woman. With lots of

chutzpah, she fought for the permanent position

that had actually already been promised to

someone else. Little by little, her boss learned

to trust her to do the tasks she knew she was

capable of: visiting BMW suppliers all over South

East Asia on her own, assessing their production,

and negotiating (sometimes hard). Vera Lahme

initiated BMW’s first purchase of a motorbike

part from India.

She established contact with the supplier and

made the pre-selection. She benefited from her

experience in the steel industry. Among other

things, she asserted herself in the purported

male domain, switched to indirect purchasing

and established the acquisition of marketing

and consulting services for Singapore and Indonesia.


A good five years later, Vera Lahme took another

completely new direction, not professionally, but

geographically. She moved to London, where she

continued to work for BMW Strategic Purchasing.

Now she negotiated major contracts, handled

marketing purchases for the British headquarters

and helped look after the Rolls-Royce Motor

Cars brand. ‘I came to England from Singapore,

a country where everything is simple and works,

a place without bureaucracy and strikes, and

where you can quickly find a foothold. By contrast,

everything in England seemed very complicated.

Opening a bank account, renting a flat,

speaking and thinking British – these were surprising

hurdles at first.’

An office move can be the most boring thing

you can imagine. Or it can be a life-changing

event. When Vera Lahme’s employer BMW relocated

an office within the UK, all the office clutter

that had accumulated over 30 years had to go.

Vera Lahme handled the project management

for the move and decided what should be sold,

what should be given away and what should be

thrown away. The last option should be avoided,

if possible. What to do with heavy office desks,

countless files and old advertising materials?

What could be recycled? Vera Lahme unexpectedly

enjoyed sorting things, selling office furniture

to employees, turning everything around

and putting it to new use to avoid waste. This was

the start of her second career. After a brief stint

in financial controlling, she quit her lucrative job

at BMW and went back to university to pursue

her true interest. At Brunel University in London,

she studied Sustainability Entrepreneurship and

Design as a one-year Master’s programme. ‘I had

the feeling that I was finally in a field that I really

enjoyed. So, I really dug in and got good grades.

And I really enjoyed the subject matter.’ Vera

Lahme graduated with distinction in 2018 – with

top marks.

Unfortunately, turning her passion for this topic

into a fruitful career turned out to be harder than

she thought. With 15 years of professional experience

in purchasing and finance, but none in

the field of sustainability, the companies where

Vera Lahme applied for sustainability management

positions were reluctant. Eunomia, a research

and consulting company that informs

and advises businesses and politicians on sustainability

issues, finally gave her the opportunity

she needed. Vera Lahme was highly committed

to working on circular economy issues and her

enthusiasm for sustainability kept growing. At

the same time, her enthusiasm for living in the

metropolis of London was dwindling, especially

during the pandemic. ‘The city was getting to us.

We wanted more nature around us.’ The idea of

moving to the countryside began to take shape

in her mind. At first, she didn’t think about Bad

Aibling in Bavaria but over time it became clear

that she could not only support her father here,

but also reap all the benefits of country life. She

took another leap of faith and moved back to

Germany after a long time. Professionally, the

next change was right around the corner, as

Vera Lahme wanted to get out of theory and

consulting. She was looking for a more handson

job in a company that actually prioritised

sustainability. Soon after, she joined Tetra Pak as

Sustainability Manager in charge of the Austrian

and Swiss markets. Just as she used to negotiate

with suppliers, she now negotiated with

dual systems and other partners to urge them

to collect beverage cartons and take them to

specialised recycling plants. Unlike in the past,

however, she had no control over these negotiations.

All she could do is make appeals. Vera

Lahme didn’t think that was enough. ‘I just wanted

to achieve more.’ The call from a headhunter

came at just the right moment. When she learnt

which employer it was, she was hooked: a company

to which she could strategically contribute

her knowledge and which wanted to take

a holistic approach to sustainability – in its own

operations, in its own products. GEALAN was a

direct hit for Vera Lahme. At the beginning of

2024, she was appointed Head of Sustainability.

Her newly created position is also a statement

of how important GEALAN takes sustainability.

There are now employees who take care of

nothing else.

‘What we want is a holistic approach. Sustainability

is not something that affects just a few people

in the company or just one area. It impacts

all levels, including our affiliated companies.’

Vera Lahme’s mission is to develop a strategy,

implement a complete company transformation,

and set the pace. She wants to actively

work on establishing the ‘big picture’ and enshrining

sustainability throughout the entire

company. ‘We keep an eye on what legislation

is doing, what customers want, what’s important

to our employees and what our competitors

are doing. But in my opinion, it’s important

‘

From my home in

Bad Aibling, I can

be in the mountains

in half an hour to

go hiking. Being in

harmony with nature

makes me happy.

I enjoy the wide

space and

magnificent view

over the summits.

’


‘

It’s incredibly

important to

me to have

a meaningful job.

That’s what

motivates me.

I want to make a

difference with

what I do. If I feel

that something is

moving, then I’m

passionate about it.

I approach topics

with enthusiasm

and analyse them

in detail, but I

also get very

excited when

I see wsuccess.

’

that everyone understands that sustainability

also needs to become an integral part of the

specialist departments, the HR division, the purchasing

department and everywhere else. Everyone

needs to do their part. The overarching

goal is to be net zero (carbon-neutral, by 2045.

That won’t be easy.’

Vera Lahme identifies three pillars of sustainability:

When people hear the word sustainability,

they always think of environmental aspects first.

This is about energy efficiency, greenhouse gas

emissions, climate protection, circular economy,

resource conservation, water and waste management,

etc. ‘We will analyse the carbon footprint

of the company as a whole – including our

acquired services and products. We will identify

hotspots where we need to act first. In order to

achieve CO 2 neutrality as quickly as possible, we

will create a roadmap and then define individual

steps that will help us reach those targets. We

want to use more bio-attributed plastics, which

have already sparked a lot of interest amongst

our customers. We will also continue to optimise

our formulas, and we are pushing resource-saving

processes in production. Additionally, we

are increasing energy efficiency throughout the

company, and we are continuously improving

our recycling efforts. A lot has already happened

at GEALAN. Even though we are already very

strong within our industry, we want to go further.’

However, sustainability also includes the social

pillar. The goal is to ensure that human rights

are respected throughout the entire value chain

and that the company conducts its business

in such a way that people and society are not

harmed. Employees, ‘the most important resource

of a company’ according to Vera Lahme,

should be well taken care of. It’s about occupational

safety, well-being, health, diversity, equality

and belonging. ‘We want to offer good working

conditions in order to continue to find the

specialists we need. We want to maintain the

good corporate climate.’ Vera Lahme believes

that diversity in the teams is key. ‘If we want to

find really good solutions, we need as many

different perspectives on issues as possible. We

also need training and education to maximise

the potential of our employees.’ The third pillar

of sustainability is profit. Are you surprised? No,

says Vera Lahme. ‘We will only be around tomorrow

if we work profitably. It’s the only way

for us to continue to do the right thing.’

Sustainability is not only driven by GEALAN’s

self-image, but also by GEALAN’s customers.

Window manufacturers are asking about the

carbon footprint for each profile and how sustainable

the supply chain is. It is also becoming

increasingly important for end customers to

know how sustainable their windows are, explains

Vera Lahme. Sustainability is also being

driven at a legislative level by the European

Union, which is confronting companies with

a raft of new regulations. Under the umbrella

term European Green Deal, there is a plethora

of regulations for chemicals, waste water, the

circular economy, etc. For example, the CSRD

(Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)

requires environmental and sustainability figures

to be reported from a certain company

size. GEALAN supplies its data to the parent

company, which then issues the final report.

Then there is the European Supply Chain Directive

CS3D (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence

Directive). It requires GEALAN to prove

that its entire supply chain is sustainable and

that the company takes responsibility for ensuring

that its suppliers also keep the environment

clean and respect human rights. Another

major issue is the Green Claims Directive,

which requires that GEALAN’s sustainability

communication is fact-based. For example,

its environmental footprint must be externally

certified. ‘What we want is the opposite of greenwashing’,

says Vera Lahme. ‘We want to do

what we say and say what we do. Facts speak

louder than words.’ This includes environmental

and sustainability reports, which will soon no

longer be produced just for GEALAN in Germany,

but for GEALAN as a whole, including all

affiliated companies in Europe.

Sustainability is no longer just a nice touch. It is

now a sector that demands hard facts. GEALAN

has recognised this trend for quite some time. ‘I

don’t want to write nice-sounding reports that

nobody reads’, says Vera Lahme. ‘Of course, a lot

of things take patience and time, but I want us

to really achieve something and make a huge

impact by affecting change. I want to make a

difference.’ Vera Lahme’s handshake is firm, her

gaze open, her voice clear, her mental acumen

and speech rate high, her vigour palpable – the

energy of a taut spring. She worries about the

whole world and professionally she is exactly

where she wants to be. Everything about Vera

Lahme says: Let’s go! Let’s get it done!


| GEANEWS |

‘Designed for you’

GEALAN combines the factors of design and customer

proximity – under the slogan ‘Designed for

you’. With emphasis on ‘Designed’: GEALAN shows

customers what modern window design looks

like, how design-oriented profile systems and new

colours increase the design options, how high-performance

windows also line up with interior trends.

Customers can find all this information online at

gealan.de, offline at trade fairs, in brochures and

in personal consultations. With emphasis on ‘YOU’,

‘Designed for you’ stands for extra customer

proximity! GEALAN focuses on the wishes of its

customers and partners: window manufacturers,

retailers, architects, building owners and smart

home enthusiasts. GEALAN provides them all with

the information and services they need, customised

specifically for them.

