Flottweg Bids Long-Time Director Manfred Schlarb a Fond Farewell

The traditional Christmas party and Flottweg Employee meeting was held last Friday in the Vistalhalle. This year's semiannual employee meeting saw several awards for distinction. Among others, Manfred Schlarb, Director of Technology for many years, retired.

Many Flottweglers mark the annual Christmas party with a big red circle on their calendars. It was time once again last Friday, December 12, 2016.

Before the official start of this year's Christmas party, the rotational employee meeting was also held. The Chairman of the Board, Fritz Colesan, summarized the past year and presented the anticipated sales figures for 2016. Peter Frankfurter, Director of the Administration and Finance divisions, outlined the status of our large internal projects, and his colleague Dr. Christoph Heynen, Director of Technology, informed some 600 visitors of the current state of planning for the new Flottweg factory.

 

The emotional high point of the event was certainly the retirement of former Director of Technology Manfred Schlarb. Schlarb had been at Flottweg since 1990, taking on the role of Head of Technology in 2001 and then Director of the division in 2008. Schlarb's tenure saw the registration of numerous patents, the development of new machines, and improvements to existing models. The entire Board of Directors and the chairman of the supervisory board, Peter Bruckmayer, thanked Schlarb for his outstanding service to the company. After 26 years of Flottweg, Manfred Schlarb is entering retirement. The guests at the Christmas party thanked the former Director of Technology with a standing ovation. An interesting statistic on this point: of just about 11,000 machines sold, 7,700 of them have been sold since 1990. In addition to Manfred Schlarb, Gottfried Fentl, Martin Heel, and Walter Urbanski also entered retirement.

 

A tribute to long-time employees was also part of the Christmas party once again. Herbert Brunner, Christan Forstner, Bernhard Koch, Christian Maier, and Ulrike Bruno were all honored for 25 years of employment with the company. Fritz Hofer, the former Head of Service, was awarded a certificate for 50 years at Flottweg.

 

The crowning touch of the celebration was provided by the Flottweg Santa Claus. He wowed his public with his well-known wittiness, a few imitations, and a series of humorous advertising spots he had filmed himself.