Retire? No way!
Siegfried Bullinger (65) Director of Bausch + Ströbel still enjoys making inventions
With the latest filling and closing machine the Ilshofen company has set standards again worldwide. The mastermind behind the machine is a native Crailsheimer, Siegfried Bullinger (65).
The same things he enjoyed doing as a boy still make his eyes light up: inventing things, taking things apart and putting them together, solving tricky problems, building machines. In the meantime Siegfried Bullinger, managing director and partner of Bausch + Ströbel, has turned 65 but has no thoughts of retiring.
As the latest coup by the custom machine manufacturer was presented to the press the day before yesterday, Siegfried Bullinger was in his element. For decades he has been the technical brain of the company, which now employs 900 people, and has long since given up counting his patents. As the machine was demonstrated, he explained the impressive capabilities of the ten million Euro production line to the journalists.
Once again, this line provides evidence of the competitiveness of the global market leader, Bausch + Ströbel. Designed 2006, now completed, going into operation at a major pharmaceutical company in the USA in 2012 at the earliest, this line demonstrates how future oriented a first class custom machine manufacturer must be. Despite lifelong entrepreneurial experience as an inventor, production lines like this make Siegfried Bullinger's heart beat faster - and are one of the reasons that he is not even considering retiring at 65. "I'm fit as a fiddle", he emphasizes and adds that he is thinking of "keeping going until 70".
The new production line is a further step towards a sound future for Ilshofen's biggest employer. But at events like Thursday's presentation Siegfried Bullinger's thoughts also return to the modest beginnings. How he started an apprenticeship as a mechanic at the age of 13 at Strunck (now Bosch) in Crailsheim. How he assembled the first packaging machine with Rolf Ströbel in a garage in Michelbach/Bilz. How they were turned away when trying to get a loan or find new company premises. How a spot of luck led to the company settling in Ilshofen (the town council voted with a slim majority of 6:5 in their favor).
It soon became evident that Bausch + Ströbel was a stroke of fortune not only for the small town located between Crailsheim and Schwäbisch Hall. The apprentice from Crailsheim became an esteemed citizen in Ilshofen. Including the Park Hotel Mr. Bullinger is now the employer of approximately 1000 people. And that's how he would like it to stay, "because progress is a constant development" and the 65-year-old wants to be part of it.
