Clearly structured production hall: A light, well-arranged work station is a definite asset. HORA employees enjoy a comfortable work area.

Modern production at HORA: optimized processes through cell manufacturing

Order management center and new factory layout create the perfect framework

HORA had already been manufacturing valves for 40 years when, in 2007, the implementation of a new production system was considered in the Power Technology business unit. Up to that point, valves had been produced using a workshop orientation, which involves classifying produc-tion steps according to the manufacturing technology: bo-

ring, milling or lathing. However, internal studies revealed that production in line with component segmentation, also known as cell manufacturing, would offer HORA a number of advantages. Its efficiency, punctuality, and cost-effectiveness would all mean greater reliability in the in-terests of customer satisfaction. Yet the greatest value of cell manufacturing lies in the specialization of employees in one particular component group, resulting in enormous improvements to product quality. Cell manufacturing also results in greater personal initiative and responsibility in employees’ daily work, because the basic idea of the cell concept is very simple: what used to be controlled centrally is now shifted to the cells and managed decentrally.

horapower2nd Edition | August 2011

A Fresh LookA new logo and a completely revamped website

Page 9 – New Corporate Design

RecapLooking back to the Sales Meeting in November 2010

Page 11 – Coming Together

AwardTOP Innovation Prize goes to HORA

Page 11 – Outstanding Processes

Your Power Technology Update

2 3

COvER STORY PROGRESS

“Group work“ is the official terminology for cell manufac-turing in a work organization. Within a defined task area, a group of employees independently manages the division of tasks in a particular production process. After all, emplo-yees directly involved in production are in a better position to evaluate and carry out work steps in their own cells. An autonomous manufacturing cell can manage itself. And it functions on the basis of a customer-supplier relationship: every cell has the status of a supplier that delivers parts to an internal customer – for example, the cell that carries out the next step in production. On-time delivery plays an im-portant role here, too, because at the end of the process, power plant customers expect the products they ordered to be shipped on time.

Roland Liedtke joined HORA in 2009 as Director of Ma-nufacturing right in the middle of the ‘hot phase’ of this transformation, and the cell concept was implemented under his leadership. “At the beginning, some of the em-ployees were naturally resistant to the new approach and uncertain about it,” says Liedtke. “But we were convinced that a more structured work method would optimize our production processes. We actively involved the employees in the project phases, because their experiences were ex-tremely important for layout planning and the design of the work stations.“

PT’s new approach to production also led to a new factory layout and the HORA order management center, so that the project would have a framework that enables its suc-cess. The order management center synthesizes the organi-zational output of all HORA‘s departments as efficiently as possible, and controls order planning with view to quality, cost and time. A daily cross-departmental order manage-ment meeting at 1:00 p.m. makes sure that all the necessa-ry decisions can be made together on the spot.

The assembly and pressure testing cells have moved to a new location. “The new hall has a much higher ceiling,“ says Reinhard Kruse who operates the pressure test facili-ty. “It’s much easier to use the crane to mount large valve bodies in the test bay.” Moreover, the four test stations allow tasks to be divided up much more sensibly. The re-sult: “Pressure testing is now simpler, faster, and physically less demanding,“ explains Kruse, “and that means we can generate higher unit numbers.“

In spite of an investment of approximately three million Euros, Director of Manufacturing Roland Liedtke still isn‘t quite satisfied; instead, he’s committed himself to ongo-ing further developments and improvements with the goal of increasing productivity. Internal workshops are taking place in 2011 in order to identify and maximize potential in the cells. We plan to order submerged arc welding equip-ment, for example. With its expertly trained employees, modern equipment and professional methods, HORA is able to master the complexities of high-end valve produc-tion and ensure the cost-effective, lean execution of even the largest projects.

