March 9 - Rolf Riedl GmbH, part of the Riedl Group, is set to celebrate its Silver Jubilee.
When Rolf D. Riedl founded Rolf Riedl GmbH , an international plant relocation and project forwarding company, in 1987 at Hagen in Westphalia, Germany, he was already an industry veteran and well-known personality in the global heavy machinery logistics industry.
A quarter of a century ago, equipped with decades of professional industry experience, most recently as managing director of a large heavy haulage firm, Rolf decided to leverage his wide range of international contacts to take the step of forming his own company to fulfil his corporate vision. And all this at the tender age of 48 years!
Now in his early 70s, Riedl is still active within the company and says: "The business of general freight forwarding has evolved considerably in the last 25 years, as indeed as the nature of project forwarding with the rise in importance of compliance issues, health, safety and environmental issues and ever more demanding and complex tendering process. However, what remains the same is that to be successful as a project forewarder, a company needs to be dedicted to hard work, thinking outside the box; and being able to reacte quickly to ever changing conditions."
Riedl recalls that in February, 1987, the company started with a small but energetic management team. Closely associated with the launch was Joachim Patzner , who brought his many years of experience in the heavy-duty truck market to the company. Patzner today heads the company, together with Iris Katrin Müllejans (nee Riedl).
In its first year, the company took advantage of Rolf's contacts within the industry and initiated the founding of The Heavy Lift Group as a platform for cross-border co-operation between leading European heavy lift and transport companies. The formation of this international, global network was a cornerstone in the success of the company.
Five years later, in 1994, Rolf realised his concept of an international full-service company in the plant and the project area by teaming up with Riedl & Stöcker GmbH in Hagen, a company specialising in heavy assemblies, skidding and lifting techniques; Riedl & Tschierschke GmbH in Frankfurt on Main, a specialist in heavy assemblies, heavy skidding, lifting and plant relocation; and Transgerma Riedl & Kiehntopf GmbH Bremen, an overseas shipping and project forwarder.
Fast forward to today, these companies work together under the umbrella of the industry-leading Riedl Group, at whose core, Rolf Reidl GmbH remains as it looks back on a most successful 25 years of activity.
