65 years of growth at SENNEBOGEN

15 January 2018

Yesterday, today, the day after tomorrow.

In 1952, company founder Erich Sennebogen Sr. put his heart and soul into founding a company that, today, could not be more innovative, more international, or more interesting. 65 years later, the company has an impressive employee headcount and the production facilities have also grown considerably. In 2017, SENNEBOGEN expanded the plant at the port in Straubing by 35,000 m². On the occasion of the company's 65th anniversary, the Straubing-based mechanical engineering company will celebrate the inauguration of the new production space while also presenting a showcase of innovative machines to international customers and dealers in the form of 10 completely new products.

Today, SENNEBOGEN has 1,400 employees worldwide at three sites in Bavaria, plus a production site in Hungary and branches in the USA and Singapore. An extensive sales and service network comprising 150 dealers around the world is responsible for selling the green cranes and material handlers. The original site in Pilling, Lower Bavaria, is just a few kilometers away from the current modern production facilities in Straubing. And Wackersdorf is only a stone’s throw away. In recent years, the company has invested continuously in the plants in order to modernize and expand them, while turnover and employee numbers have seen dynamic growth to bring them to their current levels. But one thing has remained the same: SENNEBOGEN is and remains a family company – run today by Erich and Walter Sennebogen, the second generation of the founding family.

Managing Director Erich Sennebogen explains:

"A lot has changed over the past 65 years. It is not just the machines that have kept getting bigger. Our portfolio is constantly growing and we always need to be thinking about future developments. At the same time, the economic conditions are changing. Our markets in the material handling and crane sectors have evolved. The business areas have become more diverse and the requirements our customers have with regard to quality products are constantly increasing. In today's globalized markets, we supply products to customers in over 100 countries on all continents. In order to stay ahead of the competition, we invest in our range and our sites every year and undertake modernization and expansion work."

35,000 m² plant expansion provides space for shipping and production

The largest construction project in recent years began in 2015 at Straubing Plant 2. Less than 10 years after the plant opened in the industrial port area in 2008, the production space has undergone extensive expansion work. Over the past two years, the expansion has seen the construction of new production and storage spaces spanning 35,000 m² in total as well as a production hall covering 6,700 m². Machine shipping has been restructured, storage spaces extended, and shipping processes optimized. Trucks now drive directly under the specially developed SENNEBOGEN 5500 gantry crawler crane for loading. With the movable gantry, the crane is able to cover a storage area of 10,000 m² very effectively. Components with a length of up to 35 m are given a high-quality protective coating in the new large-scale paint booth and space has also been made in the new halls for finishing and customizing to ensure that the facilities are well prepared for further growth in the field of large-machine production.

Continuous development for 65 years

65 years of tradition and experience go into the development, design, and production of SENNEBOGEN cranes and material handlers with operating weights of up to 350 t. The company has always focused both on special customer-specific solutions and on individually configurable series machines. "There's no such thing as can't!" has been the SENNEBOGEN corporate philosophy right from the start; it is combined with the promise of creating something permanent, thinking ahead, and confronting even difficult challenges with innovative solutions.

Early on, company founder Erich Sennebogen Sr. developed a keen sense for innovative solutions and new markets. Milestones included the founding of the plant in Straubing in 1959, made necessary by the rapid turnover development of the first seven years of the young company. The 1,000th material handler came off the assembly line in 1960 and was followed by many new developments, from the world's first fully hydraulic duty cycle crane to the GAUH articulated boom. Expansion into new markets, as early as 1973 in the Arabic counties and Africa, as well as the construction of the plant in Wackersdorf, were the fruits of a flourishing development.

With the integration of a Hungarian steelwork supplier in the SENNEBOGEN Group in 1996, the construction of Plant 2 in the Straubing Port industrial area in 2008, and the founding of the SENNEBOGEN Academy in 2014, the family company continued to add chapters to its success story. This was also followed by extensive expansion and modernization work at the sites in Hungary and Wackersdorf in 2015 and 2016.

With the expansion of Straubing Plant 2, the company's development has reached another milestone. Managing Director Walter Sennebogen is optimistic about the future: "Our customers are amazed at the dynamic development of our company, and we are confident that our investment in the plant expansion will have a very positive impact on the company's development."