The perfect addition: SERRA Maschinenbau joins WINTERSTEIGER
The SERRA-WINTERSTEIGER team at LIGNA 2023
In 2019, WINTERSTEIGER acquired a majority stake in German company SERRA Maschinenbau GmbH in Rimsting near Lake Chiemsee. SERRA develops and produces sawmills and auxiliary machines for forestry.
The company's mobile and stationary sawmills are the ideal addition to the WOODTECH division, as logs with a diameter of up to 160 cm can be split with the sawmills before the wood is further processed on WINTERSTEIGER thin-cutting sawing machines.
A gap in the market: mobile sawmills
SERRA Maschinenbau GmbH was founded in 1990 by Hans Fritz. Mr. Fritz had come to appreciate the advantages offered by mobile sawmills in Canada and presented a machine of this type in 1987 at the Bavarian Central Agricultural Fair in Munich – 35 years ago, this was still a complete novelty in Germany! The sawmill, which is used to cut logs on the spot in the forest, was a genuine gap in the market and swiftly became a success story. Many farmers, cabinetmakers, carpenters, and silviculturalists wanted to work with the mobile sawmill – and the foundation for SERRA Maschinenbau GmbH was laid.
Handover “to the safest hands”
After 20 years, CEO Johann Fritz handed his company over to WINTERSTEIGER for personal reasons. Fritz described this as passing it “to the safest hands”, as SERRA and WINTERSTEIGER had already shared an excellent partnership prior to the handover. WINTERSTEIGER had been delivering saw blades to SERRA since the company's inception, initially via Banso, a company that has also been part of WINTERSTEIGER since 2004. The two companies also share very high quality standards, both produce for market niches, and work very closely with their customers.
Hans Fritz presents the first mobile sawmill in Germany.
1990: Interest in the new sawmill technology was enormous.
After the signing of the contract. In the photo (from left to right): Hans Fritz, Johann Fritz, Mag. Harold W. Kostka (CFO), Dr. Florestan von Boxberg (CEO), DI (FH) Andreas Doubrava, and Christian Mayer
© reschfoto.at
About SERRA Maschinenbau GmbH
SERRA employs roughly 40 people and develops, manufactures, and distributes machines and saw blades for mobile and stationary sawmills, resaws, and auxiliary products for forestry. Roughly 60 % of its wares are exported to over 80 countries.