GEALAN is a top innovator

GEALAN is one of the hundred most innovative

medium-sized companies in Germany and has

been awarded the title ‘TOP 100’. The cross-industry

‘TOP 100’ competition for innovation management,

organised by compamedia GmbH, is based

on scientific facts. A jury of economic experts

examines how top management organises and

promotes innovation, which tools and methods

are used to initiate innovation, which innovative

products, technologies and business models are

already market successes, plus several other business

aspects. GEALAN was awarded the title ‘TOP

100’ in Weimar in June 2024. This success clearly

shows that ‘Innovation with a system’ is not just

GEALAN’s brand claim, but also something the

company puts into practice.

New services for more success

Window manufacturers and window retailers benefit from

new services launched by GEALAN. Amongst them is the leads

programme, with which GEALAN forwards private customer

enquiries directly to participating fabricators and retailers. Notably,

participation is free of charge in the first year. The second

new key service is the GEALAN subsidy service for Germany,

an online tool that allows window manufacturers to provide

their customers with excellent, up-to-date subsidy advice. An

innovative showroom concept is the third part of the service

offensive. Manufacturers choose showroom equipment that is

customised to them, modular and modern. GEALAN supports

the individual planning and implementation.



Amore e innovazione

Old and endearing: a Fiat Nuova 500, three metres long.

New and sustainable: GEALAN profile bars, six metres long.

Near Anzio (Lazio), GEANOVA arranged this charming, curious transport

mode, inspired by a profile pick-up from a

GEALAN retailer in Naples five years ago, where a car was actually

used. Of course, innovation is more important than improvisation

in the Italian window business today.

After a bumpy start in 2005, GEALAN made a second attempt in

Italy eleven years ago, reinvented itself and found its way

to success.


Alessandro Brignach in front

of his parents’ house in Bolzano.

The 51-year-old loves

the wind, which he prefers to

chase in his camper to places

where he can glide over the

water with his kite.

Brignach explores the mountains

around his home in Brixen

(Bressanone) on his e-bike.

He used to ride downhill,

but now he considers it too

extreme and dangerous. ‘But

sport was always important

to me to relieve stress.’


| GEALAN ITALY |

In the spirit

of reformation

An early summer’s eve in South Tyrol:

Alessandro Brignach strolls through the historic

centre of Bolzano. He stops in front of the

‘Maximilianisches Amtshaus’ in Bindergasse.

It is more than 500 years old and has been

repurposed multiple times: as an outpost of the

Innsbruck government; as a customs collection

centre; in the 16th century, provincial assemblies

were held in its imperial hall; and in 1997,

the South Tyrol Museum of Nature opened here.

The Amtshaus is Alessandro Brignach’s parents’

house: ‘I spent my childhood here, riding my

bike in the backyard, playing in the sandpit and

with toy cars.’

As a teenager, he learnt to play the drums and played gigs with his band

throughout northern Italy. After completing secondary school, Brignach

studied electronics. His first jobs were in the frozen food industry, where he

initially dispatched lorry transports and eventually sold the frozen goods.

He remained loyal to sales throughout his entire professional career. At the

Italian subsidiary of a Baden-Württemberg-based supplier of vehicle and

factory equipment, he specialised in ergonomic workstation systems for

people with sedentary jobs. Brignach rose through the ranks from salesman

to sales manager and ultimately managing director.

After eleven years, he changed industries and came into contact with

the world of windows and doors for the first time. He took over the Italian

sales management for wooden windows, wooden doors, tools and accessories

for a trading company, again from Baden-Württemberg. One

of his tasks was to close unprofitable branches in Italy. ‘I stayed there for

six years, but eventually I wanted to work for a manufacturing company

again. A friend told me that GEALAN was looking for a sales manager

for Italy. After a telephone interview, I met with the management at Milan-Malpensa

airport. Afterwards, I visited the GEALAN headquarters in

Oberkotzau and I started in May 2013.’

Brignach gradually familiarised himself with GEALAN’s products and

processes. ‘GEALAN is complex. It took a while to take it all in.’ At the time,

GEALAN had not yet integrated the peculiarities of the Italian market

into its strategy and thus limited its offering to the bare essentials, mainly

standard profiles in white, which are in demand in other European countries

but have no chance on the Apennines. A complete realignment

was unavoidable: ‘I created new structures so that GEALAN could really

gain a foothold in Italy. We now have ten employees and only two of

them were already with us in 2013. I hired all the others.’ Every customer

has a contact person in the Bolzano office, a contact person in the

field and one for technical questions. ‘In ten years, GEALAN has tripled its

market share in Italy from three to nine per cent. That makes me proud.

We have become a permanent fixture and have already passed some

strong competitors.’


There are around 800 companies in Italy that

manufacture PVC windows. Particularly in the

south, craftsmen manufacture windows in

small workshops, which GEALAN supplies via

retailers rather than directly. In the country’s

different climate zones (Mediterranean, continental,

Alpine) the requirements for windows

vary, although it should always form a barrier

between cold and warm air. In the Sicilian

summer, it helps to keep rooms cool. In South

Tyrol’s winter, it supports a cosy, warm indoor

climate. The proportion of second or holiday

homes is high. They are often used exclusively

in summer or winter. ‘Our market is complicated’,

says Brignach. ‘The cultural differences between

the north and the south are huge – and

selecting the right product is a matter of taste.

There are colours or profile systems that are

only popular in certain regions.’

Renovation frames made from Z-shaped profiles

are the common choice for Italian windows,

even for new buildings. They are mounted

on a wooden sub-frame and cover the

connection to the building façade.


‘There’s no need to touch up the masonry after

installation; not even painting is required.

The Z-frame is a typical Italian product, actually

an exclusively Italian product. Therefore, we

have two or three variants for each system in

our assortment. Without profiles for renovation

frames, we would be of no interest to Italians as

a supplier.’

Italian authorities take a close look when it

comes to renovating windows. This is because

new windows generally must match the colour

and aesthetics of their predecessors,

which were often wooden windows. However,

this requirement only applies to the outside of

the windows – in the interests of a homogeneous

overall façade appearance. Old wooden

windows must be replaced with windows

that at least look like wood. ‘The wood look is

widespread. Half of the profiles we sell feature

a wood finish. GEALAN has specifically developed

some colours for wood decor foils at the

request of Italian customers. Italians are always

looking for something unique and they love design.

Design comes before U w value. After design,

it’s all about safety.’

Triggered by government subsidy programmes

for energy-efficient renovation of buildings, Italy

has experienced a renovation boom over

the past three years. ‘It was like doping for the

market’, says Alessandro Brignach. ‘Sales in window

construction have exploded. However, the

programmes are now coming to an end and

the market is consolidating.’ At 35 million euros,

GEALAN 2023 posted record sales in Italy and

the highest growth of all European markets. The

positive trend will intensify in the first quarter of

2024, when GEALAN will also feel the effects of

market consolidation.

but also with convincing arguments. For continued

growth, we need more customers. At the

same time, we must not neglect our existing

customers.’

Alessandro Brignach is a salesman who has created

a solid foundation for sales success with

modernised structures. ‘You can’t sell anything

without a stable organisation. You can’t build a

castle on sand. Good performance, good prices,

good service – that’s what makes a good organisation

for me.’ In the summer of 2024, the

structures were finally given a new framework

and a new name, when GEALAN Italia S.r.l. was

founded. Brignach is no longer in charge of a

foreign branch. He now runs an independent

company. ‘Our customers keep their contacts,

but they have an Italian contractual partner. We

have moved into new offices and are planning

to take on three more people.’

Notary appointments, bureaucracy, the stress

test for the new SAP architecture – after the

gruelling start-up phase, Brignach wants to take

more time again for the sales work he dedicated

himself to decades ago. He has a clear goal

for GEALAN Italia: ‘90 customers. When I started

in 2013, there were 30 – today there are 60.’

The customer portfolio is very balanced and

GEALAN is now strong in retaining its customers.

New structures, new framework conditions, new

goals – Alessandro Brignach has reorganised

GEALAN in Italy. ‘Ten years ago, the GEALAN

brand had no relevance in Italy. Now, GEALAN is

a household name! It is involved in associations,

networked with the media and has established

itself as one of the top 5 best-known PVC profile

brands.’

The government subsidy policy has a positive

side effect for GEALAN: ‘Several profile suppliers

were unable to deliver due to the high demand.

We stepped in and were able to acquire some

new customers.’ Brignach compares customer

acquisition to a ‘salto in alto’ (high jump). If a

window manufacturer has been using a proven

profile system for a long time, it is difficult to

convince them to change. ‘You can jump, but

the bar is too high.

We rely on consistency. We gain the trust of our

customers with perseverance and persistence,


Drone shot: Ronny Müller likes

to see things from above. He

likes to look at the big picture

and wants to maintain an

overview. As Head of Demand

Management, he helps design

GEALAN’s IT architecture,

drives digitalisation efforts

and is constantly on the lookout

for even better IT solutions.


| DEMAND MANAGEMENT |

From a bird’s eye view

The drone propellers start to

turn, faster and faster. The matt grey futuristic

insect takes off, spirals vertically upwards, one

metre at a time, and becomes smaller in the

pearly white late summer sky until it is barely

visible. With its camera, the drone now captures

the view that is usually reserved for skylarks

and wild geese. From way up there, world looks

different. The chaotic mess of roads, fields,

ravines, trees and meadows disappears. From

above, everything looks strangely organised.

The chaotic fragmentation disappears, and the

larger structure becomes visible. Ronny Müller

loves this effect, captured by his drone hovering

above everything. Broad perspective, overview,

seeing the big picture: that’s what the drone

pilot likes. He feels the same way professionally,

as he is responsible for a very specific part of IT

at GEALAN: demand management, a bird’s eye

view of IT, so to speak.

‘You have to think of demand management as gatekeeping’, explains

Ronny Müller, who heads up this part of GEALAN’s IT division. Whenever

a GEALAN department needs a new IT solution, the request goes to

him first: Does a department need new software? Is there a problem in

the company that can be elegantly solved with better IT? ‘This could be

office applications and platforms, but also logistics systems or production

platforms, right through to IoT systems (Internet of Things) or AI-based

applications.’ Whatever the issue, demand management is there to help.

