"Free Press" from March 7th, 2007

by Babette Philipp

And there is still life in the Mittweida brewery

Small craft company produces aluminum and thin sheet products in the riding hall - orders mainly from the region

Life has moved in on the site of the former brewery in Mittweida. A small craft business has been working in the riding hall for almost a year, largely unnoticed by the public.

Mittweida. While the buildings of the former Loewenbraeu brewery are crumbling away to one another, the riding hall is busy working. BbTech burkert & burkert Technologie GmbH has rented the building since April 2006 and produces products from aluminum and other thin sheet metal there. "These are, for example, window sills, steps, wall coverings and roof edge cladding," says Wolfgang Burkert, one of the two managing directors. The product range also includes sales displays, sample stands and metal furniture. "We supply handicraft businesses and building materials dealers, but also serve private customers with custom-made products," explains Burkert. It was written on the flag to guarantee short delivery times at fair prices. "If things have to go very quickly, we produce what we want immediately and the customer can take it with them."

Orders for the company in which Burkert currently has a full-time employee come mainly from the region, but also from, for example, Hamburg and Hanover. Burkert describes the order situation as satisfactory almost a year after the start, even though capacities are still available. The company is not yet in the profit zone, "but we are now working to cover costs," Burkert is confident. After all, the acquisition costs for the two CNC-controlled machines - a guillotine shear and a press brake - would have had a significant impact.

The 55-year-old graduate engineer took the plunge into self-employment when the company in which he was employed ceased to do business. With the aluminum department, he acquired 50 percent of his son's GmbH, which had been in existence since 1999 and is active in information technology and thus covers the other bbTech department.