When the trained master cheesemaker Gottfried Hain senior founded ALPMA Alpenland Maschinenbau GmbH in 1947, he could hardly have dreamt of the rapid development his visionary idea for a packaging machine would take. Today, seven decades later, ALPMA, based in Rott am Inn, Bavaria, is the first port of call for the supply of complete system solutions for cheese dairies and the undisputed global market leader for processing, cheese-making, cutting and packaging technology.
One of the family company's recipes for success: ALPMA remains true to its principles and continues to rely on virtues that already characterised its founder: the joy of developing new, ingenious solutions that simplify processes and make them more efficient, as well as a feel for a complex global market.
A spirit of invention and development
It starts with a simple device that solves a concrete problem in Gottfried Hain's Alpenhain family dairy should be solved: During the Second World War, personnel and the materials needed to package the Camembert were difficult to come by. In addition, stubborn films made the packaging process much more complicated. Hain, who has had a penchant for technology from an early age, quickly develops the Prototype of a simple packaging machine, to solve this problem.
„My father actually wanted to be an engineer,“ recalls his son, Gottfried Hain junior. „Even though he ultimately decided in favour of his father's dairy business, he was passionate about the question of how technology could replace tedious manual work and simplify processes in the dairy.“
It is the birth of today's ALPMA. Word of Gottfried Hain's inventive and developer spirit quickly spreads. Other cheese dairies facing similar challenges enquired. And Hain makes a momentous decision: in future, he wants to be successful not only with his cheese, but also with machines. From master cheesemaker to mechanical engineerOn 6 November 1947, he registers his new company. In the cellar of the dairy in Lehen, Gottfried Hain and a handful of colleagues push ahead with the development of new machines.
Early development of international business
In fact, ALPMA developed rapidly in its first ten years: the combination of technical expertise in cheese production on the one hand and mechanical engineering on the other struck a chord in the market. ALPMA develops Solutions from practice for practice in an industry that until then had been largely based on painstaking manual labour. „A niche market, for sure,“ says Gisbert Strohn, Managing Director of ALPMA. „But a market in which there is a high demand for the automation and improvement of processes - and this remains unbroken to this day.“ It is remarkable how early Hain and his employees pushed ahead with the internationalisation of the company: ALPMA delivered the first machine to France as early as 1950.
From the mid-1950s, agencies were systematically opened throughout Europe and later overseas. This was driven by Internationalisation the son of the company founder, Gottfried Hain junior, who passed on his father's enthusiasm for technology and mechanical engineering at an early age.
„I couldn't escape it,“ recalls Hain junior. „As a young boy, I witnessed the beginnings of ALPMA up close and saw how new ideas and machines were tinkered with in the workshop. That was fascinating and of course infectious and encouraged me to continue on this path myself.“ Hain studied mechanical engineering and worked as an intern in various cheese dairies in 1959 - including abroad, where he quickly recognised the huge potential that ALPMA had in international markets.
From craft business to industrial machine manufacturer
„To do this, however, we had to change the basic structure of the company and transform ourselves from a craft business into an industrial company,“ explains Gottfried Hain. „In Rott am Inn, we found a suitable new location for ALPMA, which thus also separated spatially from Alpenhain. In the new halls, we were able to devote ourselves fully to the task of gradually establishing ALPMA as an industrial company from 1963 onwards. Technology leader on the global market.“ With success: ALPMA France, founded in 1965, was followed by subsidiaries in Switzerland, the UK, Russia, Spain, the USA and Turkey. Today, the company has seven branches and numerous agencies around the globe and generates around 70 per cent of its turnover outside Germany.
Solutions along the entire value chain
In contrast to the founding period, ALPMA's research and development work at this time no longer focused solely on the mechanisation of packaging, but also on the development of the packaging process. entire cheese production process. From the delivery of raw milk to cheese preparation and moulding through to packaging: ALPMA offers solutions along the entire value chain of cheese dairies - and for a very wide range of different types of cheese: from French Camembert to Polish Twaróg and Indian Paneer.
„What sets us apart from the competition is clearly our Complete offer“, explains Gisbert Strohn. „We set standards in the automation of all areas of cheese production. Above all, however, we understand the interdependencies between the individual production steps and can create synergies. In 1975, for example, the Bavarians launched the first coagulator on the market - the breakthrough for the continuous production of curd, which is now standard in many dairies. The CUT cutting machines for semi-hard and hard cheeses and the SAN packaging machines for soft cheeses are further important milestones in the company's history and finally make ALPMA the first port of call worldwide for the production of cheese curd. Automation of cheese dairies.
Focus on research and development
The systems are still developed and manufactured at the Head office in Rott am Inn. „We are convinced that Germany is a good place to do business and it is extremely important to us that our machines fulfil all the requirements of the latest standards,“ says Gisbert Strohn. „Automation today is not primarily about reducing manual labour or personnel, but about improving yield on the one hand and production reliability on the other - in other words, hygiene and product quality. As our systems are very individually tailored to customer requirements, we can only fulfil this requirement if we produce everything here on site.“
ALPMA consistently utilises the latest technologies in its development work. For example, the company is working on the use of robots in cheese production at an early stage. Today, ALPMA uses Universal robot, which are configured for specific requirements. Software and interfaces come from ALPMA itself.
„Right from the start, we set ourselves the challenge of developing the concept of ‚Smart Factory‘ as our own contribution. It is important to us to provide the necessary Expertise within the company and pass them on to new employees,“ explains Gisbert Strohn. „Especially in the area of Remote maintenance and Inspection we see great potential in the networking of machines and are working on making them even more reliable. ALPMA's advantages over its competitors have remained the same despite the constant further development of the technology: the in-depth understanding of cheese production and the ability to customise machines and systems precisely to the respective requirements of the customer.
As a company, ALPMA thrives on the know-how and expertise of its employees. The in-house training of employees and the associated transfer of knowledge are crucial. In 1960, Gottfried Hain junior, together with an engineer friend who acted as training manager, opened a first training centre. Training workshop for the professions of machine fitter, electrician, industrial clerk and technical draughtsman. Today, ALPMA takes on 20 to 25 new trainees every year, and more than 60 young people are currently learning the technical skills that characterise ALPMA[/infotext].
Family business in its third generation
The company also remains true to its principles in other respects: Gottfried Hain senior appointed his children as shareholders when ALPMA was founded. These Family orientation The medium-sized company is still in operation today: Since 2010, it has been managed by a Dual leadership consisting of Gisbert Strohn and Frank Eberle managed. The family is still represented on the company's advisory board, which has been chaired by the grandson of the company founder, Dipl.-Ing. Martin Hain, since 2012.
„We see ourselves as a family business and want to stay that way. ALPMA has grown enormously over the last few years, but we have kept the Down-to-earth attitude preserved. The atmosphere in Rott am Inn is characterised by personal closeness and the fact that all employees know each other and identify with the company. It is precisely this mentality that we want to maintain,“ emphasises Frank Eberle
Walking through the assembly halls today, you can feel both: the inventive spirit and enthusiasm for mechanical engineering as lived by the founder, combined with the high technology of the 21st century. With a unique blend of attention to detail, comprehensive industry expertise and unusual ideas, around 700 employees are working on the next development for the dairy industry.
70 years of ALPMA
The ALPMA celebrates its 70th anniversary in autumn. At a Open day in September, employees have the opportunity to present their working environment and achievements not only to their families, but to the entire region. Interested visitors can take a look behind the scenes and get to know the company's world-renowned expertise. ALPMA also invites customers from all over the world to Rott to celebrate the anniversary together in a festive setting.