This department seeks, finds and enables IT solutions, whereby ‘solutions’

is meant literally, because good IT solves problems. The ideal case is that

we are on board early on, right at the beginning of the idea. When our

colleagues tell us what goal they want to achieve, Demand Management

starts researching how we can achieve this goal with the help of IT.’ Ronny

Müller says ‘we’, but he could just as easily say ‘I’. Demand Management at

GEALAN has been in place since 2019. It was created with him and is solely

in his hands.

Ronny Müller starts by researching whether suitable solutions already exist

within the company or at the parent company VEKA. If not, the market research

begins: What software could be purchased? How well would it fulfil

the expectations of the colleagues? Is it aligned with the corporate strategy?

Does it fit as it is, or does it need to be customised? And, above all: How

can we make sure that it fits as seamlessly as possible into the existing world

of GEALAN IT? You have to know this world very well and maintain a great

overview of everything that happens at GEALAN in terms of information

technology. Only from this bird’s eye view can the necessary decisions be

made.

Ronny Müller’s drone descends and dives between the treetops. It follows

the course of an old railway line, flying close above the tracks. Demand

management dives into a topic in a similar way when it recognises

a demand. For example, Demand Management is deeply involved when

the GEALAN ACADEMY, the company’s training centre, needs a new IT

solution. Management of ACADEMY seminars, booking of events, attendance

check for participants, follow-up of training courses, certificates for

participants, a reminder function: all of this should happen without Excel,

without Word and without a lot of email effort and, most importantly, it

should be completely handled by software. Ronny Müller takes a closer

look at how his ACADEMY colleagues work. What are their processes like?


‘

Routine is

painful for me.

I always ask

myself:

What can we

do better?

’

What do they really need? He researches how

user guidance, interfaces and gateways work

in various IT solutions. He also gets an idea of

what they ‘look and feel’ like. During a detailed

search, he comes across Courseticket, an Austrian

provider of learning platforms and apps.

Many providers focus on video conferencing.

But GEALAN doesn’t want yet another new system.

Courseticket takes a different approach.

It can work with any video conferencing system

and focuses on presenting online and

face-to-face training in a professional way. It

presents a really smart solution that takes our

ACADEMY presence to a new level and visually

blends in with our GEALAN look. It covers all

the functions that our colleagues wanted. You

could even add a points system for seminar

participants to give it a touch of gamification.

The GEALAN ACADEMY is very happy with the

system.’ According to Ronny Müller, the old

German IT approach was always focused on

function, function, function. ‘The software often

lacked user-oriented, good-looking front

ends, which made it hard to learn the ins and

outs. By contrast, modern platforms are often

reduced to the bare minimum of functions, but

they are still functional and stylish. So, the eye

clicks along.’ It gives him hope that start-ups

with very good new solutions are often represented

in the German-speaking market.

Demand Management is also deeply involved

when GEALAN needed to get a new intranet

– a central information platform for all employees.

‘The request for this came from the

departments. It was a real bottom-up project.

What we wanted was a central access point, a

page where I as an employee can see everything

at a glance: my appointments, my tasks,

my calendar, apps that I need all the time,

news from management, information from

the individual divisions, what’s going on, what’s

new – and not just for Germany, but also for

all affiliated companies.’ As always, the wish

list was long. By chance, Ronny Müller came

across a provider that had such an impressive

intranet solution that he didn’t even look any

further: Staffbase. Together with a team from

various departments, he convinced the management

that this was the right solution. It went

live in February 2024. Inside.gealan.de – an intranet

that was designed to benefit every employee.

‘For all office employees, GEALAN inside

offers quick access to their appointments,

the GEALAN social media channels, company

news, events, etc.

But there is also plenty of interesting stuff for

our colleagues in production. Shift schedules,

holiday requests – all this is also available on

GEALAN inside. And then there are the communities:

Who would like to row in the dragon

boat team or join the running team? Who wants

to join the betting game? Who wants to join my

carpool?’

Ronny Müller’s drone flies steeply upwards into

the sky. A wooded valley opens up right in front

of the drove, which is hovering high above a railway

bridge that is more than a hundred years

old: silver-white steel construction, five iron

bridge pillars, hundreds of steel rivets. At a height

of 32 metres, the bridge takes a slight curve over

to the other side of the valley. The view from the

drone is impressive. Seen vertically from above,

the bridge looks intricate and bold – a beautiful

connection.

Seeing where connections and bridges are

needed is another task of Demand Management.

Of course, we are talking about IT connections

here, and once again, a bird’s eye view is

needed. ‘We identify digitalisation gaps and fill

them.’ While that sounds simple to Ronny Müller,

it is one of his more challenging tasks. One of

the largest projects involving Demand Management

concerns GEALAN toolmaking. It needs to

receive a completely new enterprise resource

planning system (ERP) and a new manufacturing

execution system (MES). Both systems will take

digitalisation in toolmaking to the next level by

digitalising everything that was previously done

manually. Ronny Müller analyses the digitalisation

gap and, although he is just as critical of SAP

solutions as everyone else, recommends an SAP

module called SAP PS (project system). ‘The question

was whether we wanted to set up another

ERP system for resource planning or whether we

should adapt the existing SAP system and then

link it to the MES via an interface.’ From Ronny

Müller’s point of view, the advantages of the SAP

solution outweighed the disadvantages. ‘We can

use one system for inventory management, finance,

controlling, etc., while stocks or cash flows

do not need to be managed in parallel. I can use

the established purchasing and inventory management

processes.’ The solution also frees up

the toolmaking department.



Close-up: Even as a schoolboy,

Ronny Müller had an

affinity for strategy, logic

and maths –

and an aversion to standing

still. He has been working at

GEALAN for 23 years because

he feels challenged, learns

new things and can live out

his urge to optimise processes.

‘

In recent years,

there have been

massive changes

to IT interfaces.

There are more and

more modern,

smart, resilient

solutions. They help

us to be more agile.

’

By selecting a pure MES system, the department

can focus on MES functionalities and without

having to worry about whether the system also

covers ERP. In workshops, the GEALAN team

developed the entire process in collaboration

with the SAP project system provider. What takes

place in SAP? What data is transferred to the MES

and at what point? The ping-pong game between

the systems was precisely defined. ‘The

result is deep integration, a really smart process

– modern and high-performance’, proclaims

Ronny Müller, who supported the large-scale IT

project from start to finish and coordinated it on

the SAP side.

The second major IT project concerned production

control and work preparation in GEALAN

logistics. Here, too, the goal was to close digitalisation

gaps. In this case, data was no longer supposed

to be transferred manually from A to B, for

example via Excel. ‘They say Excel is the number

one ERP system in the world’ – Ronny Müller

laughs. ‘Everyone tinkles with it, but one thing is

for sure: analysing in Excel can work really well.

But you shouldn’t try to transfer data from Excel

to a higher-level system. Nobody builds interfaces

from Excel to another system. And as complex

as logistics planning is today, Excel logic has

reached its limits anyway.’ The new system will be

tailored precisely to the processes of GEALAN

production, using its own template. ‘Planning will

become more transparent and reproducible.’

The customised solution will be launched in 2025

and close a digitalisation gap – just like a bridge

spans a valley.

The drone hovers above the viaduct, rotates on

its own axis and displays a 360-degree view of

the landscape. When Ronny Müller looks at demand

management as a whole, one third of his

work involves updating existing systems. Two

thirds are now completely new solutions. ‘More

and more trends are emerging, new technologies,

digitalisation, and now artificial intelligence

as a major new area.’


Ronny Müller never sees risks first, only great

opportunities. ‘AI will be like an assistant for every

employee, supporting them. For companies,

this means being able to grow without needing

more employees, who are also hard to find. AI

can also be an acceleration factor.’

The drone descends quickly and stops in mid-air

directly in front of Ronny Müller. Its triple zoom

brings him in for a close-up. Dots of grey, green

and brown in his iris. Ronny Müller was born in

Zwickau in 1975. When he was a teenager, the

word ‘nerd’ did not yet exist, and so he was simply

a teenager who liked maths and computers.

Whilst others were playing shoot ’em up games,

he took an early interest in strategy games. He

enjoyed colonising a whole world, setting up a

flourishing trade, creating his own little world.

Even here, it was the overview that appealed to

him. Later, this preference would also determine

his choice of degree programme. After graduating

from a grammar school in Gera, he studied

industrial engineering at the Jena University

of Applied Sciences. ‘I was equally interested

in economics and technology. It was exactly

the right degree programme for me: largescale,

with a broad view of economic contexts,

as well as management of projects and innovations.

Here, too, I was interested in the bird’s

eye view. And I also got a good overview of

the technological aspects of the programme,

from electrical engineering and assembly language

programming to building a CPU architecture.’

Although Ronny Müller’s interests have

not changed much, if he met his 21-year-old self

today, he would hardly believe what he does

for a living. When he joined GEALAN right after

graduating, he initially worked as a trainee in all

departments – ‘from controlling and financial

accounting to product management and production.

At one point, I even worked the extruder.

It was all interesting, but I got stuck in logistics.’

Ronny Müller has been expanded his Excel

skills since his studies and is taking on more and

more logistics projects that have to do with IT. ‘I

always ask myself: Is there any better way to do

this? I increasingly familiarised myself with programming

in Excel in order to improve scheduling

and work preparation. We have continued

to develop the Excel spreadsheet that was created

in the process.

I simply can’t stand still.’ Ronny Müller became

group leader in material planning, then headed

strategic material planning, which determines

statistically reliable stock levels and evaluates

ranges for the extremely growing GEALAN

product range. Ronny Müller was also in charge

of the major upgrade of the warehouse management

system. When SAP became an issue

at GEALAN, he trained as a consultant and

managed the introduction of SAP in production

planning, dealing with interface design

and connecting SAP to the warehouse management

system – until SAP officially went live

in 2018. Having outgrown logistics, with SAP at a

handover point, GEALAN created a new position

for Ronny Müller in 2019 with Demand Management.

