Chemnitz technology can be found in bathrooms all over the world

Falk Höhne & the Lindner fittings factory

The entrepreneurship of foundry workers Max and Felix Lindner began with a few lathes and grinding blocks in a small workshop. 111 years later, the Lindner fittings factory is still busy turning, screwing and milling. In a large factory building in the tranquil district of Rabenstein, new machines are producing housing parts for water tap systems. Right next to it is a new hall specifically for hose production. The company will open its doors to interested visitors during the late shift on Friday during the Days of Industrial Culture. Falk Höhne, Managing Director of the long-established company, shows us in advance where the work of Lindner Armaturenwerk can be found.

You have been Managing Director of this long-established company since 1997. How did that come about?
Falk Höhne: After reunification, the company was looking for a suitable person to get the computers up and running. I was a student of mechanical engineering and computer science at Chemnitz University. I knew the lathes and milling machines well, so I was soon spending more time in the company than in the lecture theatre. I took over the production management in 1993. In 1997, I became co-managing director alongside Stefan Lindner, the grandson of one of the company founders.

What did the company look like when you first got to know it?
It had really just collapsed. Like many other private companies, it was nationalised in 1972. There was no investment. Interesting tasks and products were taken away from the company and transferred to other combine operations. And at the end of the GDR era, there was no brass left. This was a disaster for a foundry that specialised in fine fittings. By 1989, the once well-positioned private company had become a non-viable supplier.

How did you manage to rebuild the company?
It was very fortunate that Stefan Lindner had moved to Hansa Armaturen in Stuttgart. He brought the training centre with him from there. This taught us how marketing worked and how products had to be presented. And interested parties such as tradesmen and plumbers came to our premises "by the busload" for the training courses. That was the best boost we could have got. It was then quite quickly possible to gain a foothold with our own products. We focussed primarily on things that were used in the renovation of the standard buildings here in the east. The typical distribution spider or water meter. They were needed in large quantities. And that allowed the company to rise quickly. But we also knew that this wave of refurbishment was finite. This development actually materialised in 1998.

Were you able to foresee this back then and take countermeasures?
Only to a certain extent. We had to invest an incredible amount in order to keep up with the market. We invested in product development, in the building, in the machinery and in sales and marketing. Sometimes the ceiling was too short and we didn't know where to cut corners. Back then, we didn't manage to make the Lindner brand known throughout Germany or internationally. In East Germany, on the other hand, people knew us. But of course we had to struggle when, for example, there was also a construction crisis in 1998. We had to find a technical connection and at the same time strengthen our own brand with new products. This was followed by a phase in which we manufactured products for many well-known manufacturers in the sanitary and heating sector. These are not given to us as traditional contract work, where you are given a drawing and all you have to do is implement it. They are products developed by us, which are then sold under someone else's name. This approach has helped us to gain a foothold in the sanitary industry. And today we can afford to show the brand we developed ourselves to the outside world. However, the industrial sector is still very dominant. Very often we have to admit that customers - regardless of their brand awareness - buy what they know. We have to be content with the fact that we are often just behind the scenes. But of course we are proud to be behind the big brands.

"We specialise in flex hoses, free-form, turned and bent parts in various brass alloys and special plastics, as well as solid surface products," says Höhne. The display cabinets in his office are not filled with trophies or works of art, but with hoses, connections and fittings. There is even an underfloor heating system leaning against the wall, like some unhung works of art. Höhne lists three stands: "Firstly, the production of flexible hose lines from DN 6 to DN 50 for applications ranging from sanitary, heating and air conditioning technology to high-quality plant engineering in the chemical sector. Secondly, the fittings division with the specialities of electronic valves. We go so far as to manufacture electronic fittings in various designs, including shower systems and washbasins. And thirdly, we continue to manufacture elements that are used in the underfloor heating sector. We cut and profile large steel sheets and process them into a floor heating system that is only ten millimetres thick. Building owners who are renovating an old house are particularly familiar with our effidur brand.

Can your own bathroom tap come from you?
That is possible, and for individual components of the tap it is even very likely. Customers don't usually see what we produce. It is either under the housing of the tap, in the pre-wall in the form of wall ducts, in water distribution systems, filters or flexible hose lines, and we also supply the heating sector, from oil burner and boiler connection hoses to brine lines for heat pumps. You can even find our hoses in the Airbus.
It is a fundamental decision which function you are looking for in the market. Do you want to be a supplier and development partner for industrial customers or do you want to compete for end customers? We're not fooling ourselves here: We have grown into the role of being the supplier and we have achieved a good position here.

Hose production doesn't sound very creative. How much innovation and development goes into your products?
We have a very deep process chain. We don't have traditional contract work. We create a product that provides solutions for specific problems or applications. This means that we often not only develop the product itself, but also the production systems. We have our own in-house tool and plant construction department. This enables us to manufacture a lot of equipment, entire systems and not just auxiliary tools, in a very short time.

Is this also a unique selling point for Lindner?
We are the only company that can manufacture all the components required for hose production in-house, from tool production to turning and milling. We also braid the hose lines ourselves and don't just assemble them. We actually offer everything: from turned parts to bent parts, soldered parts and complete assemblies. We do not usually sell a simple fitting connection hose. These days, like so many things, they come from Asia at low prices. We specialise in complex assemblies where the hose is a single component. It is combined with electronic assemblies, for example. One example would be the supply line and control system for urinals. We like to sell our products as complete systems.

What are you proud of?
The most interesting product we have developed in recent years is our "Bambini" children's tap. This was developed by us and we launched it on the market together with a manufacturer of washbasins. These colourful taps have been very well received. They can be found in numerous kindergartens, including here in Chemnitz.

However, the regional market only plays a very minor role for Lindner Armaturen. 30 per cent is exported directly. "Our products are installed all over the world. So we are also active in Asia, Canada, Africa and the USA. We also have to cater to the different requirements," explains Höhne. He knows all 85 of his employees by name as he walks through the factory hall. The oldest of them is 76 years old and is not really thinking about retiring yet. But the company also keeps an eye on the very young. They provide training in various areas from metal technology to logistics.

To what extent do you benefit from your 111-year history in this work?
Despite a large product portfolio, we don't manufacture everything! We produce what we can from the past. Anyone who was founded in 1905 as a brass foundry and still works with this material today knows what they can do with it. We have specialised in all non-ferrous alloys: Brass, gunmetal, bronze. And in all the different types of alloys that are available. We cannot process steel or cast iron. We have the entire process in-house. From machining, chip processing, washing and drying the parts and heat treatment to hardness testing of non-ferrous metals.

What is the advantage of the Chemnitz site?
Due to our long tradition, we are naturally very close to the location. Most of our employees come from the region. We have employees whose grandfather, father and son are or were employed here. We have had the best experiences when entire families are involved in the company. We have gradually expanded the site here. Of course we want to continue to grow.
We are currently reaching our limits here. Unfortunately, our customers are not interested in where we are based. Of course they associate us with good German quality, but they expect internationally competitive prices. But factors such as electricity prices, where SMEs like us are not exempt from EEG surcharges, make life difficult for us.

Do we need to encourage the people of Chemnitz?
Chemnitz needs courageous decisions. And what applies to companies also applies to cities: you can only survive if you are fast and innovative. Long decision-making processes and fear are bad counsellors. Chemnitz is an industrial city and should focus more on the traditions of the old companies. A city should do everything it can to ensure that companies stay here and continue the traditions.