Organizational StructureEfficiency is a major topic for the pro-duction team at HORA. Harald Wick, Director Operations, explains: “Effici-ency is all about doing things right. We are always looking for ways to optimize time and efforts used for the intended task or purpose.“ The pro-duction team is currently working on a few projects to improve efficiency:

1. Advance actuator assembly to save time

2. Design for optimized production to lower manufacturing costs

3. “Cell-hopping“: better allocation of the components to the cells

4. Work queue per cell: hedging the 3-day horizon

During the first quarter of 2011, stu-dents from a local college in Bielefeld spent eight weeks at HORA working on their technical theses. They impro-ved the planning and control of the annealing process after welding in order to achieve greater process ef-ficiency. Harald Wick looks into ways to continue this transfer process with universities over the course of the year. An additional project is to in-crease the machine availability. Total productive maintenance (TPM) is a standardized method to increase machine availability and to reduce unplanned idleness during production processes to a minimum. A new device called “EnergySave” now shifts four Gilde-meister lathes automatically into power-saving mode du-ring unproductive hours. The yearly energy savings from

Upcoming projects revolve around efficiency

The portable 3D measuring arm is an example for investments in greater reliability enabling great measuring accuracy and improved quality. Tobias Ottensmeier, industrial engineer in PT Production, with the new measuring machine, which has a range of 2.5 meters. The portable 3D measuring arm enables a high degree of accuracy in the manufacturing process, even in spots that are difficult to reach.

EDITORIAL

Dear Partners and Customers,Last November we met with many of you at the HORA Sales Meeting in Schloss Holte. Your feedback was very positive. We were impressed by the in-depth technical conversations and

Matthias Dirbach and Harald Wick

The introduction of the 5S method was an important element in restructu-ring production. The principle “order and cleanliness” is based on the Japa-nese production philosophy: seiri (sort), seiton (place in an orderly fashion), seiso (clean), seiketsu (standardize) and shitsuke (practice self-discipline). The result is visible everywhere in the production areas. Manfred Krypczyk opens a drawer at his work station. The blue background space indicates that a tool is not at its place.

this step amount to around 45,000 kWh. A new clamp used with the EX-CELL-O machining centre helps reduce machi-ning costs for angle valve bodies by around 50%. “The-re is a special aspect of this project,” stressed Wick. “Our trainees from the engineering and manufacturing depart-ments were involved in its implementation. Improving ef-ficiency is a cross-departmental effort.”

the ideas and experiences you shared. It makes such a difference when we “come together to grow together” – that was our slogan for the event and it proved to be true! HORA Power Technology needs your input to continue to develop reliab-le and innovative high-end products. Our goal is to improve our processes to better serve your needs. Exciting things happen at HORA: here you’ll read more about our improved pro-duction, our new logo and web site, and new products.

We’ve had an exceptional year in 2010 and are going strong in 2011 as

well. We are proud to present to you the second edition of our newsletter HORApower. Don’t hesitate to con-tact us with any feedback or questi-ons you may have! We look forward to continue our partnership.

Best regards,

Matthias DirbachDirector Sales Power Technology

Harald WickDirector Operations Power Technology

4 5

PHOTO STORY

The route through the PT Production processThere’s no standard route through production for valves from HORA’s PT business unit, since they’re made to order for each project. Even so, at the component level there are several stations within the production process that all valves must pass.

1. Supply (incoming goods / raw material stock)The photo shows outdoor bar material storage. An intelligent and flexible disposition system controls all supply processes.

7. Pressure testing Following final assembly, pressure tightness testing of the valves takes place in HORA‘s own testing department. The maximum test pressure used is up to 280 bar when the test medium is air, and 1600 bar with water. Here you see a cast steel valve mounted in the test bay.

5. Commissioning At HORA, commissioning is located at the logistics cell to ensure material supply to the assembly cell. In the photo, you can see the paternoster storage in the assembly hall.

3. Machining (lathing, boring, milling) Component machining takes place in the production cells, which are divided according to product groups and mana-ged independently. In the photo, you see a Gildemeister Gamma 2000 turning-milling center at the bonnet cell.

2. Sawing The employees at the logistics cell manage material supply for the production cells. The photo shows one of three band saws for bar material.

8. After painting, valves are shipped. After the valves have passed tightness testing and been painted, they are packed for shipping and turned over to the freight hauler. A large valve is being loaded.

6. Final assembly Final assembly of HORA valves takes place in close coope-ration with the quality assurance department. After the individual components have been released, the valves are assembled. The photo shows completely assembled valves that are ready for pressure tightness testing.

4. Welding technology (welding, heat treatment, material inspection) Welding technology, including heat treatment, is integra-ted in the valve body cell in order to enable the complete manufacture of complex valve bodies at one station. The photo shows the welding process for a forged-steel body.