The new job allowed him to combine

his business experience, IT affinity and process

expertise. ‘I’ve been at GEALAN for so long because

I’ve always felt challenged and have always

been given new career development opportunities.

You also need a boss who pushes

you a little – which I had. Switching to IT was a

return to my roots, as IT had already played a

role in my studies. I can really live up to my true

potential with the constant new tasks and challenges.’

Ronny Müller is constantly active. If not professionally,

then privately. He goes on holiday in

the USA, roams the mountainous trails of the

Grand Teton National Park, admires the geysers,

canyons and waterfalls of Yellowstone. In Chile,

he hikes at an altitude of 4,500 metres and marvels

at the majestic world wonder Machu Picchu

in Peru. In Europe, he explores the Scottish

Highlands and Norwegian fjord landscapes. At

home in Germany, Ronny Müller prefers relaxing

in Saxon Switzerland, a hilly climbing area

and national park in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains

and the second home of the man from

Plauen. ‘I put on my hiking boots and walk 20

or 30, sometimes even more kilometres. The

views there are phenomenal, I sit on a rock for

half an hour and soak up the landscape.’ Here,

too, Ronny Müller loves the view from above. He

often takes his drone with him when he goes

hiking. Right now, it lands gently at his feet. The

flyover is over for today. We’ll continue with the

bird’s eye view tomorrow, in the office.

‘

I always look at

the opportunities

and potential first.

I think about the

risks later.

Otherwise, I’ll

never come up

with a good

solution.

’


ReVINGIS is a new neighbourhood in Vilnius,

located on the banks of the River Neris next to

Vingis Park. The brick façades of River Space,

part of the large-scale project, are reminiscent

of the former industrial buildings on the site. It

houses 154 residential and commercial units. The

black-grey exterior of the windows is finished in

GEALAN-acrylcolor ® RAL 7021, while the white

interior emphasises the bright residential

ambience of River Space.



‘We also act as consultants

to private investors.

They decide which windows

their building will

have. But of course, we

recommend the profile

system we used for our

plan.’


| SUPPORT FOR ARCHITECTS |

Detailed planning with

just a few clicks

No house without windows. No house construction

without planning. No planning without an

architect. Anyone who plans buildings inevitably

thinks about windows and doors. Modelling

them as BIM elements yourself on the computer

takes hours or even days for a single window;

weeks or months for a library with a small selection

of windows. It’s quicker online: bimobject.

com is a global marketplace with 4 million users

and 31 million product downloads per year. And

best of all, it’s free of charge for architects. They

download BIM objects and insert them into their

building models. GEALAN provides window and

door data in various formats and its plug-ins for

architectural software on this platform.

This is also how users become aware of Planersoftware

3.0 from GEALAN. Thanks to numerous

downloads and good ratings, bimobject.com

lists GEALAN at the top of the xSearch results

for windows and doors.

Architect Jana Breuch (27) specialised in BIM during her studies in Aachen,

attended BIM courses and discovered GEALAN: ‘That was in 2018. After

learning to work with the CAD/BIM software Vectorworks, I looked into Revit.

As a student, you have to rely on free websites like BIMobject, and GEALAN

was actually the only profile manufacturer with a large selection there.’

Jana Breuch has been working at skt umbaukultur in Bonn for three years –

an office that specialises in residential construction and conversion projects.

‘Construction in existing buildings is very important to us. However, I’m more

involved in new construction projects and also use Planersoftware 3.0 from

GEALAN for this.’ skt is currently undergoing a development process: The

CAD system has been converted from 2D to 3D and Revit has been introduced.

The office wants to work more innovatively, network more efficiently

and utilise time better. Jana Breuch was also brought into the team for

this purpose: ‘I think I brought some momentum with me. There were some

ideas before my arrival, but I got the ball rolling to realise them.’

When Jana Breuch is familiarising herself with GEALAN’s planning tools,

she combines intuition and strategy. She makes it a point to just sit down

and click through menus. This way, she quickly develops a routine. ‘The

user interface is very intuitive and it’s easy to quickly find your way around.’

She gets answers to specific questions in video tutorials and later in a personalised

training course from the construction technology service. ‘The

support from GEALAN surprised me. Once or twice a year, we get a visit

from someone who introduces us to new profile systems, answers questions

about Planersoftware 3.0 and introduces new employees. If we need

help with specific problems, we turn to the architectural consultant service.

It’s usually about error messages regarding sound insulation, U w value

or statics. We then find out where our planning went wrong and what we

need to change. This gives us planning reliability, which is important for

interacting with specialist engineers.’

The architect is currently working on several apartment block complexes

and detached house estates with daycare centres. As soon as she starts

planning the windows for a new project, GEALAN is involved. ‘The reason


‘

In the past, window

details were only

an issue for implementation

planning.

However, as we now

save so much time,

we can already

incorporate them

into the design

planning. This

optimises the

exchange

of information

between everyone

involved and therefore

the entire

planning process.

’

why we already use the GEALAN Revit plug-in

in the design phase is also attributable to the

fact that the Revit library is not well equipped.

It has gaps, particularly in window families,

which GEALAN can close for us in order to

quickly develop initial façade ideas. The sash

size portfolio is unique, and the integration of

elements is straightforward, even for special

requests.’ Time savings and flexibility are bonus

points when we are working with investors

who require very detailed views at an early

stage. Jana Breuch likes to try things out. Then

she checks and adapts them to find out what

is necessary and what can be realised. ‘If we

build higher, it gets complicated with the sash

sizes; and if the frame profiles are too large, it

becomes difficult to create the opening for

them, especially in narrow rooms with low

room heights. Being able to easily test detailed

solutions on the model is a huge help.’

Innovation? ‘Definitely!’ Jana Breuch is enthusiastic

about innovative window systems. Es-

pecially in the interest of zero-barrier planning,

she dispenses with massive, large window profiles.

BIM is a ‘massive process’ for Jana Breuch.

The first steps have been taken, but the exchange

between architects and engineers, for

example, is still reaching its limits. If even more

data were transferred from BIM models, BIM

could make work even easier and planning

and construction even more efficient.


Online support

Planersoftware 3.0

Planersoftware 3.0 is a browser solution for

architects, window manufacturers and window

retailers. You can access predefined window

and door elements from GEALAN profiles or

sketch them freely. The configurator includes all

GEALAN profile systems, colours, frames, sashes,

thresholds, glazing and shading options. Users

can download section and profile drawings and

specifications. Planersoftware 3.0 calculates the

U w value of an element and generates structural

information. It issues size approvals or warns

with error messages if a planned element is not

technically feasible. The user can then send the

element to the architectural consultants, who

check it and revise it, if required. Around 7,000

users have already registered for Planersoftware

3.0, of which more than 5,000 are architects.

Revit plug-in and Archicad add-on

GEALAN offers expansions for the two most

widely used planning programmes in the world.

These modules enable the transfer of elements

from Planersoftware 3.0 to the architect software,

which uses them to create BIM models. Users can

customise the parameters of these models. For

example, they can adjust installation depth, joint

frame overlap, window sills, etc. Only PVC is specified

as a material. The BIM software visualises

windows and doors in various levels of detail and

provides technical information such as the type

and design of the element, the profile system, size,

U w value, etc. GEALAN currently has around 400

active plug-in users per month and is planning to

launch a plug-in for Allplan and an Archicad addon

for Mac.

Offline support

Structural Engineering Service

Building technicians meet architects in person

and put them in direct contact with window

manufacturers.

Architectural Consultant Service

Architect consultants answer questions about

products, dimensions, statics, thermal insulation,

sound insulation, etc. by email or telephone.



Extensive revision

Innovative products, value-added services for customers, marketing

wconcepts, agile working methods, digitalisation and sustainability –

all pioneering, all important, all GEALAN. And yet none of it would be

worth anything if the extruders at the production sites in Lithuania, Poland,

Romania and Germany were not churning out top quality day after day,

night after night, centimetre after centimetre. In 2024, GEALAN extensively

renovated the first of its four extrusion halls in Tanna (Thuringia).


| PRODUCTION |

Updates and upgrades

Originally, only the hall floor was supposed to

be renovated in Tanna, but the project team

came up with so many ideas for modernising

the systems, redesigning the rooms and making

the workplace even safer and more comfortable

that it turned into the largest renovation

project since the plant was commissioned in

1992: GEALAN had all ten systems in Hall 1

completely serviced and brought up to the

latest state of the art.

Green light for high-tech – the colour signals to the extrusion team that

‘production is running smoothly.’ Behind Plexiglas, cutters cut the profiles

precisely to the standard bar length of six metres. Automated machines

apply the GEALAN-branded protective film. The inline measuring system

from PIXARGUS precisely measures the profile contours and layer thicknesses

(Fig. 3).

At the end of the extrusion line, an automatic stacker places eight bars at

a time into a transport container – without any effort from employees, no

lifting, no bending (image series 1).

In terms of occupational safety, the hall planners have widened the walkways

marked in green, removed spare parts racks from the safety area,

installed barriers to the travelling areas of side loaders and mounted collision

guards for reinforced concrete supports.

The extrusion and quality assurance teams have jointly set up a new test

room, equipped with an ASCONA profile measuring device, profile projector

and colour measuring device, among other things.

New, bright colour concept: white walls, light grey pillars, ceiling trusses in

anthracite. The bright yellow crane runway with the GEALAN logo spans

the hall as a colour contrast.

GEALAN had two supply ducts drilled underneath the extrusion lines

to drain waste water and rainwater separately. Grinding water from the

extruders is channelled to a new treatment plant.

Around 1.2 million euros were invested in the overhaul of the extrusion facility,

which produced around 50,000 tonnes of PVC profiles in 2023. Halls 2,

3 and 4 are projected to be renovated over the next three years.


