Karlheinz Wobser, long-standing Managing Director of LAUDA (Photo © LAUDA)
Karlheinz Wobser, long-standing Managing Director of LAUDA, passed away on December 9, 2022.
Lauda-Königshofen, December 15, 2022 – In the late evening hours of December 9th, well-known Lauda-Königshöfen entrepreneur Karlheinz Wobser passed away at the Caritas Hospital in Bad Mergentheim at the age of 87. Since the founding of the first measuring instrument factory of LAUDA Dr. R. Wobser KG by his father Dr. Rudolf Wobser, Karlheinz Wobser was the first employee to play a decisive role in establishing and rapidly developing the then young company from the ground up. His profound knowledge of refrigeration technology laid the foundation for the company’s rise to its current position as global market leader. He was an authorized signatory and Technical Director until the death of the company founder in 1977, after which he and his brother Dr. Gerhard Wobser assumed the role of general partners when the company transitioned to a GmbH & Co. KG. Karlheinz Wobser was particularly interested in the innovation of refrigeration systems and improvement of production processes as well as the modernization and expansion of factory facilities. After 46 years of dedicated and successful work for LAUDA, Karlheinz Wobser retired at the end of 2002 at the age of 66.
Born on June 28, 1936, as the first child of Dr. Rudolf and Dorothea Wobser in Dresden, in 1942 he began attending school about 20 kilometers away in Medingen, where his father was given the responsibility of setting up an engineering department in the original chemical company Gebrüder Haake. After finishing elementary and high school in Dresden, he graduated in 1954 and began studying mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Dresden in the fall, specializing in precision mechanics.
Due to the increasing political pressure in the GDR, his parents made the decision to flee to West Berlin in August 1955. Soon after, the family found accommodation in Schwenningen am Neckar, where they stayed for a short time. Karlheinz Wobser worked as a mechanic in the Wigo factory in Schwenningen until March 1956, whereas the rest of the family had moved to Burlafingen near Neu-Ulm in the meantime. During this time, his father was on a nationwide search for investors and had found a site and potential customers for his own company and met with interest from the city government of Lauda as well as factory owners Erich Widmann and Paul Hagspiel. The measuring instrument factory of LAUDA DR R. Wobser KG was founded on March 1, 1956, and Karlheinz Wobser was the first employee.
For reasons unknown, his admission procedure into the Federal Republic of Germany initially failed and he risked being deported back to the GDR. Fortunately, a few years later he was granted West German citizenship and therefore also received an ID card. The foregoing uncertainties were a major reason why Wobser was not able to resume his studies. However, as one of the original employees, he had also become indispensable in the development of the young company. He attended many courses to learn the theoretical and practical fundamentals of refrigeration technology and developed the first low-temperature thermostats with his father. In doing so, he paved the way for LAUDA's subsequent rise to its current position as global market leader in the industry.
Karlheinz Wobser met his future wife, Gudrun Schüssler from Tauberbischofsheim, in January 1957, and the couple then married in October 1961. They had three children, Andrea (1962), Gabriele (1963) and Ulrike (1964). All three daughters now have their own families and grown children. In addition, two of his daughters still work at the company today. At the beginning of the 1960s, the young company enjoyed a steady upward trend with a newly developed, revolutionary program. More and more employees were hired, and the company went through one construction phase after the other. Karlheinz Wobser played an important part in this as Technical Director and authorized signatory. When the company founder, Dr. Rudolf Wobser, died on 17 June, 1977 at the age of only 66 after a short serious illness, his two sons, Karlheinz Wobser and Dr. Gerhard Wobser, became general partners and later Managing Directors when the company was refounded into a GmbH & Co. KG.
Karlheinz Wobser was particularly interested in the innovation of refrigeration systems and the improvement of production processes as well as the modernization and expansion of factory facilities. After 46 years of dedicated and successful work for LAUDA, he retired at the end of 2002 at the age of 66. Even after leaving, he showed great interest in the company's further development and attended events organized by the LAUDA Seniors Club. He was presented with the Staufer Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 2006 and the Dr. Rudolf Wobser Medal in 2016 in recognition of his outstanding services to the company and society.
Apart from his work and family, numerous honorary activities have shaped the life of Karlheinz Wobser. He was member of the executive committee of the Sparkasse Tauberfranken bank from 1985 to 2008, a lay commercial judge of the Chamber for Commercial Affairs at Mosbach Regional Court from 1996 to 2004, and a member of the Representatives' Assembly of the AOK health insurance provider for many years. He was also a member of several clubs and had done a great deal for the Lauda tennis club and the Bauland aviation sports club as a long-standing committee member. In addition to flying, his hobbies included playing music on the accordion and keyboard as well as tending his garden. In his later years, he enjoyed playing golf and embarking on river cruises. Unfortunately, worsening health problems prevented him from taking part in these activities to an increasing extent. Nevertheless, he was able to celebrate his 85th birthday with family and many friends in June 2021 as well as his diamond wedding anniversary in October 2021 after 60 years of marriage with his wife Gudrun. In May of this year, he suffered a femoral neck fracture from which it took him a long time to recover. Weakened and struggling with worsening kidney problems, he was hospitalized multiple times and finally passed away on December 9 in the presence of his mourning family. A dedicated entrepreneur and citizen of the city of Lauda-Königshofen is no longer with us.
