Renewable energies as an opportunity for companies

District Administrator Christoph Schauder visits Zippe industrial plants in Wertheim

District Administrator Christoph Schauder recently visited Zippe Industrieanlagen in Wertheim together with Head of Department Ursula Mühleck. It became clear that both the district administration and the company are concerned with energy security and the supply of renewable energies.

“It’s important for me to gain this kind of insight into the companies in the district. This is the only way to realise the challenges they face in their daily work,” said District Administrator Christoph Schauder.

Among other things, Zippe manufactures batch plants for the production of hollow, flat, special and fibre glass. “Wertheim is the city of the glass industry. We want it to stay that way in the future. However, glass production requires a lot of energy. Energy security and prices therefore play an important role for our customers. Electricity from renewable energies is a real opportunity for companies in the glass industry. However, once the glass has been produced, it is very environmentally friendly as it can be refilled up to 40 times and is then fully recycled,” explained Dr Philipp Zippe, Managing Director of Zippe Industrieanlagen.

“In the Main-Tauber district, we don’t have the problem of generating too little electricity from renewable energies. On the contrary: as a district, we are already leading the energy transition in Baden-Württemberg. However, the grid capacities make it difficult to bring the electricity generated to the customer,” explained District Administrator Christoph Schauder. “The majority of our wind turbines are located in the southern half of the district. Of course, this also has to do with the wind conditions there. In order to be able to transport the electricity generated there to Wertheim, for example, it would be necessary for Netze BW to expand the grid. We are also currently concerned about the lack of storage capacity for the green electricity generated,” added the district administrator.

“Security of supply is a very important issue for our customers. The glass production facilities that we produce run 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, because you can’t simply switch a glass tank off and on again. A lot of energy is needed continuously,” explained Dr Andreas Emrich, Head of Technology at Zippe.

To counteract the problem of high energy consumption, Zippe utilises the waste heat from the chimneys with its systems. The raw materials are preheated to over 200 degrees Celsius in some cases. This enables massive energy savings to be made in the melting furnace.

The company also manufactures cullet and waste glass processing systems. “In Central Europe, the recycling system for used glass is already very advanced. Up to 90 per cent of new glass packaging is made from recycled used glass. The used glass from the containers is sorted by colour, contaminants are filtered out and the used glass is processed so that it can then be melted down. There is still great potential for expansion here in other countries,” explained Dr Philipp Zippe.

According to the managing directors, the order situation is good. “There is still a high order backlog from 2021 and 2022,” said the two managers. Many orders are also coming in. Only the origin of the orders has changed. “Glass is still a trend product. It can be recycled any number of times without any loss of quality. That’s the big difference to plastic,” explained Dr Andreas Emrich. “We thrive on our internationality. Our export quota is 80 to 90 per cent. The focus here is currently on South America. Five years ago, for example, there were more new projects in Germany. That is no longer the case. Large projects are now almost exclusively taking place abroad. There are only smaller orders in Germany. The uncertainty surrounding the energy supply plays a major role here,” added Dr Phillip Zippe.

According to the management, bureaucracy is also a major obstacle. “It’s difficult to get employees to the construction sites. This is often easier overseas than within the EU. Here, countless certificates and proof must first be presented to enable entry.”

The shortage of skilled labour also poses challenges for Zippe. “To counteract this, we offer our employees flexitime models and have no fixed core hours. We also allow very flexible working time models and mobile working where possible,” said Dr Philipp Zippe. “This not only benefits employees, but also adds value to customer contact,” added Dr Andreas Emrich. “We now also commission smaller systems online via remote switching. This saves an enormous amount of time and therefore money, and is good for the environment as travelling can be reduced.”

Ursula Mühleck, Head of District Development and Education at the District Office, provided information about the “Platz für Originale” platform of the Heilbronn-Franken economic region. “This is a regional job exchange designed to help local companies fill vacancies,” explained the head of department. The Main-Tauber district is also represented on this platform as an employer.

Most of the core components of the systems are built by Zippe itself. However, according to Dr Philipp Zippe, the company buys in the steel construction locally, for example. Zippe has been based in Wertheim since 1951. It started out in what is now the Czech Republic. In 2020, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary. In addition to plant construction, Zippe is also responsible for the automation and control technology of the systems. The company offers its customers an all-round package, from design to hardware planning and control cabinet construction to software programming. Around 200 people are employed at the Wertheim site. District Administrator Christoph Schauder recently visited Zippe Industrieanlagen in Wertheim together with Head of Department Ursula Mühleck. It became clear that both the district administration and the company are concerned about energy security and the supply of renewable energies.