1)

2)

3) 4)


‘I don’t want to be bored,

even though I’m 60. I always

want to do something new

and interesting. UNIORG is

growing and becoming more

international. Currently, we

are building a company in

India. It’s important that

things are always moving.’


| INTERVIEW |

‘We triumph as a team’

Switching to SAP – that sounds like it’s all about

technology. Not true, says UNIORG Managing

Director Hans-Peter Kreft. ‘In reality, it’s primarily

about people. It’s about communication,

about appreciation, about pulling together.’ A

major IT project can only be successful, if the

human basis is right and people are open and

honest with each other. ‘We lose as a team or

we triumph as a team’, says Kreft. He believes

that the collaboration with GEALAN was a great

team success. The SAP expert is convinced

that many more will follow. In an interview with

GEANOVA, he explains why tough discussions

are worthwhile, how important knowledge

transfer is and why switching to the latest SAP

generation doesn’t seem to help at first glance,

but will help all the more in the future.

Mr Kreft, your company UNIORG has been bringing SAP to companies

for 50 years. Converting GEALAN to SAP – was that a routine job for you?

No, it’s really never routine. UNIORG has been advising GEALAN’s

parent company VEKA for a long time, but GEALAN is GEALAN.

The processes are slightly different. That’s why an accurate process

analysis was so important at the beginning. We didn’t simply impose

a solution. Instead, we looked in detail at how GEALAN works

and what special features and requirements there are. You shouldn’t

think of it as UNIORG walking into a building and quickly installing

SAP. It’s a big job that takes time and, above all, it’s a team effort.

And you think the team worked well?

Absolutely! It was fun. In this case, it involved our customer GEALAN,

its parent company VEKA and us. Our job was to advise, moderate

and find solutions. It was important to build trust in this threesome.

We had to get to know each other and learn who is good at what.

That’s the only way something grows collaboratively. You can always

manage the software somehow, but it only works really well

as a team. It needs the personal touch, this spirit of wanting to advance

together.

Nevertheless, there are always discussions and challenges.

Sure, there were even a lot of discussions at the beginning: Should

GEALAN have its own SAP client or not? How should the warehouse

management system, which is not an SAP solution, be integrated?

It was also important to GEALAN that nothing noticeably changed

in terms of pricing and that everything remained the same for customers.

Basically, the question is always to what extent we want to

achieve standardisation with SAP and where it makes sense to deviate

from the standard. Financial accounting is highly standardised,

but the closer you get to the customer, to production or logistics, the

more unique it becomes. There were long and heated discussions.

But these discussions ensured that we ultimately found the best

common path.

You are convinced that simply imposing SAP is not an option. Why not?

Because SAP can only be utilised optimally if knowledge is created

within the company. Basically, we are enablers. We enable companies

like GEALAN to work competently with SAP and to become


Hans-Peter Kreft, born in 1964 in Versmold,

East Westphalia, is a man of conviction when

it comes to SAP. After training as an industrial

clerk, he went to evening school for two

years and completed his industrial business

management qualification. He worked in various

industrial companies in the IT environment

of materials management, production

and logistics and persistently continued his

education. As he was increasingly confronted

with SAP, he wanted to work with it directly:

in 1990, he started at VEKA in SAP application

development and became its department

head. In 2004, he moved to UNIORG AG, which

he now heads as one of four managing

directors. UNIORG has almost 250 employees,

is based in Dortmund, has eight other offices

in Germany and abroad and takes its slogan

seriously: ‘Consulting with passion’.

can’t be delivered for a week or invoices

take three weeks. That should not happen.

The customer had to be supplied from the

first SAP day and invoices had to go out. To

ensure this, we invested a lot of time and

energy, carried out various integration tests

and involved the specialist departments.

competent themselves. This requires a team of key users who undergo

further training and help develop solutions. GEALAN was prepared

to invest money in training right from the start, and it has paid

off. It’s money well spent; otherwise you might end up with a super-modern

SAP system that you only use ten per cent of the time.

SAP is a cut above the rest, and not everyone immediately realises

huge benefits in their day-to-day work. If it’s a black box that I don’t

understand, I won’t go along with it. That’s why it’s essential to create

understanding and get people on board. It takes longer, but it’s

more sustainable. Generating expertise, especially in young minds,

so that everyone really steps up to the plate and contributes their

ideas – GEALAN has done this extremely well.

The day the switch is flipped and SAP goes live is exciting for companies.

Everything has to run smoothly.

Yes. GEALAN lives from its customers and has to sell products. Of

course, if the customer notices any changes, it should only be improvements.

Sometimes you hear about companies where goods

How important is good support in this phase?

The four to eight weeks after the go-live

are very crucial. It’s like buying a car. I’ve

been looking forward to my new car for a

long time. It looks great. Now I’m paying

40,000 euros for it. When I get the car, I take

a look at it and wonder: was that the right

decision? It’s the same here, the decision

has to prove itself. You can’t suddenly find

yourself alone with problems and fall into

a hole. That’s why we are always ready

for action in this hypercare phase. When

companies talk about cutting back on this

support, I argue with them because they

are chopping at the wrong end of the stick.

What do you prefer: advising a solid medium-sized

company or a young, wild start-up?

Both. Of course, it’s a different experience

to advise a start-up that is growing quick-


ly and wants to be very agile in e-commerce.

This stands in stark contrast to a

long-established production company

where the structures in the specialist departments

are very stable. They have a lot

of experience, but perhaps some things

are already too well established. My favourite

thing is to have a department

head who sets the strategy, but who perhaps

also has a cooperative education

student who says, ‘IT is my topic. I can

transform something in that area.’ In the

past, department heads often thought

that they automatically had to be the key

user, but nowadays it’s different. It’s about

commitment, not position.

A topic that concerns you is how to transfer

knowledge from the old, experienced minds

to the young, inexperienced ones.

Very much so. I’ve been working in IT for

40 years now and still have ambitions to

make a difference. I don’t like stagnation

and boredom. But there are things where

others are faster than me. At UNIORG,

we have managed to develop a second

generation, perhaps even a third. It is vital

to pass on the knowledge. There are still

excellent trainees and highly motivated

people in Germany today. You may have

to search a little longer, but they are out

there and it’s fun to work with them. In

my job, I’m sometimes a nursery school

centre teacher, sometimes a porter, in

other words a door opener, and sometimes

a de-escalator when there’s a fire

somewhere. And then there’s the topic of

strategy. I think it’s wonderful to see how

people evolve and to see that someone

is better than me in this area. I don’t want

to have the worst people. I want to have

the best ones.

To see companies become more efficient: is

that the fruit of your labour?

Absolutely. While tidying up yesterday, I

came across a VEKA annual report from

2005. When I see what the turnover was

then and what it is now, it’s nice to know

that I was a part of this development.

There are many new projects at GEALAN.

GEALAN has introduced the Staffbase

software tool for internal communication.

Although this has nothing to do with SAP,

it is a state-of-the-art tool for corporate communication and looks

really good. GEALAN is truly at the forefront of tech, and it shows:

the company is now thinking about SAP products in the HR division,

about SuccessFactors, about the Ariba purchasing catalogue

software. The company also has a really good, high-performance

shop for customers and an EDI connection for orders. Moreover,

it uses Celonis for data evaluation and designs the evaluation inhouse

with the SAP Analytics Cloud. I see that GEALAN is willing

and eager to improve, and that is always the first step towards

success. I like to compare it to the VW Beetle. At some point, the

Beetle had reached the end of its useful life, and it was time to introduce

the VW Golf. I don’t know whether the Golf 1 was already

better than the last Beetle. But a new platform was created on

which the future could be built.

You are alluding to the switch to SAP S/4HANA, which took place at GEALAN

in January 2024. What will be better with the latest SAP generation?

At first glance, obviously hardly anything. SAP has announced that

it will no longer support ECC (SAP Enterprise Resource Planning

software, editor’s note) beyond 2027. Therefore, the move to S/4

was mandatory. But the real benefits became apparent just a few

months after the changeover. The interfaces look nicer, and I can

see my holiday request better in Fiori apps. But let me be blunt: initially,

nothing improved for users. However, S/4 is a great platform

for the future. It will allow you to act faster, boost performance

and offer more cloud components. AI, dashboards, data mining

products, etc. can build on this foundation, which will be important.

S/4 is the perfect platform for continuous development. GEALAN is

also very active in designing future interfaces, implementing dashboards

and self-services, simplifying analyses and redesigning

processes more quickly. It’s all about agility and making it easier to

implement new companies.

Will the collaboration between UNIORG and GEALAN continue?

Yes. The next step is the SAP rollout at GEALAN Baltic on 1 January

2025. Now that we have supported GEALAN in Germany and a

whole series of affiliated companies, it will naturally require less

effort. Also, GEALAN now has experience with SAP itself. And we’re

not the kind of people who want to be in the same company with

several people all the time. We help people help themselves.

Nevertheless, are long-term, stable customer relationships something

that fill you with satisfaction?

It’s not just satisfying. It’s also super cool to work together to

establish goals, especially in the long term. I look at many of our

customers and wonder: Where were they 20 years ago and where

are they now? Maybe I’m a bit old-fashioned, but I like seeing

what we’ve accomplished.


Götz Gemeinhardt is behind

GEANOVA, which he invented

and developed as a company

magazine that tells the

story of the people who help

GEALAN advance.

Nevertheless, he only appears

on the cover in this fantasy

edition.


| MAKING-OF |

The man behind

GEANOVA

GEANOVA is a company magazine that is different

from others. Why? Because it is produced

externally, because it takes an unusual look at

GEALAN, because it puts people at the centre

and tells their stories instead of simply advertising.

And because the movers and shakers pour

their blood, sweat and tears into this magazine,

its texts and images. GEANOVA is now in its

seventh year – a good time to take stock. How

is GEANOVA doing? How has it evolved? What

makes the work behind the scenes so interesting?

And what does this have to do with a

summer toboggan run, a cheeky fly and bread

dough? Götz Gemeinhardt knows, because he is

the man behind GEANOVA.