With LAUDA.LIVE, all temperature control and laboratory solutions become fully networked and intelligent IoT devices. © lauda.de
LAUDA introduces an innovative platform for fleet management, remote maintenance and monitoring to the market
Observant visitors were already able to get a first glimpse at ACHEMA and analytica, and now LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG makes it official: A new digital platform – LAUDA.LIVE – is now online. With comprehensive device management, intelligent analysis and monitoring tools, and sophisticated remote maintenance capabilities, the platform maximizes the performance, uptime, and reliability of LAUDA temperature control solutions.
Comprehensive fleet management for transparent device management
LAUDA.LIVE offers a wide range of functions free of charge. Fleet management lets you manage an unlimited number of devices and enter your own names and locations. Well-structured and individually adaptable dashboards provide a clear overview and simplify quick device localization for large device fleets. Users also have access to device-specific product documentation: From data sheets and manuals to installation drawings, everything is just a click away. For optimum management of the temperature control units, LAUDA.LIVE also presents a maintenance logbook and supportive warranty management. As a result, the platform helps to guarantee that no maintenance is forgotten and that the warranty status is always transparent. Optionally, warranty extensions can also be requested directly or service tickets can be created. These tickets are archived and can be used again for reference in subsequent analyses. All these functions do not require the connectivity of the devices and can be applied regardless of the device type.
Extended range of functions for remote maintenance and analysis
The bookable service "Remote Support & Monitoring" provides you with the option of remote maintenance, analysis, and monitoring of the devices. A service hotline with German, English and Chinese native speakers is available 24 hours a day, five days a week (Central European Time). Remote maintenance can significantly reduce the costs of service deployments as the causes of faults can be identified in advance and ideally rectified without the need for on-site service deployment. Software updates and function updates will also be able to be performed remotely in the future, saving further costs and increasing system performance.
Initial user feedback has made it clear that customers also want intelligent monitoring and analysis functions in particular. LAUDA therefore enables the remote monitoring of all networked devices from anywhere – at home, while traveling or in the factory. Device data can be displayed graphically and exported for external documentation, analysis and testing.
Sophisticated and secure
The digital platform is cloud-based with access in the web browser and is therefore compatible with every common operating system. The display is optimized for mobile devices and can be output on a desktop/notebook PC, as well as a tablet or smartphone.
Particular attention was paid to security. Users can choose either a local or a mobile network connection between the constant temperature equipment and LAUDA.LIVE. State-of-the-art PKI encryption, two-factor authentication and access rights management protect the data transmitted to LAUDA.LIVE according to Microsoft Azure IOT recommendations. PKI stands for Public Key Infrastructure, which uniquely identifies a device that is communicating with LAUDA.LIVE. Microsoft's Azure cloud application is used in various security-critical industries, such as energy, aviation and finance. Most people are already familiar with two-factor authentication from the latter sector, as one can only log into online banking using two security levels (for example, a password and TAN). Other applied standards are also known from everyday life – this is the same technology that is employed in VPN networks that are used to access company servers in the home office, for example. The data is stored on European servers in compliance with GDPR.
With LAUDA.LIVE, LAUDA devices become fully networked, intelligent IoT devices. The constant temperature equipment manufacturer is therefore taking precise temperature control into the digital age. According to its claim "Empowering excellence. For a better future", it provides its customers with a comprehensive and powerful package of functions to enable outstanding performance through precise temperature control.
LAUDA.LIVE is now fully available. More information is available on the Internet at: https://www.lauda.live/
The President & CEO of LAUDA, Dr. Gunther Wobser, together with the Managing Director of LAUDA France, Eric Couche, his designated successor, the current Sales Director of LAUDA France, Maxime Sabre, and the Managing Director of LAUDA, Dr. Ralf Hermann.
Company celebrates Managing Director of LAUDA France on his retirement
The long-standing head and Managing Director of LAUDA France S.A.R.L., Eric Couche, is the first overseas employee of LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG to be awarded the Dr. Rudolf Wobser Medal for his outstanding performance during his 17 years of service at LAUDA. Eric Couche has managed the foreign subsidiary since it was founded on March 1, 2005, and will retire at the start of next year. To present the Dr. Rudolf Wobser Medal and say farewell to the longstanding colleague in the festive setting of the Château Mont Royal in Chantilly, near Paris, the President & CEO Dr. Gunther Wobser traveled to France for the occasion, together with his wife and the Managing Director for international sales, Dr. Ralf Hermann. The entire team at LAUDA France took part in the celebratory evening.
