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At the celebration to mark the 60th anniversary, Ulrich Päßler, Managing Director of BGW, presents
Thomas Hagenbucher, the owner of the TMH company, with a commemorative plaque
tions, where it was impossible to form a governing
coalition, make me particularly unsure.
But I learnt that the company was located
in Central Hesse here on the very day
I started work. But what has that got to do
with Shirley Bassey, you will ask? Absolutely
nothing!
Well, the people at Buderus were no less farsighted
and right from the start they secured
the Hagenbuchers’ loyalty by offering attractive
prices. A ridiculous 63 cents is what was
asked at the time, in 1948, for a metre of
150-size pipe and for a metre of 100-size
it was even as low as 47 cents. Since then,
this aggressive pricing policy has become a
characteristic feature of the collaboration
between Buderus and Hagenbucher. For the
youngsters amongst us and those who are
particularly keen on history, I should mention
that the cents there are not cents of a Euro
but cents of the US American dollar.
That being the case, you can see that everything
was rather a lot cheaper then. Initially
there was supervision by the occupying powers
but as time moved on the business relationship
which had been quickly established
no longer needed supervision, and this sub-
sequently allowed Buderus to make changes
– though only marginal ones – to its pricing
policy. What Buderus achieved with its
pricing policy, Hagenbucher achieved with
its product policy. The Hagenbuchers were
among the avant garde with constant innovations,
and these in some ways became
characteristic of this memorable business relationship:
Let us just consider the cementmortar
coating which, for some unfathomable
reason, the Swiss still obstinately insist
on calling ‘fibre cement mortar’: Thanks
to the efforts made by the Hagenbuchers,
which were equally obstinate, this type of
coating has not just developed into the Swiss
standard for municipal water supply. No,
due not least to the Swiss avant garde called
Hagenbucher, it has now blossomed into a
key strategic product at Buderus as a whole.
No wonder then that the situation with the
business relationship I mentioned is like that
of the well-known dog owner who grew to
look more and more like his pet: I think it is
no exaggeration to say that today the relationship
between THM and Buderus has become
just like – and let me stress the name
– the cement mortar coating: it has a thick
skin, is rugged and will stand up to stress,
and has been left largely undamaged by attacks
and influences from outside.
There has however been at least one outside
influence that has undoubtedly strengthened
this business relationship. And is it just by
chance that this innovation came originally
from Switzerland? And is it just by chance
that it is another technology that has become
a key strategic product for Buderus?
No, nor can it be any accident that its essential
features have become just as typical of
the relationship between Buderus and TMH
Full steam ahead into the next 60 years!
as have those of the coating I mentioned before
which everyone, or almost everyone,
calls a cement mortar coating! It is not without
pride that I feel, on this day, that I can
call the relationship between Buderus and
Hagenbucher a ‘joint’ friendship which is not
only ‘positively engaged’ but also does not
suffer from any kind of ‘restraints’! A ‘joint’
friendship of this kind will withstand any sort
of pressure test. For those involved it really is
very easy to ‘handle’ and should there ever
be any unavoidable ‘angular deflections’, it
does not need any ‘external support’. These
are something this remarkable ‘joint’ friendship
can stand up to all by itself!
It has been an incredible 60 years during
which this ‘joint’ friendship has stood
the test. I would like to extend my heartfelt
thanks to all those who have worked to
foster this ‘joint’ friendship and who hopefully
will continue to do so for a long time
yet – and not least I would like to thank all
the employees of TMH Hagenbucher and all
the former and present managers, without
whom this wonderful story could never have
been written!
We at Buderus know that cast iron pipes,
particularly ones with cement mortar coatings,
and restrained joints may have a life
of well over a hundred years. This being the
case, after 60 years, we’re really still almost
at the beginning.
The 60th anniversary of a marriage is usually
called a ‘diamond wedding’. And what was it
that Shirley Bassey, that little lass from Cardiff
in Wales, later on found out?:
“Diamonds are forever!”
Thank you all!”
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