Götz Gemeinhardt (51) has done a lot in his professional

career. Most of it, even if he wouldn’t

admit it, has to do with three of his gifts: his

sonorous voice, his flair for good images and

his talent for telling stories. He was already

working in radio at the age of 16. After leaving

school he became a radio editor, speaker

and presenter at the regional radio station in

Hof. He played a key role in setting up a new

alternative radio station and became head of

the music department. In his mid-twenties, he

moved to Munich and worked for Premiere,

now Sky. He became a video producer and

shot sports documentaries with stars such as

Lothar Matthäus, Stefan Effenberg and Matthias

Sammer. A freelancer since 2002, he was

at home wherever sport and speech came

together. He worked in public relations

for the football club FC Bayern Hof,

whose glorious history he has also

highlighted in two documentary

films. He worked as an indoor announcer

for the Bundesliga wrestlers

of ASV Hof and as a stadium

announcer for his favourite ice

hockey club, ERC Selb, as it used

to be called. At the DEL2 club Selber

Wölfe, as it is known today, he

conducted on-ice interviews for

Sportdeutschland TV. He remained

loyal to radio and television for a long

time: on air as a presenter, off air as an

editor. He also worked in PR for many years,

including for companies in the automotive

and agricultural sectors.


In 2013, he founded his own company: MÜTZERIA

offered textiles designed by its customers – including

hats, socks and caps for companies,

clubs, teams and bands. Götz Gemeinhardt’s

career has always been very diverse. But there

is one thing he has never done: a project he was

not convinced of.

The side of the pitch is where his contact with

GEALAN began. When GEALAN was the main

sponsor of FC Bayern Hof, Götz Gemeinhardt

took on presenting roles for GEALAN,

first at events, then as a trade fair presenter at

Fensterbau Frontale. He also produced training

videos for trade fairs. When GEALAN Tanna

played against GEALAN Oberkotzau at a summer

festival, Götz Gemeinhardt was the spokesman

in Tanna. The spark ignited between him and the

GEALAN managers. In 2018, Götz Gemeinhardt

had the idea of publishing a GEALAN magazine.

‘I thought it would be exciting to create a company

magazine, but to do it externally, deliberately

with an outside perspective.’ That was the

birth of GEANOVA. The name says it all: The goal

was to explain to the region in which GEALAN

is based that the company was breaking new

ground with innovations and investments, was

launching new products and had news to report.

Regional quickly became supra-regional when

the decision was made to distribute GEANOVA

together with leading industry magazines, as a

chic, thick enclosure, so to speak.

GEANOVA is cross-media: The magazine can

be read entirely online. So why still print? ‘Because

we are all inundated with emails, newsletters,

posts and push notifications every day. We

wanted something that you can not only read,

but also touch. You need a good reason to print

on paper these days, but I think GENOVA’s aspiration

is a good reason.’ The GEANOVA paper

is not glossy, because Götz Gemeinhardt does

not want to create a glossy façade for GEALAN.’

‘GEANOVA is a PR product. But hyperbolic rhetoric

and pure advertising language are not his

style.’ Challenges that GEALAN faced are also

discussed, for example, gaining a foothold in Italy,

which initially failed (see page 12). GEANOVA

does not ignore these things. But the magazine’s

success is based on more than that. ‘It’s

the complete package: a magazine that doesn’t

look like a supermarket brochure but could also

be displayed on a newsstand. Stories that put

people centre stage.

When it comes to images and layout, anyone

involved in these publications realises that a lot

of energy and commitment has gone into it. In

my opinion, all of this makes GEANOVA special

– and worth reading.’ From the very beginning,

the GEANOVA team has not photographed

people at their desks. ‘We

want places that have a meaning for

the story, that create a connection

or a special atmosphere. We

also show GEALAN’s innovative

technology and products –

but from angles that are not

commonplace. Maybe, AI will

soon be able to create these

images, but for now everything

at GEANOVA is still

handmade.’

The management team always

meets with Götz Gemeinhardt

at the beginning of the year to

establish the list of topics for the

new issue – and we never run out of

stories.’ ‘It’s more like we have too many

ideas because there’s so much going on at

so many ends.’ What the managing directors

don’t specify is how a story is told. As a series of

pictures? As a report? As an interview? Götz Gemeinhardt

is free to do whatever he likes. ‘That’s

precisely the reason why I’m doing the magazine.

GEALAN accepts the outside view, places a

lot of trust in us external contributors and gives

us a lot of creative freedom.’

Götz Gemeinhardt has been traveling a lot for

GEANOVA over the years. He has travelled to

Poland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Romania,

Croatia, France, Italy and the Ukraine. He considers

it a privilege to see for himself how GEALAN

looks, works and expands elsewhere. Not waiting

until the Polish managing director arrives in

Germany, but travelling to him, portraying him

in his environment – that is also what makes

GEANOVA so appealing. Götz Gemeinhardt returns

home with a lot of impressions, gigabytes

of photos and interview audio, but he also brings

back a collection of anecdotes that often have

to do with the creation of GEANOVA images.

In the Netherlands, the GEANOVA photo team

travelled by boat to a spot where a window built

especially for GEANOVA could be staged picture-perfectly

in front of windmills.


Götz Gemeinhardt took photos lying on his

stomach. It took a long time to get everything

just right. Afterwards, while looking through the

pictures, an employee realised that the window

was upside down. Because everyone realised

that window experts would notice the mistake,

the entire shoot needed to be redone. When

the print data was on its way to the print shop,

Götz Gemeinhardt discovered a small fly at

the very top corner on the profile. Unacceptable!

The bug needed to be edited

out. ‘The fact that we work with a regional

print shop that takes action at the

last minute is also part of GEANOVA’s

quality.’

GEANOVA reports on the smart shift

model at the production site in Tanna.

Lamination employee Andreas

Grüner is photographed with his

daughter on a summer toboggan

run in Thuringia. To prepare

for the shoot, Götz Gemeinhardt

rides the summer toboggan

run – again and again, until all

the settings and angles are right

– and he feels a little dizzy.

Countless shots are attempted to capture

a portrait of Janusz Tyczyński, the managing

director of GEALAN Polska, on the roof of

a hotel in Łódź. After the shoot, he heads down

to the hotel. Tyczyński leans casually against

a pillar, looks at his mobile phone and smiles.

Götz Gemeinhardt sees the perfect opportunity

to take a snapshot. In the end, the better

picture ends up in the magazine.

One of Götz Gemeinhardt’s favourite pictures

is taken by Norbert Kuipers, Managing

Director of GEALAN customer

HEBO. He leads the photo

team through his brand new

showroom, walking over

here and over there,

never standing still, which

makes it impossible

to snap a picture of

him – until he finally

takes his tape

measure to

measure a wall

for a screen. Snap!

The photo is shot

spontaneously – but

it shows perfectly what

makes Mr Kuipers tick.’

In Italy, GEALAN profiles need to be

staged with an old Fiat 500. It takes weeks to

organise the car. The evening before the shoot,

the owner of the Fiat spontaneously announces

that he is travelling and the car is not available.

A replacement has to be organised overnight

– and it works. ‘It’s always a huge effort, but everyone

involved gives their all to make things

possible. I just love that.’

Holger Thoß, Head of Technical Services, is

photographed in Tanna for the cover of the

third issue. The setting is not very comfortable.

In a technical room, he spends five hours without

daylight in the draught of a fan in order

to achieve exactly the motif with the lighting

mood that Götz Gemeinhardt had in

mind. ‘I still feel sorry for Mr Thoß

today. But in my opinion, the

result is our best cover picture

to date.’

It is also typical

of GEANOVA to

showcase the

GEALAN logo in

new contexts: ‘We

had the GEALAN

snail, as it is known

internally, 3D-printed

and baked from

bread dough – something

like that is simply

not run-of-the-mill.’

Many ideas arise spontaneously.

When Götz Gemeinhardt travelled

to Poland, he was unaware

that GEALAN Polska had a football


team that played in the league. When he flew

to Romania, he didn’t know that there was a Romanian

royal family whose official supplier was

GEALAN. ‘My experience is that people everywhere

are extremely friendly towards us and go

to great lengths to present their location

in an exciting and good way. This

shows how much they enjoy

being part of the magazine

and how much they

identify with GEALAN.’

After six years, Götz

Gemeinhardt has six

issues of GEANOVA

in his hands. It’s a very

good feeling, he says,

and perhaps a little

bit of pride too. By the

time GEANOVA is available

as a print edition,

months of finding topics,

selecting ideas, travelling,

conducting interviews and

detailed text and image work are

over. ‘We put our heart and soul into every

issue. We have very high expectations of producing

excellent content, language and design.

And preferably we also want to be error-free.’

This means that the copywriters sit together for

hours and, more often than not, discuss a word,

whether a sentence should be rearranged, the

choice of words in a title, a comma in a caption,

whether a quarter or an eighth of a fourth should

be used as spacing in a five-digit number. ‘The

horror is to open the finished magazine and

see an obvious error. Of course there are

small mistakes, that can’t be avoided,

but a fly in the middle of a window

profile – that would annoy me immensely.’

Götz Gemeinhardt reads

GEANOVA umpteen times before it

is printed. Once it’s in print, he enjoys the feel

and the lovely smell of the paper. At this point,

he won’t read it again.

Götz Gemeinhardt made GEANOVA – but

the reverse is also true. The chief editor found

many encounters personally enriching. And

GEANOVA trips have certainly influenced the

Gemeinhardts’ holiday planning. ‘The international

appointments were often the inspiration

for our family holidays: We’ve been to Lithuania,

Poland and France. My family has seen the

places where GEALAN would eventually open

new branches at a later date.

Six editions – that’s actually not a lot. How many

more will there be? Götz Gemeinhardt shrugs his

shoulders. ‘I really can’t say. But I still enjoy doing

it every year, time and time again. The truth is that

I wouldn’t do it otherwise’, he says. A project that

he doesn’t support isn’t really his thing. And who

knows – maybe GEANOVA will be around long

enough for Götz Gemeinhardt’s recent dream

to come true. He was sent to China by GEALAN.

