This year, we are looking back and embarking on a time travel through the company's 30-year history. We will search through picture archives, conduct interviews and listen to contemporary witnesses who can provide exciting insights into the history and milestones of the company's development from its beginnings to the present day.

Micro-Hybrid Electronic GmbH was founded exactly 30 years ago in May 1992. Managing Director Dr. Knuth Baumgärtel and son of the company founder Werne Baumgärtel tells in an interview with Marketing Team Manager Konstanze Hartmann about the challenges and cheerful incidents around the founding year.

The requirements

What was the situation like at the current company headquarters in Hermsdorf at the turn of the century at the end of the 1980s? What role did the Hermsdorf ceramic works play in the beginnings of the company? How did the political changes begin? In which groundbreaking developments did the later company founder participate as head of development at KWH?

Dr. Knuth Baumgärtel provides answers in the first part of our interview.

The foundation

In 1991, the Kombinat Keramische Werke Hermsdorf had split into four companies. Werner Baumgärtel headed one of these companies, which focused on microelectronics. A fateful meeting in the same year was to be the beginning of a brilliant entrepreneurial success story. Karl Wisspeintner, a West German company, visited the company in Hermsdorf and was impressed by the know-how in the field of thick-film technology.

The sympathy, both on a human and technological level, between Werner Baumgärtel and Karl Wisspeintner was immediate. Just one year later, the two visionaries signed the founding documents. Why Karl Wisspeintner was a valuable partner and unshakable support for the long-term and sustainable development of the company? The answers are given in the second part of our interview.

First Milestones

The exciting start-up time was followed by the challenges of everyday life, which were mainly due to the upheaval of the system. Machines and equipment were initially rented from the Treuhand before they could later be purchased. Suddenly, questions like "How do we position ourselves strategically? Who do we want to be and where do we want to go? How do I do good business? How do I assert my interests? "Karl Wisspeintner was rightly awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his services to East German integration. He has spared no time and effort to be here on site in Hermsdorf and to always seek conversation, solve problems and offer assistance until late at night. This has decisively shaped the long-term and sustainable development," says Dr. Knuth Baumgärtel.

In the last part of the interview, you will learn what the success of the cooperation between the Micro-Epsilon Group and Micro-Hybrid is based on to this day and what a marathon has in common with our success story.