Nigeria’s President ordered new stair lift in the Mühlviertel
The population is getting older and the state promotes the removal of barriers in buildings. These are the ideal conditions for the growth of a stair lift manufacturer. The Ganser Company from St. Peter am Wimberg has earned itself a good reputation. More than 70 percent of its production is exported.
Ganser has equipped the University in Baku (Azerbaijan ) and the EU Parliament in Brussels as also the presidential palace in the Nigerian Capital of Abuja. Although President Yar’Adua could not make much use of it as he passed away in the spring yet his successor Goodluck Jonathan profited from the investment.
The Ganser family founded their company almost 30 years ago and began with general metal working. “in 1982 a customer approached us and said he needed a stair lift for a wheel chair user” said the Managing Director Bernhard Ganser. This the customer could not find at the time in Austria and foreign manufacturers made their lifts too broad.
Ganser and his technically experienced colleagues developed their first platform lift. The first large public order followed shortly thereafter. A special lift was installed in the main post office in Linz. 15 Years ago, according to Ganser the “world’s smallest platform lift” was built by the company.
Technicians wanted
In 2009 the company had a turnover of six million Euro – an increase of ten percent. In June this year the orders received were double those of the comparable month of the previous year. That is why the production this year should rise by a third to 800 units and the turnover should climb to more than seven million Euro.
This year Ganser took on three employees. This increases the staff to 37. “We are looking for more mechatronicians and electricians,” says the company boss. Technicians are very hard to find. That is why Ganser itself is training staff; five apprentices are being taught at present. The employees all come from a circle of 25 kilometres.
Expansion planned
Because he is expecting further growth, Ganser is looking for a hall in the region that can be purchased or also for a partner. “The problem is that at our site in St. Peter am Wimberg we have no space for expansion,” says Ganser. According to its information, the company has up to now financed everything from its own capital without any credit.
At present the business obtains up to 70 percent of its work from public orders and around 30 percent from private and company customers. The business from private persons is steadily increasing, says Ganser "We are also contacted by many house builders in the planning phase in order to prevent renovation work at a later stage.” Own homes are at least being built to be “Adaptable”.
The Company
• Ganser Treppenlifte in St. Peter am Wimberg (Dist. Rohrbach)
• Six million Euro turnover and 600 units production in 2009, more than 70 percent export, 37 employees
The products
The Ganser Company produces platform lifts. These are stair lifts for wheel chair users. The advantage over the normal chair lift is that the wheelchair user need not be re-seated. There are platform lifts for inside and outside. The price on average is between 5,000 and 20,000 Euro It depends whether the lift rides up a straight staircase or one with curves. Ganser also manufactures lifting platforms and vertical lifts. Besides which it also trades with normal chair stair lifts
The people
Almost 30 years ago Bernhard Gasser, his two brothers and his brother-in-law founded the company as a metalworking undertaking. Today all four each possess 25 percent of the stair lift producer. Working in the company today are Bernhard Ganser as Managing Director, Alois Ganser und Josef Neundlinger.
Source: http://www.nachrichten.at/