Even though GEALAN doesn’t even exist there. ‘I

was standing in China and had no idea what to

do.’ Is there any way to interpret the dream? ‘Perhaps

it anticipates GEALAN’s expansion plans.’

Götz Gemeinhardt laughs.


| GEANEWS |

GEALAN-acrylcolor ® : New system, more colours

GEALAN-acrylcolor ® is and remains the unsurpassed

PMMA surface technology – for brilliantly

coloured and durable window profiles.

GEALAN-acrylcolor ® is now also available for

the GEALAN-KONTUR ® profile system: The colour

variants of the 82.5 mm system with its design-oriented,

clean look are increased exponentially.

At the same time, GEALAN is expanding the

GEALAN-acrylcolor ® ordering options for the

systems GEALAN-KONTUR ® , GEALAN-KUBUS ® ,

GEALAN S 9000 and GEALAN S 9000 NL: Nine colours

are now available without minimum quantity

and with shorter delivery times: Black brown (RAL

8022), traffic white (RAL 9016), agate grey (RAL 7038),

white aluminium (RAL 9006), grey beige (RAL 1019),

beige grey (RAL 7006), black grey (RAL 7021) and the

metallic colours bronze and pearl beige (RAL 1035).

Cooking oil instead of crude oil

GEALAN utilises new material sources and, as a

pioneer in its industry sector, uses bio-attributed

PVC. The ethylene in the PVC is not obtained

from crude oil, as is usually the case, but from

used cooking oil or other alternatives with exactly

the same quality. The carbon footprint is better

because the raw material processing is aligned

with the circular economy and fossil resources

are conserved. The process is ISCC-PLUS-certified.

International Sustainability & Carbon Certification

is a global programme for the circular economy

and bioeconomy in which companies prove that

they comply with sustainability criteria along the

entire supply chain. GEALAN profiles with bio-attributed

PVC are already being used successfully

in the Netherlands.

GEALAN from the inside

GEALAN has transformed its internal communication: GEALAN

inside is the name of the new employee platform, which functions

as a cloud-based social intranet. All GEALAN employees have access.

On GEALAN inside they can find the apps they need most for

their work, keep track of their calendar and appointments, receive

news from all areas of the company, including from the affiliated

companies abroad, and interesting facts from all specialist areas.

Contact details and documents are also available. The service area

features the current canteen menu, while the community area is

where people can find and join car pools, amongst other things.

Idea management also takes place on the platform. As the name

implies, GEALAN inside is GEALAN from the inside and benefits

everyone.



The cross-border commuter

Jaunius Šileikis at the Medyka-Shehyni border crossing: behind him

the European Union, in front of him an EU accession candidate

with great potential, but also major problems.

A business trip to Ukraine, a country at war. In a trolley

bag: luggage for three nights. In the backpack:

window profile samples. Jaunius Šileikis is breaking new ground

for GEALAN. He is looking for ways to achieve success in the markets

of the former Soviet Union.

GEANOVA accompanied Jaunius Šileikis to Ukraine in the summer of 2024 to

present the daily routine of a window manufacturer and the GEALAN salesman

on site – in a country at a time where daily routines no longer exist.


| REPORT |

‘If you wait, you can

pack your bags!’

The company car rolls steadily along the Polish

motorway. It has covered 700 kilometres since

leaving Vilnius and still has 200 kilometres to go

to the Polish-Ukrainian border. At the wheel is

Jaunius Šileikis (55), a Lithuanian, whose personality

matches his driving style: determined, but

level-headed, proactive, relaxed.

Šileikis was born in Salakas, a village in north-east Lithuania, directly on Lake

Luodis. As a child he fished there with his father and brother. Nowadays, he

spends fishing holidays with friends in Finland. His second passion, almost

obligatory for a Lithuanian, is basketball. He used to play basketball at

school, at university and with colleagues. ‘But when you get older, basketball

becomes too dangerous for your legs and fingers. I switched to beach

volleyball and now I play padel tennis. I need sport – team sport.’

After leaving school, Šileikis began studying in Vilnius in 1988, but was

called up to the Red Army after just a few months. His military service

ended prematurely when Lithuania declared its independence in

March 1990 and the Soviet Union dismissed Lithuanian soldiers. Šileikis

continued his studies and graduated in 1994. ‘I’m a civil engineer for industrial

and residential construction, but I haven’t worked a single day

as a civil engineer. All the large Lithuanian companies were controlled

from Moscow and had to cease production after the breakaway from

the Soviet Union. But I wanted to work, no matter what. I wanted to

earn money. An acquaintance had a friend who knew the owner of a

new window company. It was a modern company with German machinery,

the first in Lithuania to produce PVC windows and the first to

process GEALAN profiles. I ended up working there and built windows

as a normal production employee. I didn’t need to go to university for

that.’ After a year, Šileikis took over production management. When his

employer, together with GEALAN, planned to extrude PVC profiles in

Lithuania, he made the decisive career move: ‘They were looking for a

managing director who spoke German. I learned German in school. I

was young, I was motivated. I thought: Why not?’ In 1997, Jaunius Šileikis

was registered as Managing Director of the newly founded company

GEALAN Baltic. He spent six months at GEALAN in Germany with Lithuanian

colleagues, learned a lot about extrusion and worked at the

extruder himself. GEALAN Baltic started with three used extrusion lines

and tools from Germany. It kept growing and soon moved from a small

old hall in the centre of Vilnius to a large new building in an industrial

estate outside the city. Today, 24 extruders with more than 350 moulds

are neing operated there.



The opening day market

on Vicheva Square in Lviv:

Jaunius Šileikis (right) and Sergii

Kozhevnikov with Vyshyvanka;

Vyshyvanka (embroidery)

is a traditional East Slavic

embroidery pattern which,

according to early medieval

beliefs, is supposed to ward off

evil spirits. Today, traditional

blouses with vyshyvanka are

a Ukrainian cultural asset and

textile patriotism.

The Lychakivsky Cemetery in

Lviv is a tourist attraction and

memorial. To the north of the

cemetery wall, a new burial

ground has been created

for the war victims of recent

months: wooden crosses, lots

of fresh flowers, portrait photos,

football fan scarves and a

sea of flags in blue and yellow

or red and black.


After a successful quarter of a century in the

world of windows, Jaunius Šileikis realised that

the time was ripe for a change. He received

a job offer and became managing director

in another industry. But his time away from

GEALAN was short-lived: ‘I missed the people

at GEALAN. I realised that the Baltic team, which

I had assembled myself, was like a second family

to me. I missed the dialogue with colleagues

in Germany and Europe, the GEALAN spirit.’ He

didn’t hesitate for long. He resigned and called

the GEALAN head office. ‘I asked if there was a

position for me after all these years, with my experience.’

He got lucky. In 2021, Šileikis became

the Business Development Manager.

Jaunius Šileikis has identified Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan

and Ukraine as the former Soviet republics

with the best prospects for GEALAN. ‘I

analyse the market volume and the competition,

then I work out a strategy for our next

steps. I look for employees and partners. The

right people on the ground are even more important

than a suitable strategy. I can’t do anything

without them. They epitomise GEALAN.’

In Azerbaijan, GEALAN supplies the warehouse

of a wholesaler that distributes PVC profiles to

many small processors. In Uzbekistan, GEALAN

works with a window manufacturer that equips

large properties, building complexes or entire

city neighbourhoods. In Ukraine, GEALAN

is establishing its own structures and has recruited

two employees: Sergii Kozhevnikov for

sales and application engineer Yurii Chervonyi.

They acquire and support customers, with profile

deliveries coming from Poland or Lithuania.

‘Window construction is well developed in

Ukraine and we still have a lot of plans here. I

would like to set up a warehouse. I can imagine

a Ukrainian subsidiary and I’m not even ruling

out a production site’, says Šileikis. ‘But of

course all of this takes time. Above all, peace

must be restored in this country.’

Šileikis flies to Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan two

or three times a year. The people there appreciate

when European system providers

send representatives who can answer questions

about products directly and have technical

data available. ‘I support our partners in

acquiring new customers or tenders. GEALAN

takes part in events for architects, investors and

the entire construction sector.’

Šileikis has marked other countries on his mental

map of the world where it could be worth

getting involved – Kazakhstan, for example.

However, he initially wants to make GEALAN

more independent in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan,

with local employees and a warehouse in

each country. We have good partners, but they

are not part of the GEALAN structure. If they

decide to sell bread or shoes tomorrow, we’ll

have to start from scratch again.’

Šileikis was in Ukraine every month – until war

broke out in February 2022. Since then, he has

been coordinating projects from Vilnius and

talking to Kozhevnikov and Chervonyi every day.

They meet in person at most once a quarter.

Jaunius Šileikis parked his car in a car park and

pulled his trolley towards the border on foot.

Leaving Poland is quick and easy: a cursory

glance at our EU passports, no questions asked.

After a kilometre and a half on foot, Ukrainian officials

check our luggage. Šileikis’ backpack raises

questions. He opens it and reveals samples

of various PVC profile systems – not very common,

but not illegal either. With entry stamps

in our passports, we walk a few more minutes

to Sergii Kozhevnikov’s car, with whom we have

an appointment near the border. He urges us

to download an app on our smartphones that

warns us in the event of an air raid alarm. And he

opens a messenger group where he can give us

instructions in an emergency.

80 kilometres of country road to Lviv:

Kozhevnikov manoeuvres around the potholes

as if he knows every single one of them. Fully

occupied marshrutkas rumble towards us, and

the driver of a lorry-mounted crane stares helplessly

at the road where his massive crane hook

lies torn off. Wide-open trailers bend under the

weight of hundreds of plump watermelons. The

summer sun illuminates golden church roofs

and flags flutter everywhere – and not just blue

and yellow ones: Kozhevnikov and Šileikis are

chatting in Russian and I snap ‘krasno-chernye

flagi’. I ask and Kozhevnikov explains to me in

English that red and black were the colours of

the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which existed

from 1942 to 1954. Now red and black are back

in vogue.

