By Wolf Richter: Putzmeister was a paragon of the German Mittelstand—family-owned
companies with innovative technologies and high-quality manufacturing
that become worldwide players in niche markets that they dominate.
They’re at the core of the German export economy. But in early 2012,
like so many other Mittelstand companies, it was acquired by a
Chinese giant. And now, a year later, Putzmeister CEO Norbert Scheuch
reveals just how impossible integration is, and how pessimistic he has
become not only about Europe, but the rest of the world, particularly
China.
The company was founded by Karl Schlecht in 1958. First product: an
automated mortar machine, ideal for the post-World War II construction
boom. Soon Putzmeister expanded into concrete pumps—truck-mounted
equipment with articulated masts that can pump liquid concrete. Over
time, it developed larger pumps with unique technologies and record
setting performances. In the 1970s, it expanded into the rest of Europe;
in the 1980s, into the US; in the 1990s, into Japan, China, Russia....
It had become a worldwide player. In 2012, it had about 3,000 employees,
but only 1,100 in Germany.
