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Augel honoured as innovation leader in medium-sized companies

This year, Augel GmbH is one of the innovation leaders of the German medium-sized businesses.The company from Weibern is honoured by Ranga Yogeshwar, Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke and compamedia with the TOP 100 seal, awarded for the 24th time this year. In the independent selection process, the company impressed particularly with its external orientation and innovation processes.

 

Rolf Scharmann explains which innovation strategy has made Augel a holistic specialist.

The roots of your company lie in building construction. What has changed since its foundation in 1928?

We are no longer a conventional construction company. We provide services for clients with special requirement profiles, such as pipeline service for high-pressure gas pipelines, crude oil pipelines or construction in sensitive industrial areas. These include, for example, vibration-sensitive production lines such as the sintering of metal or dust-sensitive plants in paper production. In order to be able to carry out construction projects in such a demanding environment while production is running, it is sometimes even necessary to first develop a suitable construction method.

How did this specialization come about?

Our company received an order for a pumping station at the end of the 1960s when a multi-product pipeline was laid through the Eifel. This was the first time we came into contact with pipeline construction and the handling of water-polluting substances. In the following decades, we built numerous filling stations and tank farms and were certified as a specialist company in accordance with the Water Resources Act. Through our work we were very experienced in handling hazardous substances and the relevant standards. We have consistently based our strategy on this know-how since I joined the management in 2000.

How did you proceed concretely?

I have a training in bottleneck focused strategy, which we still use today. This method includes the basic principle of concentrating on one's strengths, looking for a market niche and expanding this field. Our potential lay in knowing how to build in the petroleum environment. So we asked ourselves who else could benefit from our know-how. These are all companies that handle gases, acids, alkalis and similar environmentally hazardous substances. On this basis, our business areas crystallized out.

So is Augel an expert for special individual services?

Wir sind ein ganzheitlicher Spezialist, der möglichst jedes Gewerk in Eigenregie erbringt. Denn wenn man etwas richtig gut machen will, dann am besten als Gesamtleistung. Das hat den Vorteil, dass man eine Aufgabe kostenmäßig besser bewerten und vor allem exakter ausführen kann. Wir arbeiten oftmals während der Nacht oder am Wochenende, um die Produktion unserer Kunden nicht zu stören. Das gelingt uns ohne Reibungsverluste, da wir alles aus einer Hand anbieten.