Already 64 New Jobs at GRAF

At the start of 2005, a very emotionally charged discussion was sparked about the planned expansion of Otto Graf GmbH at the Teningen site. Trees had to give way to jobs – 100 positions over the next five years after the start of production were on the cards.

The construction work on the site for the Teningen specialists in plastic products, who are also the market leader for rainwater harvesting in Germany and Europe, will shortly be completed. Five halls for production and logistics with a total area of 13,500 square metres have been completed in just six months of construction time. The expansion facilitates additional resources for production above all, which were urgently needed to meet the strong growth in turnover. Graf’s turnover in 2005 rose by 17 % and by 25 % in the previous year. The Graf site at Dachstein (Alsace), where a modern factory with a three-shift system is already operating seven days a week, has reached the limits of its capacity, despite several expansions.

The demand for GRAF products from abroad has seen a particularly strong increase. GRAF’s environmental awareness and technical leadership stand out here. Distribution partners have been found in almost all EU countries and there are also partners in Australia, China and the USA.

What is the situation with the promised jobs? “We can be very satisfied”, replies Managing Director Otto P. Graf. GRAF has already created 64 new jobs since the start of 2005. “Thus, we have already fulfilled our promise by more than half - and this even before the new production works start up in Teningen”, exults Graf. The new GRAF employees are almost all natives of the region. The company’s catchment area stretches from Ortenau to south of Freiburg.

Most of the created jobs are in Sales and Logistics, where the team had to be continually adjusted to the extremely high increase in demand. However, the Teningen company has also added staff in Development, Production and Marketing.

Further jobs have been created at the French site in Dachstein near Strasbourg: 16 new people have been employed here – mainly in Sales and Logistics.

In order to have sufficient qualified employees in the future, GRAF is training young people to be industrial clerks. Thus, five new training posts were created. “We take our social responsibility to young people very seriously”, reports Graf. Training at Graf is very important within the company, as the young are seen as the basis for the corporate future. The chances of “Graf graduates” being taken on are also good: just last year, two graduates of the professional academy were taken on in permanent positions.

Graf plans to bring the new works online at the start of this year and to launch the numerous new products onto the market from the start of 2007:  the products were so well received by the retail partners who have had a preview, that the first orders have already been taken for several lorry loads to go to Sweden, Norway and Australia. This is a good base for continued two-figure growth and more new jobs in the coming year.

Some new positions are already planned: Graf is still looking for staff for Product Development, Sales and Export.

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