6 7

PRODUCT INNOvATION

Power plants in India and China are designed differently than comparable plants in Europe, and that’s why HORA developed special valves for this market. The PT product portfolio has been expanded to include two new products – minimum flow control valves and low-pressure turbine bypass valves – so that HORA could take on two orders from India in 2010 that will be delivered this year. “These projects have a volume of several million euros,“ says Mat-thias Dirbach, Director Sales PT. “But since such project pa-ckages can only be commissioned as a whole, we wouldn‘t have received the order for our existing products without our new ones.”

The new minimum flow control valves represent an ex-tension of PT’s product portfolio in the direction of cus-

Fascination and challenge: Newly developed PT products for emerging markets

Construction engineer Horst Seidlitz and welder Ulrich Mickan inspect the progress of welding on the new low-pressure turbine bypass valve.

velocity dispersion in the new pressure-controlled injection nozzle.

Dierk Joachim of the Product Innovation team with three of more than 60 minimum flow valves that wait in the PT Assembly to be delivered to India.

tomized high-end solutions: Chinese and Indian power plants with unit output in excess of 500 megawatts increasingly plan a straight-through installation of these globe valves. With the new globe valve body, the modular minimum flow control valve series is complete, and HORA can now offer its customers a large selection of tailored combinations of valve body designs and inner trims.

Currently, HORA is working on a new series of low-pressure turbine bypass valves (TBV) for steam temperatures of over 600°C. These valves are desti-ned for power generation units with outputs in excess of 600 megawatts – a type of large power plant that will

be built especially in Asia in the coming years. And with the order it received in April 2010 for two units each with two high-pressure and two low-pressure turbine bypass valves, HORA qualified as a supplier for one of the first supercri-tical 800 megawatt power plants in India. Because of the high temperatures, the valve bodies will be manufactured in forged steel instead of cast steel.

Through the further development of its injection nozzle, HORA can now expand its market share in the low-pressure turbine bypass valve segment. These new injection nozzles deliver a significantly finer spray of water in the partial-load range and thus improve steam desuperheating. The most important goal of this development was the optimi-zation of droplet size.

PRODUCT DETAILS

The HORA Heavy Duty Control Valve is a versatile, modular globe valve designed for severe duties. This type of valve can be utilized to regulate and control the flow of gases, steams or liquids in all industrial applications. “It is parti-cularly suitable for the water-steam cycle in high pressu-re/high temperature power plant applications,” explains Franz Hansknecht, Director Product Innovation PT. “Wor-king in close cooperation with end-user facility engineers and technical staff, we identify common problems. Due to our long-standing expertise in valve design we are able to eliminate them.” The result is the HORA Heavy Duty Con-trol Valve, which incorporates a number of sophisticated design improvements:

• For optimum flow, the internal geometry of the valve body has been designed and validated using FEM and CFD techniques.

• Operating and maintenance costs are minimized by the use of quick-change trims and highly wear-resistant materials.

• A modular design with an extensive array of standard trims as well as tailor-made solutions provides optimum performance in flow control.

• An exchange of trims is possible so the valve can be adapted to meet revised process conditions, e.g. plant upgrades.

• A wide range of actuators is available: manual, pneu-matic, electric and electro-hydraulic.

• HORA maintains a stock of valve bodies and modules, so product lead times are short, which in turn makes planning for maintenance and plant outages easier.

Careful material selection and proven design eliminate common issues associated with control valves such as ero-sion, corrosion, cavitation, vibration, noise and poor cont-rollability. By combination of optimized design and cost-efficiency, the HORA Heavy Duty Control Valve is an ideal choice for severe service operating conditions.

The HORA Heavy Duty Control Valves can be combined with all types of actuators. Electric or pneumatic actuators are used by default, however, other types are available on request. For applications in pressure classes lower than PN 63 or Class 600, please refer to the HORA Standard Duty Control Valves.

The interior geometry of the valve has purposely desig-ned large spaces to allow easy access with serviceability in mind. The body can accommodate various trim designs and exhibits high flow coefficients as well as low turbulence. Depending on pressure class and valve size, end connec-tions are available as socket-weld, butt-weld or flanged. For gas and steam applications involving high pressure drops or high velocities, outlet extensions with integrated perforated discs can be supplied.

