“Seeing our made-in-Austria drilling tools in a Texan DIY store makes me immensely proud,” says Commercial Director Christoph Riegler while welcoming Economic State Secretary Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, Manfred Kainz, the Chairman of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, St. Josef Mayor Franz Lindschinger, FISCH-Tools Chairman of the Board Univ.-Prof. Dr. Klaus Poier and the owner family and shareholder representatives Helmut, Josef and Joachim Eberhard.
14. August 2020 in News“Seeing our made-in-Austria drilling tools in a Texan DIY store makes me immensely proud,” says Commercial Director Christoph Riegler while welcoming Economic State Secretary Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, Manfred Kainz, the Chairman of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, St. Josef Mayor Franz Lindschinger, FISCH-Tools Chairman of the Board Univ.-Prof. Dr. Klaus Poier and the owner family and shareholder representatives Helmut, Josef and Joachim Eberhard.
Johann Eberhard GmbH – FISCH®-Tools, a company celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2021, is Europe’s leading manufacturer of drilling, milling and counter sinking tools. More than 2.5 million drilling tools such as the Forstner Bit or the ALU SPEED ice auger that rocks the ski runs in Europe and America are shipped to 46 countries
1-million-Euro order from the US
The demand for high-quality tools is rising steadily. And thus, premium quality was also the distinguishing factor for a large-scale order from the US. The largest tool and machine manufacturer in the US commissioned the Styrian drill bit manufacturer with the production of cylinder head drill bits. The entire order is with some 1 million Euro.
During her company tour, State Secretary Barbara Eibinger-Miedl started up a new high-tech CNC-controlled milling system, officially starting a second production line for the processing of this large order from the US. “Styria’s economic success is largely due to the innovative strength of our local companies and excellent cooperation between science and the economy. FISCH-Tools is a great example for this success, even managing to stay on top during a difficult year,” the State Secretary commented on another milestone in the company’s history. Manfred Kainz, the Regional Chairman of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, sees this investment as a commitment to the economic location: “The district of Deutschlandsberg holds an excellent 14th place in Austria’s future ranking. Companies such as FISCH-Tools are important for the district and contribute to the success of the entire region."
“Reaching diameters of up to 100 millimetres, the drill bits for our US customer will be used in timber construction assembly. The fact that we forge our drill bits is unique in the industry and guarantees maximum quality that neither our customer nor suppliers from the far east are able to achieve,” Technical Director Andreas Eberhard specifies. The incoming order also necessitated a generous expansion of the production hall at the company’s headquarters. The usable floor space was increased from 4,500 to 6,000 square meters. In order to process the order, a forging press with 600 tons of pressing force and a new CNC machine were integrated into the company’s existing machine fleet. A total of 3 million Euro were invested in 2019 and 2020.
Quality, innovation and success go hand in hand
The turnover figures for 2019 prove that quality tools made in Styria are in demand around the world. While the group increased its turnover by one million Euro from 2018 to 2019, FISCH-Tools itself achieved a total turnover of 12 million Euro, marking the sixth successful balance sheet in a row!
Further investments in 2020 and 2021
Despite a lack of skilled workers and the Corona crisis, the company plans to invest additional millions due to the pleasant order backlog for 2020 and 2021. “We will mainly invest in the technical infrastructure to further optimise our production processes and to increase production capacity at maintaining our premium quality,” says Eberhard. FISCH-Tools consistently pursues digitisation and Industry 4.0 strategies and guarantees jobs and further recruitment despite a high degree of automation. Metallurgy apprentices and other skilled workers are wanted and supposed to join the FISCH-Tools team before the year is over.
FISCH-Tools Managing Directors Andres Eberhard and Christoph Riegler hand Economic State Secretary Barbara Eibinger-Miedl a specially made Alu-Speed ice auger and welcome Manfred Kainz, Chairman of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, St. Josef Mayor Franz Lindschinger, FISCH-Tools Chairman of the Board Univ.-Prof. Dr. Klaus Poier and the owner family and shareholder representatives Helmut, Josef and Joachim Eberhard.
Economic State Secretary Barbara Eibinger-Miedl: Official start-up of a second production line for the manufacture of premium cylinder head drill bits for our US customer.
