Corporate culture at WESSLING makes ideas sparkle
The winners of the grand innovation prize of the WESSLING Group have been announced. For the twelfth time now, the consulting and analysis company has honoured the pioneering ideas of its employees. This time four ideas originated from Germany and France convinced the jury to rant the WESSLING Innovation Award, which is endowed with 10,000 Euro. The international family run business has invited the winners to a festive awards ceremony located at the Hungarian WESSLING Knowledge Centre in Budapest, one of 26 company locations in Europe and China. This year the spokeswoman of the shareholders, Diana Weßling, and the managing director of WESSLING Hungary, Dr László Zanathy, awarded the prizes, three of which came from Germany, and one from France.
Impressions of the award ceremony and the awarded ideas
Mikroplastics: Methods to detect and analyse tyre abrasion
One coveted award went to chemist Siema Lange and chemical laboratory technician Jonas Holtgreve for their outstanding work on measuring microplastics caused by tyre abrasion during the research project “Tyre abrasion in the environment“ (RAU). With laboratory analyses and expertise in microplastics, WESSLING is one of Europe's leading companies in the field.
Additive Manufacturing: Emissions and safe 3D printing
Chemist André Schmitz has pioneered new methods for the laboratory measurement of emissions using 3D printers, and has also been among the winners of the WESSLING Innovation Award for this development. WESSLING is one of the few laboratories working in this sector. Based on this knowledge, customers receive comprehensive advice and can optimise 3D printers for their business and customers.
Combining 3D printing and 3D construction
Together with his colleagues Rolf Bögeholz, Steffen Sommer and Holger Weingärtner from engineering and consulting services, André Schmitz has been part of another customer-oriented innovation. By using 3D design technology for the 3D printing of terrain models, the potential challenges of the subsoil, and the resulting costs for the customer, can be better identified in advance. Anna Weßling, managing partner of the WESSLING Group, was impressed: “It is a great pleasure for me that this innovation has been developed for our customers by our employees across business units. This is a good example that focuses on our customers, because they can in turn convince their customers with our innovation.”
Fast, efficient and cost-effective: a new filter system for eluate production
Another idea was honoured during the ceremony in Budapest: the innovation created by colleagues from WESSLING France, at the Lyon location, benefits both the laboratory technicians at the workplace and the customers. Francis Bourdon, Fabienne Loisel, Sabrina Slimani and Audrey Goutagnieux designed a new vacuum filter system for preparing soil samples. New funnels were made by a glass manufacturer and they built the system themselves. This innovation considerably accelerates sample preparation time and facilitates work in the laboratory. Fifty additional samples can be filtered daily to provide customers with faster results.
The winners were also able to celebrate their wealth of ideas during a sightseeing tour of the Danube city; a private organ concert had been arranged for them in the magnificent St. Stephen's Basilica, as well as a tasting in the Chocolate Museum.
Photo gallery: Award ceremony of the WESSLING Innovation Award 2019 in Budapest