Heavy Duty Control valves now available

“The temperature distribution of insulated valves is analy-zed by extensive CFD simulations,” says Franz Hansknecht. “At temperatures above 400°C (752°F), an intermediate yoke is utilized to protect the actuator and any optional accessories from overheating and resulting damage.”

The Heavy Duty Control valve is available now. Please contact pt@hora.de for more information.

8 9

MARKETINGWORK PLAN

INNOvATION PEOPLE

In the second quarter of 2011 HORA introduced a new logo in a more in-tense shade of blue and a new sha-pe. The new look is fresher and more modern and signals a new chapter in the company’s development: HORA adapts its external presentation to re-flect its increased importance on the market and its global orientation. As part of the new corporate design, the Power Technology business unit recei-ved its own logo. The final touch will continue to be the slogan “Excellence is our standard” as an expression of HORA’s general commitment to high-est quality and expertise.

As part of the new appearance, the HORA website was completely revam-ped. Enlightening pictures tell the story of a successful family-owned engineering business. We invite you to take a closer look at the PT busi-ness unit on the new website and dis-cover more about HORA’s service and its products: www.hora.de/en

PT’s logistics hall contains the incoming goods, incoming goods inspection and shipping departments. In recent weeks, noticeable changes have been made: the arrange-ment of these areas is now significantly clearer. Stefan Fritze, project engineer in the Process Innovation team, describes the project: “First, shelving was moved or dismantled to create space precisely where it was needed. We then moved the existing groups of tables, and we im-proved the work systems so that we can do without some of the workbenches in the future. Finally, we moved the in-coming goods, inspection and shipping departments. The different areas are now separated and signed, floor spaces

HORA now developed its own iPhone app called valveMa-te, the ultimate tool for sizing control valves for water and steam. Initiator Dr. Klaus Mehnert works in the PT Product Innovation team: “For everyone interested in matters con-cerning controls for water-steam-cycles, HORA now offers an easy-to-use calculation tool. This application for mo-dern smart phones is basically a new version of the slide-rule, just with a lot more functionality.”

For one, the sales personnel, developers and engineers at HORA can use the app, but on the other hand, HORA also targets customers, resellers, engineers at power plants along with students from relevant fields of studies with this app available for download at www.hora.de/en.

The necessary thermodynamic properties of the fluid are calculated using the formulations of the International As-sociation for the Properties of Water and Steam. Based upon the input data, valveMate automatically detects the aggregate state of the fluid and applies the respective for-mulae. valveMate‘s intuitive user interface with the simple input-output approach lets users get straight to the results. All calculations are done in real-time, no extra calculation button is needed.

In October 2010, Dr. Dieter Dressel-haus was named an honorary profes-sor of Ostwestfalen-Lippe’s University of Applied Sciences. With this step, the university expressed its appre-ciation for Dresselhaus’ long years of work as a lecturer: “Mr. Dressel-haus understands how to win stu-dents‘ interest and enthusiasm even for complex and demanding topics.“ Since last winter semester, he has also taught courses on strategic ma-nagement for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. Die-ter Dresselhaus notes: “This honor recognizes a cooperation of more than ten years between the universi-ty and HORA, and it‘s one with great benefits for HORA in particular. We focus on method transfer through the implementation of ideas from Bachelor’s theses, and especially on early contact to the university‘s gra-duates. Students discover HORA very early on, and that stimulates an ex-change of knowledge.” It’s a volun-teer commitment that pays off for both sides!

A fresh look: New logo and a completely revamped website for HORA

PT’s logistics hall is now more clearly structured

Discover the new HORA iPhone App valveMate Dr. Dieter Dresselhaus receives honorary professorship

Prof. Dieter Dresselhaus and Prof. Wilfried Jungkind of the University of Applied Sciences have been working on joint projects for more than ten years.

