Since Sennebogen’s last big in-house exhibition in 2017, its broad portfolio of handling and crane technology, which includes numerous size classes and technologies, has grown to an impressive level – as has the number of employees and locations worldwide.
Specifically, this currently means 2200 employees at five locations in Germany’s Bavaria region, two steel plants in Hungary and branches in the USA and Singapore.
The sales and support for the green material handlers, cranes and telehandlers built in Straubing and Wackersdorf are carried out by a comprehensive network of dealers with over 180 sales and service partners at over 300 service centres worldwide.
The past few years have not only recorded average sales growth of 16 per cent to now more than €600 million (AUD$990 million) in annual sales but have also seen investments in existing and new locations as the workforce continued to grow.
However, despite all this growth, one thing always remains the same: Sennebogen is and remains a family company – now managed in the second generation by Erich and Walter Sennebogen and in the third generation by Anton and Sebastian Sennebogen. The two other grandchildren of the company founder are already in the starting blocks and are involved in all the important appointments and events. Shareholder, Erich Sennebogen, said he is optimistic about the future.
“Our customers are amazed by the dynamic approach and agility of the company, and we are sure that the investments will have a very positive impact on further development,” he said.
“The business areas have become more diverse and customer demand for quality products and services is growing constantly. To stay ahead of the competition, we invest in our product portfolio and locations every year.”
Construction at many locations
One of the largest construction projects in recent years was the Customer Service Centre in Steinach, which opened in September 2021 and bundles all activities from the areas of spare parts, customer service, and the rental and used machine fleet of Sennebogen Vertriebs GmbH & Co. KG.
Over an area of 87,000 square metres, there are now two office buildings, spacious halls and a state-of-the-art spare parts warehouse, that features automated warehouse technology and optimised logistics processes.
There were also expansions at the Wackersdorf site. In addition to the new shipping area, a new 1,000 square metre electrical test centre was built, which is used specifically for testing and finishing the electric machines.
A second steel plant in Litér, Hungary, has also been created completely from scratch. A 29,000 square metre production hall and an office building were built on an area of over 13 hectares.
The new plant is designed for handling large and heavy components up to 30 metres in length and 25 tonnes in weight and offers capacity for 20,000 tonnes of steel structures per year in the current expansion stage.
“With this investment in Hungary, we are not only expanding our capacities for steel structures to meet the growing demand, but also building reserves for the future,” shareholder Walter Sennebogen said.
The brand-new product development campus at the Straubing/Port site will also be officially inaugurated for an in-house exhibition, consisting of the new 1,200 square metre prototype centre, a 1,300 square metre research and test centre and a 3,000 square metre design and technology centre.
Here, new machine development, testing and prototype construction are brought together to enable a more intensive focus on the development of new technologies. This was accompanied by the establishment of a separate department for prototype construction.
Sennebogen said the open concept of the new buildings creates synergies between the research halls and offices and enables an agile and innovative response to the increasingly complex requirements on technology.
“Modern control systems, electromobility, battery technology and innovative drive systems are topics that employees can focus on even more intensively in the future,” said Erich Sennebogen, explaining the background.
“This is because continuous expansion of our own development work in the company and an ever-increasing focus on new drives, automation and digitalisation of machines require not only innovative power, but also space to optimise processes and fulfill the increased order volume.”
Sustainable investments for the future
Sennebogen is committed to its goal of becoming climate neutral by 2030 and is committed to the responsible use of its resources and to long-term thinking.
This is why the ecological mindset is a key focus in all construction projects. All new buildings are built in accordance with the KfW 55 standard that reduces energy consumption by 45 per cent and are therefore particularly energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.
Energy-saving LED lighting, using low-temperature heating via concrete core activation and environmentally friendly cooling using groundwater play a role here, as does the extraction of renewable energies at the sites themselves.
In recent years, investments have been made in photovoltaic systems with more than 4 megawatts of output and wood chip heating systems with four megawatts.
The diesel generators for the tests on the electric machines in Straubing and Wackersdorf replace battery storage systems that are filled with PV.
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