| Top-Werk brings under one corporate umbrella Hess Group’s flagship unit masonry and Schlosser-Pfeiffer drainage product (lower left) machinery, plus SR-Schindler wet cast (below) and Prinzing dry cast equipment. |
A merger of Burbach, Germany-based Hess Group, spanning namesake block & paver plus Schlosser-Pfeiffer pipe & precast machinery, and Top-Werk GmbH, parent of German peers SR-Schindler (concrete slab and coating) and Prinzing (pipe and drainage products), yields the world’s number one source of automated, manufactured-concrete production equipment.
A Top-Werk statement notes, “The merger will create a corporate group operating globally at a dozen-plus locations that will secure a leading position in the market of machines and equipment for the construction materials industry, thanks to its comprehensive offerings of high-quality manufacturing technology and integrated production solutions covering all aspects of concrete blocks and slabs, concrete pipes and aerated concrete product groups.”
On behalf of an extended Management Board he joins, Hess Group CEO Ralf Beier characterizes the emerging Top-Werk as an “organization that brings together all of the fields of modern machine and equipment production for industrially manufactured concrete products under the same roof. This will allow us to satisfy clients’ needs even better and offer integrated single-source solutions with unprecedented dimensions.”
“We are reaching another significant milestone on the way to unleashing the huge potential inherent in a consolidation of these various strengths in machine and equipment production for high-quality concrete products,” adds Christoph Haller, managing partner of Switzerland’s CGS Management, financial adviser to Top-Werk.
While Hess, Prinzing and SR-Schindler are mainstays in European concrete operations, only the former company—through Ontario- based Hess Machinery Inc.—has a North American market foothold. Top-Werk officials underscore the potential benefit to the Hess product range stemming from integration of complementary Prinzing and SR-Schindler offerings.