1967

1972

As of 1998

As of 2011

During the 1980s

A journey into the history of our logoA look at the predecessor versi-on of our logo is a journey into our company’s past, which began in 1967, when the first company logo was created with the founding of Hol-ter Regelarmaturen GmbH & Co KG. Since then, our logo has changed along with the times: the 1967 logo was replaced after just five years, and since then we’ve updated it every ten to fifteen years. The slogan “Excel-lence is our standard” was added at the end of the 1990s to represent the start of a new phase in company de-velopment.

are marked and we’ve created space for supply.” The reorganization has shortened paths and reduced both the work needed to find things and possible sources of er-ror – and all this makes the work process here more effec-tive as a whole. The next step will be a detailed look at each department to discover its individual optimization potential. At Ostwest-falen-Lippe’s University of Applied Sciences in Lemgo, the Ergonomics group in the Logistics department has sche-duled a project on the detailed examination of the work-stations in the PT logistics hall for later in this year.

Processes in the logistics hall are now much more effective: The clearer arrangement of work areas means shorter paths.

Wareneingangsprüfung = Incoming goods inspectionWareneingang = Incoming goodsWarenausgang = Shipping

iPhone App valveMate: Within the first weeks of valveMate‘s publishing in the Apple AppStore the app got downloa-ded several hundred times, half of it from outside Germany.

Engineer Dr. Klaus Mehnert’s primary job is to develop the product configura-tor. As a side product of his daily work, he now came up with valveMate.

10 11

AWARD

Best company in TOP Innovation NetworkAt the TOP Entrepreneurs’ Meeting in Berlin at the Fede-ral Ministry of Economics and Technology, State Secretary Jochen Homann presented HORA with the TOP Innovati-on Prize for 2010. More than 120 representatives of the companies that host TOP, a technology-oriented visitation and innovation program, took part in this event. The prize has been awarded yearly since 1993 to the company within TOP’s network of over 100 enterprises that best demonst-rates its innovative power. HORA was honored for its continual efforts to translate innovations into solutions. Both Product Innovation and especially Process Innovation have contributed to the on-going success of the company. Prof. Dresselhaus commen-ted: “I see the TOP Innovation Prize as recognition of all of HORA’s employees. It rewards the enthusiasm of our staff and is a great incentive to us to continue on this path.” “HORA has served the TOP program as a host since 2006. When we hold meetings at HORA on the topic of imple-menting the balanced scorecard or lean management in made-to-order production, we always receive above-ave-

TOP Innovation Prize 2010 goes to HORA

Best company in TOP Innovation Network 2010 (from left): State Secretary Jochen Homann, Prof. Dr. Dieter Dresselhaus, Ralf Schulz, Georg Bode and Harald Wick in Berlin at the award ceremony.

rage positive feedback from participants,” says Patrick Merke, Deputy Program Director at TOP.

SALES MEETING

24 Sales Partners from Australia to Finland visit HORAThe second PT Sales Meeting in the company’s history took place from November 24 to 26, 2010 and was a complete success. Two dozen sales partners from Spain, Finland, Gree-ce, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Great Britain, Austria, Portugal, Rus-sia, Sweden, China, India, Australia, the USA and Canada were our guests. The slogan of the event, “Growing together means getting together”, was borne out by discussions on net-working the company’s worldwide business and HORA’s compliance po-licies, among other things. In additi-on, we used the occasion to present our partners the brand new product brochure from the new heavy duty

series, hot off the presses. Our part-ners also received the PT newsletter HORApower for the first time, with its reports on current developments, projects and successes. A pleasant

change from the meetings was a visit to Wiedenbruck’s Christmas market. The next sales meeting will take place in conjunction with the Achema con-gress in Frankfurt in June 2012.

An interested look at the new PT Production

Prof. Dresselhaus with Wilhelm and Christian Friedrich, Austria Matthias Dirbach explains the significance of flow simulation

DEvELOPMENT

HORA offers 20 of its employees a tailor-made power plant excellence study course at the renowned Kraftwerksschule (Power Plant College) in Essen, the only company in this sector to do so. HORA covers the entire costs. Furthermore, two-thirds of the time invested by the participants is wor-king time. The lecture series started in mid-May and will continue until September 2012. It teaches an interdiscipli-nary understanding for fossil fuel-fired power plants. The interdepartmental participants come from the areas of PT Sales, Service, Design and Product Innovation. The group in-cludes more experienced colleagues in addition to younger employees. Two participants even come from the Dutch PT representative Advanced Valve Solutions (AVS). The goal is to deepen the knowledge individually and across depart-ments, so that HORA experts develop even more market-oriented products. The course incorporates the following modules: Design and operation of power plants, power plant instrumentation and control, steam generation with fossil fuels as well as steam and gas turbines. It requires three attendance weeks in Essen spread over 18 months as well as 17 weekends at HORA.

