Riesmetall Managing Director Joachim Ramisch is a controversial entrepreneur who is also known for his critical view of new technologies and processes and his commitment to environmental and climate protection. He received a great deal of attention for his presentation at the Surface Days in Leipzig in September, when he revealed his world view and his business concept.
Whenever Riesmetall Managing Director Joachim Ramisch attends an event, critical questions are inevitable. However, the entrepreneur from Nördlingen with the white curls rarely takes center stage himself. It was a different story at the Surface Days in Leipzig, when Ramisch took center stage with the unwieldy lecture title "A life for electroplating. The adventures of a contract electroplater: less is more. Wie man von der 3-Schicht-Droge herunterkommt" (The adventures of a contract electroplater: less is more), Ramisch managed to fill a lecture hall, which not every speaker was able to do given the 100 or so lecture topics in Leipzig. The success of the quick-witted Bavarian on the floor of the Leipzig Surface Days is due to his sarcastic wit on the one hand and his unusual view of business and value creation on the other.
Joachim Ramisch during his lecture on September 13 at the Surface Days in Leipzig - (Photo: Robert Piterek)
But one thing at a time. Ramisch introduced his lecture in Leipzig with three theses:
- The wasteful, consumption-oriented throwaway society is destroying the foundations of human life.
- Constant growth in prosperity through infinite economic growth is an illusion.
- The circular economy will only work in special cases, and even then there will be unusable waste.
Structural change in Nördlingen
The entrepreneur then described the path taken by his own company, which today employs five people, including Joachim Ramisch, in galvanizing and post-treating with trivalent blue chromating. The company was originally larger and employed significantly more staff in 3-shift operation. This went well from 1973 to 1993. With large barrel systems and increasing technology to boost performance, up to 40 tons of screws were electroplated per day, he recalls. A business segment that accounted for 80 percent of turnover at the time.
Riesmetall's barrel system, which is operated with low energy and long bath times - (Photo: Riesmetall)
However, a few years after reunification, the screw industry went into decline and many companies relocated their business to Eastern Europe. Work for the automotive industry was "close to slavery" anyway, the entrepreneur recalled to the scientists and industry leaders present.
The result: Joachim Ramisch restructured the company to meet the needs of a small market, i.e. downsized it. The key principles for him were: freedom from debt, no new acquisitions, giving up the three-shift operation, automating his office and saving on material and energy costs. He wanted to get away from the so-called growth mantra and so he switched logistics, production and waste water treatment to the lowest possible energy and cost use. A good example of this is his Mercedes truck from 1983, which has been delivering goods for over 40 years and now has an H license plate. "The truck is maintained, repaired and used continuously," emphasized Ramisch, calculating that he had to invest 30,000 euros for this, but that a new truck would have cost him at least 50,000 euros. Ramisch also continues to use his private Opel Ascona. He has now invested 10,000 euros in the classic car.
Maintaining vehicles, such as this truck from 1983, saves costs and is also a passion of Joachim Ramisch - (Photo: Riesmetall)
Slow plating instead of high-speed coating
Today, Ramisch and his small team only process the remaining orders in the order book in one part of the extensive electroplating shop. An extremely gentle, low-energy barrel system is used, which saves cooling and energy with long bath times. Rinsing cascades were installed instead of the rinsing water circulation system. Cooling is no longer necessary today. Ramisch calls his method slow plating, which, according to him, works with little wear and tear and is accompanied by "highly effective quality assurance" from dedicated employees.
Today, the credits have long been dismantled and the technologies unnecessary for the slimmed-down operation have been dismantled. The entrepreneur is therefore not crying crocodile tears - for him, product quality and life satisfaction are now in harmony!
