Image: WOLM ANTJE
This not only creates additional logistics areas and five parking levels for employees, but also produces energy. Photovoltaic systems are installed on the roof and also on the facade. “The building will produce more energy than it uses itself,” says owner and managing director Andreas Fill. Offices and fitness rooms for the employees as well as a publicly accessible bistro and a pub are also to move in in several stages. It will be built in stages, completion is planned for 2025, and 30 million euros will be invested in the project.
Fill is satisfied with the order situation: orders of more than 180 million euros are on the books. In the current financial year, the mechanical engineering company is on record course: 210 million euros are forecast (2022: 180 million euros). This would mark the 200 million euro mark for the first time.
Great potential in aviation
Fill is active in four business areas: automotive, aviation, sports and construction industries. With a recent share of 70 percent, the automotive sector continues to make up the lion’s share of sales: “The reason is the numerous orders from the e-mobility sector,” says Fill. For example, machines for electric motor housings are manufactured for a “well-known German premium manufacturer”. Systems for battery tray production are also built. In the medium term, however, Fill wants to become more independent of the automotive division: “We still see great potential in aviation, for example.” In this area, the company mainly manufactures systems for testing components. Fill is also proud of the ski machine production: “All skis, whether alpine or cross-country, are produced on our systems.”
The company’s export rate has averaged more than 80 percent in recent years.
Production takes place exclusively in Gurten (district Ried), 970 employees work at the site. Including service and sales branches, the “Fill family” already has more than 1,000 employees. This also includes 88 apprentices: Fill provides training in ten different professions. “The level of applications is still high,” says Fill, who has been a managing partner since 2000. But a few things have changed over the years: “In the past, the trainees all came from a radius of ten to 15 kilometers. Today they are much more mobile. We even have an apprentice from Steyr who really wanted to start with us. He decided taken an apartment here.” Fill also trains system technicians and application developers, the applicants here are often already 20 years old: “Here we also need the appropriate flexibility.”
Another concern of the company is to raise awareness of technology and digitization among young and old: The “Fill Future Lab” has been around for 18 months, and 5,000 children and young people have already been guests. There are eight laboratories where visitors can acquire knowledge in the fields of robotics, virtual reality, 3D printing, media and health.
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