We asked two participants why they are taking part in the training, and what they expect.

Heike Böckhaus (44) is responsible for sales in Germany in the Power Technology division. “My goal is to find opti-mized solutions for our customers. It helps to understand the overall situation and the demands placed on the indivi-dual power plant components.”

Ulrich Brentrup (40) works as a supervisor in the forged steel group. The focus of his work is in the strength calcu-lation of valves. “I would like to know what happens with our valves; what are the effects of the start-ups, start-up frequency as well as the other influences on the valves. The knowledge is intended to help me when assessing prob-lems and to help my understanding of the causes of the problem. I hope to gain an insight into the processes of the entire power plant and particularly into the function of the

A special kind of employee qualification

The HORA participants in front of the Kraftwerksschule, which calls itself the “PowerTech Training Center”.

HORA “students” have a control room for simulating a complete power station all to themselves.

valves in the power plant. I hope to discover some additi-onal insights for optimizing our final control elements.”

The Kraftwerksschule Essen and the KWX

The Kraftwerksschule in Essen has being training ope-rating personnel for German power stations for more than 50 years and has for a number of years offered a university semester in power plant engineering in co-operation with the University of Applied Sciences Aa-chen (Fachhochschule Aachen). Employees at HORA now have an exceptional opportunity to gain university level power plant academic knowledge in the course of an occupational qualification measure.

The lectures are generally held on Fridays and Satur-days. The participants at several seminars in Essen are offered laboratory experiments and training on modern power plant simulators. It is the management‘s intenti-on to secure their long-term position in the sector by the high-value qualification of the employees.

Kerstin KofinkPowerTech Training Center Essen

12 13

SALES MEETING

Arousing curiosity: the COMTES 700 prototype Partners from three continents

Our foreign sales partners with their HORA contacts at the conference hotel in Marienfeld

Prof. Dresselhaus responds to questions

International interest in a HORA valve

The 5S reference workstation in the CNC department

Henning Brock explains a HORA work plan

“It was my first experience to be a part of HORA Confe-

rence. I gained understanding on many aspects of ‘new

HORA’, which is evolving from 2008 onwards. I have a lot

of ideas / points to share.”

Vikash Agrawal, Hi-Tech Systems & Services,

Kalkutta, Indien

“There is a Chinese saying: Seeing is a hundred times better than hearing. The sales meeting was a very good opportunity for us employees to speak directly to many partners and to find out more about the needs of the global valve market. It is important for us to know which new technical and commercial requirements our worldwide customers have. This helps us to individualize our sales and product strategies.‹

Yang Cao, PT Sales, Schloss Holte, Germany

“It was interesting to see so many other reps from

around the world. We found the presentations by

the reps showed different approaches to business

that illustrate the good qualities of a successful

global business… Thank you all for being good

hosts.”

Ian Braff, Armour Valve Ltd., Toronto, Canada

Reinhard Kruse proudly presents the new test area

“Besides the fact that this was a well-organized meeting, the HORA sales meeting provided ad-ditional value on the background of other part-ners and distributors. It was interesting to find out what products they focus on. I had open and transparent discussions with other guests about different markets and pricing structures. In Fin-land for example we have a lot of OEM custo-mers. At the meeting I also got an idea in which way the company will face the future. I‘ve got a positive impression.”Johan Bäckström, Kokko Control Oy,

Espoo, Finland

14 15

Exchange of business cards between India and Ireland

Jose Figueiredo from Portugal and Roland Liedtke

vikash Agrawal from India during his presentation

Johan Bäckström from Finland

Our foreign sales partners with the new PT brochure

SALES MEETING

Mr. Sun with Yang Cao

AROUND THE WORLD

Russia Power:HORA at the most important industry confe-rence in Russia

Russia Power at the end of March 2011 in Moscow: Sven Podlech and Prof. Die-ter Dresselhaus present Ivan Shumeyko from HORA’s partner in Russia, the East Energo Group, with all the product models used at the event, so that they can be kept in Russia.

