50-year anniversary of Allit AG, annual report of the Group and TOP 100 award

10.08.2010

Fifty years ago, Hans Kallinowsky’s father founded the successful family-owned company Allit, an event whose milestone anniversary was duly toasted at a special celebration held on the “Rotlay Mühle“ premises.

The fact that not only Allit AG Kunststofftechnik, but also Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik GmbH, a company affiliated with the Allit Group, were only recently presented with awards in honour of their achievements in the “Top 100” competition, further added to the delight of those present at the festivity. And, last but not least, the good news that another business year had been completed with success despite the worldwide economic crisis was the third good reason for celebration.

Allit’s Chairman of the Board of Management, Mr Hans Kallinowsky, reminded the selected group of guests comprising business partners, the Supervisory Board, the Management team as well as long-standing employees of how it all began: In the 1960s, when the leather goods factory Carl Ackva GmbH, which had been established by the family’s ancestors way back in 1840, was forced to shut down production in Dessauer Straße in the wake of economic structural change, Hans Kallinowsky’s father immediately recognised the signs of the times: He founded Allit, building from the ground up – and with the help of former Ackva employees – a plastic injection moulding shop along with its own tool-making department.  Two apprentices of that time, long since full-fledged tookmakers, are still employed with Allit today. In 1963, the then 19-year-old Hans Kallinowsky joined the company and was immediately entrusted with the management of the company due to his father’s ill health.

In 1966, the company relocated to the “Rotlay Mühle” premises. The estate at that time was already the property of the Kallinowsky family, which explains the traditionally close relationship of the company and its owners with the region. Allit’s first production hall measured 900 square metres, and both Hans Kallinowsky and his staff had rolled up their sleeves to get it built. In 1998 and 2001, respectively, Mr Kallinowsky’s sons Jochen and Karsten joined the Board of Management: The sixth Kallinowsky generation was ready to share in the responsibility for Allit’s course of development. Ever since, the company’s Operational Business as well as Sales and Technology have been in their hands. The remarkable spirit and practice of innovation which the company has shown throughout its 50-year history was officially acknowledged by the most recent award presented to Allit and Schneider in the “TOP 100” context, a competition created to honour the 100 most innovative medium-sized enterprises in Germany.

The Supervisory Board of Allit, chaired by the former Federal Minister of Economics, Dr. Hans Friderichs, had reviewed the annual reports of Allit AG Kunststofftechnik and of Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik shortly before the anniversary celebration: In the wake of the global economic crisis, Schneider’s sales figures had declined by 40 percent, i.e. in line with the industry’s overall development. Meanwhile, demand is on a steady rise again, and short-time work is expected to end in September. The employees’ willingness to waive part of their remuneration is a concession for which the company is very grateful. The waived amounts will be partially reimbursed this year, and as soon as possible they will be paid in full. “Before we pay tax again, we will first of all pay our staff their due wages“, says Hans Kallinowsky.

Despite the worldwide crisis, Allit AG has managed the feat of largely compensating for the sales decline at Schneider by a six percent growth rate although the plastics industry generally reported losses in the range of 25 percent. The Board of Management attributes the company’s success to its well-diversified product and industry mix: “Our core business has not in any way collapsed”, reports Hans Kallinowsky, who also considers the joint venture named Pall SeitzSchenk Modultechnik GmbH as an “essential pillar” of Allit AG. The joint venture company manufactures high-quality filters for the pharmaceutical and the beverage industries.


A major order won by Allit in September 2009 for the manufacture of 4.5 million vuvuzelas, sought-after fan items for the FIFA World Cup, had also been a very welcome success – the icing on the cake, as it were, and a real challenge at a time of peak production: From February to May 2010, up to thirteen machines were working around the clock only  to fulfil the vuvuzela manufacturing order! In addition, a vuvuzela dispatch hall had to be built in record time to handle the huge order with the concerted efforts from everyone. The Kallinowsky family highly appreciates the staff’s strong dedication and commitment to the success of the project.

As at end-March, the sales figures reported by the Allit group amounted to 44 million Euro. Hans Kallinowsky describes the corporate profit situation as “almost stable“, which is a very positive result in times of global economic crisis. The equity ratio remains at a level of over 50 percent. Staff numbers have also remained constant at about 350, of whom 30 are apprentices. Jochen Kallinowsky notes with satisfaction that despite the crisis Allit has managed to “retain almost all employees”, which makes the company well prepared for the future. Mr Kallinowsky also expressed his delight at the awards presented to Allit and Schneider in the context of the “TOP 100” competition, and he said he was confident that the results of the scientific analysis performed on the two companies in the framework of the competition would be very conducive to their further development.

Allit AG plans to make a 3 million Euro investment in new products, machinery and buildings in the current financial year; the sales target has been set at 47 million Euro.