Firms in Hamburg Metropolitan Region scoop Lünale Business Award

Schlosserei Schweitzer is full of surprises. Founded in 1921, the company scooped the award in the "foundation" category. The company is now over 100 years old and was taken over by Weit at the tender age of 23. Now at the helm for four years, he has turned everything upside down. In the past, the locksmith's shop catered mainly worked to customers in the Lüneburg region. The former owner and a journeyman manufactured windows, doors, fences and railings. Nowadays, Weit sell his products all over Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and India and specialises in steel and plant construction for industry and parts for production plants. Many of his customers hail from the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and build factories all over the world.

Weit watched the award ceremony via live stream as he is currently in India, where he is assembling a production machine for rear wheel axles. Meanwhile, the team in Lüneburg, including two apprentices, are hard at work. "I have revamped the business and increased turnover seven-fold. Almost all the machines and tools have been replaced," said Weit. He encourages young people to start or take over a business. "At first, I went to potential customers without an appointment and introduced myself personally. I was met with open doors almost everywhere. If you know your trade and sell yourself well, you will get orders." Weit has shown impressively that taking over a business can be an attractive alternative to setting up a new company for young entrepreneurs, according to the jury. Weit remarked: "The Lünale Award is a great honour for me, I never expected it.”

The BBL Bahnbau Lüneburg group of companies came up trumps in the "medium-sized companies" category. The family-run company specialises in railway services e.g., the planning, implentation, inspection and maintenance of rail-based transport systems and the associated telecommunications and network technology. Its customers include Deutsche Bahn and Hamburger Hochbahn. Headquartered in Lüneburg, the company has six branches in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Hesse and employs 400 specialists.

BBL Bahnbau Lüneburg's employees travel all over Germany, and assembly assignments are standard. In addition to work on regular construction site during the week, they work when others are off work - at weekends, on public holidays and at night. "We are lucky to have great employees. I can only take my hat off to what our team achieves every day on the construction sites," said Sebastian Falkenberg, Managing Director. BBL Bahnbau Lüneburg invests heavily in training its employees and finding enough young talent.  Every year, ten to 15 apprentices start their training in the company and focus mainly on electrical engineering. The company also invests in sustainability. At the moment, a photovoltaic system is being installed in Lüneburg to cover the high energy need from renewable sources. The jury praised BBL Bahnbau Lüneburg for "the combination of expertise, innovation and sustainability, which makes the company a worthy winner of the SME award."

"The award is a great honour for us, especially as we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year," said Falkenberg. And the company continues to write its success story as the order books are "full to bursting" thanks mainly to the refurbishment of Deutsche Bahn. Teamork will be important in future. "You can have great ideas on your own, but nothing works without good people," he noted. Thus, the award is important or each and every person in the company.

Other winners include three students from Leuphana University who developed the "takepart" app for more togetherness. The Lünale Prize in the "crafts"  category went to the Bals joinery. The Johann and Erika Loewe Foundation won the biennial prize for social commitment. "This year's awards ceremony has shown just how many great companies we have in Lower Saxony," said Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony's Minister for Economics.  
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