HORA exhibited for the first time at valve World Expo

The international industry event Val-ve World Expo took place in Düssel-dorf at the end of 2010. For three days, 536 international companies from 37 different countries exhibited the latest technologies, components and systems from the vast field of in-dustrial valves. HORA displayed new products from the two business units Power Technology and Flow Control (formerly Building+Automation) at its booth. Hans-Jürgen Bracke, PT Area Sales Manager Germany, Austria and Switzerland, commented: “Our busi-ness unit presented the new 89 series for the first time. We also call them Heavy Duty Control Valves. Its advan-tage is the high-pressure clamp cons-truction. We also displayed the PRDS (pressure-reducing and desuperhea-ting) valve with integrated steam as-sisted desuperheater, which is very at-tractive for our customers because it safely injects the water downstream the valve.“

Partner Schubert & Salzer Iberica (BvALvE) named Best Technology Supplier 2010

The 600 participants at the 4th International Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Summit, which took place in November 2010 in Seville, named our Spanish part-ner Schubert & Salzer Iberica “Best Technology Supplier” for 2010. The company prevailed over both Foster Wheeler/Schott Solar and Siemens in this category.

Sven Podlech (front) at the booth of our Spanish sales partner Schubert & Salzer Iberica in Sevilla with (l. to r.) Michael Mostolski (HORA) and Angel S. Tavira, Jose Luis Soriano, Carlos Pont and Fran-cisco Bort (all Schubert & Salzer Iberica)

HORA at Russia Power: more than 5800 visitors from 50 countries attended this industry conference.

The HORA booth drew crowds of visitors.

16

PEOPLEIndustrial Engineer Tobias Ottensmeier optimizes internal PT Production processes

Tobias Ottensmeier started working as an Industrial Engineer at HORA in Au-gust 2010. He studied mechanical engineering focusing on production engi-neering. The 37-year-old takes care of the planning and optimization of inter-nal processes in the PT Production. Purchasing new manufacturing tools or new machines belong to his tasks. Objective is clear: optimize the PT Production and increase efficiency. Tobias Ottensmeier keeps in mind that at the end the em-ployee has to work with his ideas on a daily basis, so communicating with his colleagues on the production floor plays an important role.

Sergej Kunz new CAM-Manager

In March 2011 Sergej Kunz became CAM-Manager (CAM=Computer Aided Ma-nufacturing) at HORA. The 31-year-old trained toolmaker used to work at a different company as production supervisor gaining experience with CAM sy-stems. At HORA Kunz started to establish a central CAM programming. Right from the start he’s spoken with colleagues from many different departments: “They were all very friendly and cooperative,” said Kunz. He was also im-pressed by the tidiness of the production area: “I have never seen such clean production floors in other companies before.”

Nico Hillebrand becomes an engineer after his coop-studies at HORA

Nico Hillebrand (30) graduated with a B.A. degree in mechanical engineering with the best grade possible: 1,0. He wrote his thesis about the “Optimization of fixing perforated discs in steam transforming valves“, for which he won an award given by the regional business association. During his studies, Nico Hille-brand also worked as a trainee at HORA. He belonged to the group of so called coop-students combining an apprenticeship with a university program. Today, Nico Hillebrand works as an engineer in the PT Design and Product In-novation, where he focuses on the design of steam valves.

Dr. Gabor Bihercz development engineer

Dr. Gabor Bihercz joined HORA in early 2011 as a development engineer in the Product Innovation department. The 33-year-old, who studied mechani-cal engineering, had already been working in this position in several compa-nies for five years. One of his motivations to come to HORA was the prosperous image of the company. “HORA is a company where everyone can bring on own ideas. Working here is a great challenge for me,” says Dr. Bihercz. After just a few weeks at his new job, he was impressed by how many highly qualified and trained experts are working at HORA. One of his first projects was the develop-ment of an internal norm for a specific material that is used in the production process.

HORA | Holter Regelarmaturen GmbH & Co. KG | Helleforthstraße 58-60 | 33758 Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock | GermanyTelephone +49 (0) 52 07-89 03-0 | Telefax +49 (0) 52 07-8 80 37 | e-mail: mail@hora.de | www.hora.de