LAUDA France was founded on March 1, 2005, in Neuilly-sur-Seine – starting with Sales Director Eric Couche as its only employee and an annual turnover of 1.5 million euros. LAUDA France was not only the first subsidiary outside Germany; Eric Couche was also the first overseas LAUDA employee. “I am very thankful for Eric Couche’s contribution and his exceptional work in building up our first foreign subsidiary. The development of LAUDA France has been positively shaped by his reliability and enterprise,” remarked Dr. Gunther Wobser, during his address. Today, the company of ten employees serves key customers in sectors such as pharma or automotive, and expects to generate almost five million euros in revenue in 2023. “That is an amazing achievement,” said the President & CEO in recognition. Maxime Sabre, who has worked for LAUDA France for more than ten years, will succeed Eric Couche as Managing Director of the subsidiary. “Eric Couche and the team at LAUDA France have made a huge contribution to LAUDA's success. I wish him all the best.”
The Dr. Rudolf Wobser Medal, which is made of real gold, was created for the occasion of the 60th company anniversary in 2016 and is awarded to individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to the family company. Eric Couche is the first overseas employee to be honored with the medal.
Award ceremony in Italy: Dino Delbue, Sales Manager at DELO, Dr. Gunther Wobser, President & CEO of LAUDA, Dr. Claudio Baldi, Founder and CEO of DELO, and Antonio Manconi, Managing Director of LAUDA Italia (left to right) Photo: LAUDA
Italian agency DELO receives LAUDA Award
LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG has awarded the LAUDA Award for exceptionally successful new agencies to the Italian technology service provider DELO Instruments S.R.L. The award was presented at the DELO headquarters in Fizzonasco, south of Milan, on October 28. President & CEO of LAUDA, Dr. Gunther Wobser, personally handed over the award to Claudio Baldi, Founder and CEO of DELO Instruments.
“In the last four years, the collaboration between LAUDA and DELO has developed beautifully in the area of battery testing for the northern Italian automotive sector,” explains Antonio Manconi, Managing Director of LAUDA Italia, who is responsible for the direct collaboration with the Italian partner. “By marketing LAUDA constant temperature equipment to reputable manufacturers of vehicles and components in Italy, DELO has been able to achieve outstanding results. Our goal is to further expand the business and to support customers in the automotive industry with optimal temperature control solutions for complex test scenarios.”
“With LAUDA Italia S.R.L. and Managing Director Antonio Manconi ,we have built up a strong organization in Italy that has quadrupled our market share to around 40 percent, since it was first founded in 2014,” adds Dr. Gunther Wobser. “DELO Instruments has been a reliable partner at our side since 2018. Thanks to the support of our international agencies, electric mobility is one of LAUDA’s fastest-growing areas of business activity. That’s why we would like to thank our new agency, DELO, for a fantastic year in 2021 with this award.”
Image: The newly built production site in Terrassa, Spain.
Celebratory inauguration of the new production site in Terrassa, Spain
The Spanish subsidiary of LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG, LAUDA Ultracool, SL, has officially inaugurated its new production site with a celebratory ceremony in Terrassa, near Barcelona. In doing so, the temperature control specialist has successfully completed its first construction project abroad – and its first greenfield construction of an entire production facility. The family company has invested around seven million euros in the new-build in Spain, and created around 4,000 m² of new production areas and almost 1,000 m² of office space on the 9,000 m² site. As a result, the Spanish subsidiary has doubled its production capacities for LAUDA Ultracool circulation chillers, to meet growing demand worldwide for energy-efficient industrial cooling. The expansion of Spanish subsidiary is strategically aligned with the ambitious Drive250 strategy project, with which the world market leader aims to more than double its revenue within five years.
Along with the workforce and the Managing Director of LAUDA Ultracool, Xavier Armengol, the festivities were attended by high-ranking representatives from Germany, including President & CEO Dr. Gunther Wobser and his father Gerhard Wobser, as well as Managing Directors Dr. Marc Stricker and Dr. Mario Englert. Regional representatives including the Mayor of Terrassa Jordi Ballart and Deputy Mayor Núria Marin, and Patrick Heinz, the Deputy Consul General of the German Consulate General in Barcelona, also took part in the event. In their speeches, Ramon Talàmas, President of the Terrassa Chamber of Commerce, and Joan Romero, Representative of the Catalonian Government and CEO of ACCIO, an organization to ensure the competitiveness of Catalonian businesses, as well as Antoni Abad, President of the CECOT Entrepreneurs’ Association, praised the contribution and commitment of the world market leader LAUDA to the burgeoning economic region of Catalonia.
“In recent years, LAUDA Ultracool has grown steadily and successfully positioned itself on the market with modern, energy-efficient circulation chillers,” said Dr. Marc Stricker, summarizing the developments of the last few years. “The new build will create urgently needed capacities for our biggest overseas subsidiary, both in production and for the further expansion of the product line. Accordingly, this important investment is perfectly in line with our Drive250 growth strategy.”
“Like in 2011, when we acquired the Spanish subsidiary, we are showing courage and investing during difficult times,” remarked Dr. Gunther Wobser during his festive speech. “That’s why it is all the more important that we as a company send a visible signal of confidence and determination. By doing so, we can write our success story together.”
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