For more than 70 years, the machines at Wilhelm Rasch Spezialmaschinenfabrik have ensured, among other things, that delicate hollow chocolate figures are wrapped in perfectly fitting foil. The managing director is Tina Gerfer, the granddaughter of the company founder. She has modernised the company and successfully guided it through difficult times. At the same time, she preserves traditions and sometimes concludes contracts with a handshake.
The speciality machine factory was founded by Tina Gerfer's grandfather Wilhelm Rasch and his business partner Otto Römmling in Cologne in 1950. The engineer Rasch had the idea, how fragile hollow chocolate mouldings can be wrapped in printed film by machine. Today, Santas, Easter bunnies, comic figures or World Cup mascots made of chocolate are wrapped in customised aluminium foil sleeves on the Rasch special hollow body packaging machine. However, the machines are long since outgrown hollow body packaging and also wrap marzipan, erasers, soaps or Ramadan biscuits. The system portfolio ranges from the all-rounder RU (Rasch Universal Packaging Machine) to highly specialised wrapping machines and tempering machines through to complete packaging systems with infeed and outfeed systems.
Two years ago, the company with around 40 employees moved a few kilometres away from its headquarters in Cologne-Bickendorf to neighbouring Hürth. Tina Gerfer has been managing the specialised machine manufacturer since 2008. „My grandfather prepared me early on for my role at the head of the company. Not only did I learn social responsibility from him, he also taught me, how important resilience and perseverance are.“ After his death in 1982, an uncle took over the management and Tina Gerfer decided to train at the European Business and Language Academy EWS.
„Untypically for a family of academics, I didn't go to university. I always found people exciting and really wanted to learn languages. That helps me a lot today, and I speak Spanish and English with customers almost more often than German.“
Tina Gerfer, Managing Director, Wilhelm Rasch GmbH
Her day usually starts at five o'clock, says the Managing Director. „That's when I read and answer emails. As we have customers all over the world, I reach some of them early in the morning, depending on the time zone.“
Insolvency seen as an opportunity
In 2013, the continued existence of the medium-sized company was in jeopardy. „At the time, we had a large order with five identical machines, but a weak equity ratio, which made financing very difficult and I had to take personal liability. In the end, we decided in favour of insolvency proceedings under self-administration and had to appoint an external CRO (Chief Restructuring Officer) to the management team as interim manager. That was a difficult step, but I would always make the same decision again. I learnt a lot during that time, that insolvency under self-administration is not a stigma and should be dealt with openly.
Surprisingly, all our customers reacted very understandingly. There was a great leap of faith, partly because it turned out that my grandfather had helped many of his customers in similar situations. We then managed to settle all liabilities within two years. And - what was particularly important to me personally - we were able to retain all employees and did not have to make any redundancies. What's more, no customers or suppliers cancelled their contracts. The whole process was actually an opportunity that also made us more attractive for a takeover.“
In 2018, Tina Gerfer decided to sell the company to the Mohrbach Group. „We were a company without a successor, as my daughter signalled early on that she was not interested in managing the company. So we had to Secure the location and the future of the employees. We are now part of the Mohrbach Group and have a broader strategic base. It is important that Mohrbach comes from the industry and is not just an investor. We can therefore preserve the character of the family business.“ In addition to Wilhelm Rasch Spezialmaschinenfabrik, the Rhineland-Palatinate-based specialist for high-performance cardboard packaging machines Mohrbach also owns the subsidiary Heripack Verpackungsmaschinen, based in Meschede.
Sustainability is part of the philosophy
Tina Gerfer is proud that sustainability has always been part of the company's philosophy. „Our machines offer a long service life. Total cost of ownership has always been a priority for us. We were ridiculed for this 15 years ago, but today things are changing because sustainability has moved centre stage.“ Rasch Maschinenbau guarantees production reliability and availability, and employees are always available for servicing. „We are constantly modernising, but we also maintain tradition, we are down-to-earth and like to be old-fashioned. For me, for example, a handshake is a contract. Of course we make written contracts, but I always honour my verbal agreements.“
For several years now, Tina Gerfer has also been in the Cologne Chamber of Industry and Commerce, she has been a member of the Chamber's nine Vice Presidents since March 2020. „As SMEs, we have a voice that we should raise in order to make a difference. My ‚favourite topics‘ are the Supply Chain Act, which I find very difficult in this form, and the big issue of mobility. I am also passionate about the issue of training. The dual training system in Germany is a great system.“
And there is another important issue close to Tina Gerfer's heart. „Of course I'm in favour of equal rights. It's sad that we still have to talk about it at all. Women should have their own self-image and work according to their own inclinations, Be assertive and go against all platitudes. We should be able to work as a matter of course, even if we have children, or not. And we should do all this without a guilty conscience. I can only advise women not to bend over backwards and not to think about whether what they do is a man's domain.“