“It’s important for me to gain this kind of insight into the companies in the district. This is the only way to realise the challenges they face in their daily work,” said District Administrator Christoph Schauder.

Among other things, Zippe manufactures batch plants for the production of hollow, flat, special and fibre glass. “Wertheim is the city of the glass industry. We want it to stay that way in the future. However, glass production requires a lot of energy. Energy security and prices therefore play an important role for our customers. Electricity from renewable energies is a real opportunity for companies in the glass industry. However, once the glass has been produced, it is very environmentally friendly as it can be refilled up to 40 times and is then fully recycled,” explained Dr Philipp Zippe, Managing Director of Zippe Industrieanlagen.

“In the Main-Tauber district, we don’t have the problem of generating too little electricity from renewable energies. On the contrary: as a district, we are already leading the energy transition in Baden-Württemberg. However, the grid capacities make it difficult to bring the electricity generated to the customer,” explained District Administrator Christoph Schauder. “The majority of our wind turbines are located in the southern half of the district. Of course, this also has to do with the wind conditions there. In order to be able to transport the electricity generated there to Wertheim, for example, it would be necessary for Netze BW to expand the grid. We are also currently concerned about the lack of storage capacity for the green electricity generated,” added the district administrator.

“Security of supply is a very important issue for our customers. The glass production facilities that we produce run 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, because you can’t simply switch a glass tank off and on again. A lot of energy is needed continuously,” explained Dr Andreas Emrich, Head of Technology at Zippe.

To counteract the problem of high energy consumption, Zippe utilises the waste heat from the chimneys with its systems. The raw materials are preheated to over 200 degrees Celsius in some cases. This enables massive energy savings to be made in the melting furnace.

The company also manufactures cullet and waste glass processing systems. “In Central Europe, the recycling system for used glass is already very advanced. Up to 90 per cent of new glass packaging is made from recycled used glass. The used glass from the containers is sorted by colour, contaminants are filtered out and the used glass is processed so that it can then be melted down. There is still great potential for expansion here in other countries,” explained Dr Philipp Zippe.

According to the managing directors, the order situation is good. “There is still a high order backlog from 2021 and 2022,” said the two managers. Many orders are also coming in. Only the origin of the orders has changed. “Glass is still a trend product. It can be recycled any number of times without any loss of quality. That’s the big difference to plastic,” explained Dr Andreas Emrich. “We thrive on our internationality. Our export quota is 80 to 90 per cent. The focus here is currently on South America. Five years ago, for example, there were more new projects in Germany. That is no longer the case. Large projects are now almost exclusively taking place abroad. There are only smaller orders in Germany. The uncertainty surrounding the energy supply plays a major role here,” added Dr Phillip Zippe.

According to the management, bureaucracy is also a major obstacle. “It’s difficult to get employees to the construction sites. This is often easier overseas than within the EU. Here, countless certificates and proof must first be presented to enable entry.”

The shortage of skilled labour also poses challenges for Zippe. “To counteract this, we offer our employees flexitime models and have no fixed core hours. We also allow very flexible working time models and mobile working where possible,” said Dr Philipp Zippe. “This not only benefits employees, but also adds value to customer contact,” added Dr Andreas Emrich. “We now also commission smaller systems online via remote switching. This saves an enormous amount of time and therefore money, and is good for the environment as travelling can be reduced.”

Ursula Mühleck, Head of District Development and Education at the District Office, provided information about the “Platz für Originale” platform of the Heilbronn-Franken economic region. “This is a regional job exchange designed to help local companies fill vacancies,” explained the head of department. The Main-Tauber district is also represented on this platform as an employer.

Most of the core components of the systems are built by Zippe itself. However, according to Dr Philipp Zippe, the company buys in the steel construction locally, for example. Zippe has been based in Wertheim since 1951. It started out in what is now the Czech Republic. In 2020, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary. In addition to plant construction, Zippe is also responsible for the automation and control technology of the systems. The company offers its customers an all-round package, from design to hardware planning and control cabinet construction to software programming. Around 200 people are employed at the Wertheim site. There is also a second production facility in Saxony.