A FRITSCH company veteran takes his leave

2010-03-02

Heinrich Paulus retires
Heinrich Paulus, until recently the general manager of the FRITSCH BTT, is now entering his well-deserved retirement after 37 years of active service with the company. Paulus' achievements were the focus of the farewell ceremony held by the company in the Bürgersaal of the Markt Einersheim city hall. Speaking in his honor before a large number of invited guests and companions (which included, among others, Johann Berchtold, a friend from Paulus’ days as a student, and Harry Brot, the previous general manager) was the present general manager Klaus Fritsch.  Fritsch praised Paulus as a specialist through and through, as a man at the cutting edge of technology who kept his eyes at all times trained on the entire production process, and as a fully-committed professional who was always ready to sacrifice for the company, even round the clock.

In March of 1973 Paulus joined the FRITSCH enterprise as a bakery technician -- against the will of the personnel manager back then, Klaus Fritsch revealed with a telling glance at Paulus. As a master baker's son, Paulus had become acquainted with the baking trade from the ground up, as it were. Nevertheless, he first learned a technical trade, and it was only after his father's unexpected death that he began his education to become a master baker and to study Bakery Technology in Berlin. Paulus was well aware of the great potential in rationalizing the work processes in bakeries, and he saw very clearly the doors this could open for an enterprise like FRITSCH.
Consider the development of the pastry lines TRIO and QUATRO, or the  FRITSCH sattelite head that still today is famous for the gentle treatment of continuous dough blocks.... Paulus was the driving force behind getting these innovations placed successfully on the market. From 1973 to 1984 alone, the industrial program increased its share of the total FRITSCH turnover by 20%, growing from 5 to approx. 25%. This, as Klaus Fritsch emphasized in his speech, was above all the achievement of Heinrich Paulus and his colleague Elgner.  As a result, FRITSCH was soon to be considered a leader in the specialized dough processing machine tools industry.


Paulus recognized early on that lamination technology could be implemented to great effect, not only for pastries but for a wide product range as well. In the beginning, this meant system concepts for pizza. In his capacity as general manager of the FRITSCH BTT since the beginning of the 1990's, Paulus was successful at completing more than 40 turnkey projects for the production of pizzas and specialty breads. Among these were projects that Paulus stubbornly pursued even when they seemed hopeless, like the order for a completely new plant replete with 3 production lines for white bread products in Chile. The order almost went  to a competitor, but finally came to FRITSCH after a presentation given by Paulus on the subject of lamination technology.

Should we be concerned that Heinrich Paulus may be a little bored as a pensioner? Not at all, Klaus Fritsch tells us, because he will continue with the FRITSCH Group on a consulting basis.