The war turned Sergii Kozhevnikov’s life upside

down – both professionally and private-


ly. In March 2022, when the bombardments in

his home city of Kiev became more frequent

and more intense, he travelled with his family

to France, where his wife Olena and their three

sons still live today. He returned alone to Kiev in

August 2022 to work in Ukraine – that was clear

from the start. The family comes to visit once or

twice a year ‘so that the children can see their

father from time to time’, says the 44-year-old.

‘It’s really difficult, but I know what we’re doing it

for. My children live and learn in safety.’

Sergii Kozhevnikov studied business law from 1997

to 2002 and, like Jaunius Šileikis, built windows after

graduating. ‘I took my first steps in production

in my wife’s family business, then worked in

sales and finally became a project manager.’ In

2006, Olena and Sergii Kozhevnikov founded the

trade magazine Window Technologies, which is

published quarterly in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,

Armenia and Belarus. ‘As editor-in-chief, I have

gained a lot of knowledge about windows and

window technology and have been able to establish

good connections throughout the industry.’

In 2018 and 2019, Kozhevnikov organised the

Windo Lviv trade fair, but the COVID pandemic

prevented further exhibitions.

The war put an end to Window Technologies in

its established form as a print magazine in spring

2022. ‘Printing has become complicated and

expensive, so we switched our focus to newsletters

and social media. GEALAN had placed

adverts in Window Technologies, so I knew

Jaunius. He told me that GEALAN was looking

for someone who could promote the brand in

Ukraine.’ In July 2022, Kozhevnikov left his own

company and joined GEALAN. ‘I know almost

all European profile manufacturers as well as

machine and accessory suppliers. I’m enthusiastic

about GEALAN’s technologies, especially

GEALAN-acrylcolor ® . The first GEALAN-acrylcolor

® window was recently produced in the

Ukraine – an important step.’ Sergii Kozhevnikov

succeeded in transferring his enthusiasm to

potential new customers. It was not difficult to

convince them that GEALAN products were

more innovative than Ukrainian profiles, which

were offered at lower prices.

‘Switching from the cheapest profile to a

GEALAN system was not an easy decision. But

with GEALAN you could build windows that sell

for a much better price.’

GEALAN has four customers in Ukraine: in Ternopil,

Medenychi, Chernivtsi and Odessa. A

missile hit near one production facility, but all

the plants are intact. Kozhevnikov believes that

these existing customers can double or even

triple their current turnover. Following the collapse

of the markets in the south and east of

Ukraine, many window manufacturers have

realigned themselves towards the west and

increased their export quota. Three GEALAN

customers are among the top 5 Ukrainian window

exporters. The core of the national window

market is western Ukraine. for example, many

people and companies are moving to the relatively

safe region of Lviv, where houses, flats,

offices, warehouses and production facilities are

in demand. ‘And there’s always demand in the

capital. Damaged windows are being replaced

in Kiev. Anyone waiting for the day when the war

is over can pack up and quit. Our customers are

adapting and developing new markets now.’

We want to hear first-hand about the challenges

that the war poses for window manufacturers

in Ukraine. So, we travel to Ternopil, a twohour

drive east of Lviv. The military has set up

a checkpoint on the outskirts of the town with

anti-tank barriers, camouflage, machine guns.

Sergii Kozhevnikov hands a soldier some documents.

They identify him as a student. In 2023,

he has started a degree programme that he

wants to complete with a Ph.D. The subject of

his dissertation: Evaluating technological methods

of recycling PVC profiles to minimise the

impact on the environment. The certificate of

enrolment saves him from military service – for

the time being. We continue our journey. I ask

what would have happened without the documents:

‘I would have had to get out of the car.

I would have been taken to an assembly point

and in a few days I would have been at the front

in Donetsk.’

Viknar’Off, founded 18 years ago as a small

workshop without great ambitions for growth,

is a giant with an annual production of 500,000

windows (before the war it was 800,000),

the second largest window manufacturer in

Ukraine and number one in exports. Sergii

Zakharchyshyn (40) has been managing Viknar’Off

(English: Window Man) for seven years.

Before that he was a successful banker. That’s

a story for another day’, he replies when asked

what has changed since the start of the war. In-


Viknar’Off CEO Sergii

Zakharchyshyn (right) and

GEALAN application engineer

Yurii Chervonyi on a new

profile processing system; the

system has the capacity to

produce 300 windows per

shift and can process

GEALAN-acrylcolor ®

profiles.


The Okhmatdyt Children’s

Hospital in Kiev after partial

destruction by a cruise missile

on 8 July 2024; within two

weeks, window manufacturer

Viknar’Off and GEALAN

renewed the windows

in an important part of the

complex.

Two of 21 certificates hanging in

the foyer of the Viknar’Off headquarters

in Ternopil; the window

manufacturer is a generous and

proud supporter of the Ukrainian

armed forces.


stead of 1,200 people, Viknar’Off now only employs

800. 200 are currently at the front. Nine

have died in the war, including the national

sales manager. ‘Everything has changed. Our

young people can be drafted into the army at

any time.’

As a company active in export and reconstruction,

Viknar’Off can exempt or defer some

of its employees from military service. However,

this involves a great deal of bureaucracy.

Documents have to be submitted for each

individual person and applications must be

renewed regularly. The procedure is based on

a strict system of criteria and points. ‘We have

collected enough points to defer 300 people’,

says Zakharchyshyn. ‘We are now trying to fill

vacancies with women and retirees.’ Since

the stricter mobilisation law was enforced in

spring 2024, fitters and sales representatives

have been worried about being caught up in

a traffic check and being drafted immediately.

In addition to staffing concerns, the unstable

power supply is also causing problems for window

manufacturers. Viknar’Off has purchased

two generators and installed solar panels, enabling

it to generate 1.6 megawatts of electricity

itself. Sergii Zakharchyshyn admits: ‘’I would

never have believed that the war could last two

or three years. We stayed here, we survived

and we know that it’s even worse elsewhere.

When I talk to people who are fighting, I feel a

strong sense of patriotism. It’s hard to describe.’

a long line of vehicles moving forward at walking

pace – behind its windscreen is a note with

the inscription ‘200’. The code indicates return

transports of killed soldiers.

‘These are unique times. Everyone’s fighting,

every day’, says Sergii Kozhevnikov as he drops

us off near the border crossing. ‘The missile attacks

are dangerous and it’s difficult to focus

on things like work. But Ukraine is a big country

with a huge market that is being slowed down.

The future will offer great opportunities.’

The company car rolls steadily along the Polish

motorway. Another 850 kilometres to Vilnius.

We have not perceived any situation in Ukraine

as being specifically dangerous. And yet we realise

that we have been breathing more freely

since we returned to the EU. We weren’t afraid,

but we constantly felt gloomy.

‘We decided that Ukraine was a country with

potential for GEALAN’, says Jaunius Šileikis. ‘And

we came at the right time. It’s a good thing we

didn’t wait until the war was over. I’m optimistic

and there’s a lot more optimism in Ukraine

than in all of us.’

67 hours after our departure, Lviv and fourteen

other Ukrainian regions triggered an air

raid alert. Russia launched one of the largest

air strikes since the start of the war, using 200

drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

Viknar’Off has been processing GEALAN profiles

since 2019. ‘I switched our sales to a topdown

model: First, we offer the S-Class, then

the C- or A-Class. So, we needed something

exclusive. GEALAN and Viknar’Off – that’s a

first-class tandem. We offer GEALAN first, then

other systems.’

This tandem has provided 0.7 million Ukrainian

hryvnia (approx. 15,000 euros) for the reconstruction

of the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital

in Kiev. Together, Viknar’Off and GEALAN manufactured

51 large-format windows, delivered

them to Kiev and installed them in the clinic’s

laboratory building.

In a village on our way back to the Ukrainian-Polish

border, a handful of festively dressed people

stand at the side of the road. A few hundred

metres further on, we spot a van at the head of


| IMPRINT |

GEANOVA’s publisher:

GEALAN Fenster-Systeme GmbH

Hofer Strasse 80

95145 Oberkotzau

www.gealan.de

info@gealan.de

Telephone: 09286 77-0

Management Board:

Ivica Maurović, Tino Albert

Commercial Register: District Court of Hof, HRB 702

Authors:

Maria Brömel

Götz Gemeinhardt

Photographs:

Peter Eichler

GEALAN Fenster-Systeme GmbH

Götz Gemeinhardt

Sergii Kozhevnikov

Martin Lauterbach

Gerard van Beek

Mario Wiedel

We give our thanks to:

Daniele Anderose, MZ Sistemi di Latina

Astrid Hager

Andreas Hopperdietzel, Markt Oberkotzau

Michael Krauß

Thomas Schöpf

Printer:

Druckerei Schmidt & Buchta GmbH & Co. KG

100 per cent recycling: The paper used for

GEANOVA printing was made exclusively

from recycled paper.

Circulation:

14,000 copies

Idea, layout and direction:

Götz Gemeinhardt

Reprint and use – including excerpts – only with written

permission from GEALAN Fenster-Systeme GmbH

Assistance:

Özkan Arslan

Akin Cavdar

Mauro Centofanti

Domenico Di Bona

Thorsten Eichner

Christiane Junghans

Christian Kämpf

Robert Lingner

Michael Nolting

Kevin Roth

Eva-Maria Schröder

Andreas Wagner


The De Schutse church in Uithoorn

in the Netherlands was

built in 1966 and renovated

in 2020. Its striking roof spire

was a challenge for window

manufacturers and fitters. The

outside of the window elements,

each around three metres

high, is basalt grey (RAL

7012) with wood grain, while

the inside is cream white (RAL

9001). In addition to the windows

of the GEALAN S 9000

NL system, building insulation

and solar panels contribute

to the energy efficiency of the

church.

www.gealan.de

F d ú j F

GEANOVA 6 2024 EN

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