In the tent used for the celebration deco-rated in the Masa colours of blue and yel-low to gave the occasion a festive am-bience, the company proprietor, OlgaVercammen, and her daughter Victoriagreeted guests from all over the world. Aswell as thanking her staff, OlgaVercammen's speech also contained signi-ficant elements for Masa customers

without whose loyalty theanniversary would nothave been possible.

The speakers which wereto follow were then namedby the supervisory boardchairman Mr. WolfgangAbress, who gave a glimpse of the future forthe company in his com-memorative speech and

then underlined the economicsoundness of Masa.

Karl Werner Kohns, as a mem-ber of the board who is also incharge of sales and wellknown to most of the guests asthe contact for handling alltheir questions and problems,gave a very brief insight intohow Masa developed from asmall trades enterprise intotoday’s High Tech company.He stressed again and againthat the proximity and dedica-tion of the company to its custo-mers is one of the key reasonsfor its successful development.The Minister of Finance for Rhineland Palatinate, Mr.

Gernot Mittler, who is also a friend of thecompany was present as a governmentrepresentative. The Minister paid tribute tothe importance of Masa as an economicfactor in the region by securing the sup-port of a few 100 families and, with allthe ups and downs of competition andeconomics, is not ignoring the human fac-tor in the way it treats its staff.

The president of the Chamber ofCommerce and Industry for Koblenz andmayor of Andernach also said that Masa

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100th anniversary of Masa AG��

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Masa AG, 56626 Andernach, Germany

Approximately 300 international guests assem-bled in the glorious sunshine on the company siteof Masa AG in Andernach, Germany, when the

official program for celebrating 100 years ofMasa AG’s existence began on Saturday 13thAugust 2005.

Lively discussions in the glorious summerweather during a presentation break

The proprietress with her daughter during the welcomespeech

View into the tent which was used for thecelebration full to capacity. The MASA proprietress, Olga Vercammen, among her guests of honour.

Wolfgang Abress, chairman of the supervisory board

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Plant and machinery for the concrete-block industry

In its 100-year history, Masa has participated in many developments

in concrete-block production. The prerequisites for this are a good

team and a feeling for the needs of the market.

We are well experienced in this area as are our customers. And this is

the solid foundation from which we will address the requirements of

the future.

Masa AktiengesellschaftMasa-Str. 2 56626 Andernach, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 26 32 9292 -0Fax: +49 (0) 26 32 9292 -11e-mail: vertrieb@masa-ag.comhttp: //www.masa-ag.com

KalksandsteinXL-Generation

S u c c e s s s t o r y

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is not only a welcome taxpayer but also acommitted contributor to the culture of thetown.

Afterwards some well known customersand customers who had been served bythe company for many years had achance to speak starting with BernhardEhl of Ehl AG in Kruft at Andernach, thelargest concrete block manufacturer ofGermany. With some humour and asignificant amount of depth, Bernhard Ehl,a friend of the company and self-madeentrepreneur par excellence, also gave asmall historical overview of the develop-ment of Masa and, in particular, the morethan 25 years during which business re-

lations between Masa and Ehl have exist-ed. He underlined the fact that Masa hadcontributed effectively to the business suc-cess of Ehl AG and paid tribute in particu-lar to the assistance of the proprietress,Olga Vercammen, by quoting MargaretThatcher who was reported to have saidonce: ”if you want something said, ask a

man. If you want something done, ask awoman“.

After Andrew Bryant, the junior boss ofUnilock from Canada, which has been afaithful and dedicated Masa customer,Alberto Fratus from Italy spoke. He claimedto be the oldest Masa agency afterhaving been with them for 24 years.When offering his congratulation andthanks, Alberto Fratus stressed the out-standing nature of the relationship to allMasa staff, from the management to thetechnicians and fitters.

The last commemorative speech wasreserved for Waldemar Thiele who had

worked for Masa for 27 years. Heemphasised how working at Masa is notonly a job but a way of life. This is the atti-tude of all the staff at Masa and the secretof the company's success throughout thelast 100 years during the many changesof history and the struggle with the com-petition in a more and more globalisedworld.

He expressed the hope that the humanfactor of Masa would continue to beimportant in the future so that the next 100years could also be looked at with confi-dence.The 100th anniversary was splen-didly concluded with a trip on the roman-tic river Rhine from Andernach toBraubach which had as its climax theworld-famous fireworks ”Rhine in flames“over the ”German corner“ in Koblenz fol-lowed by a gala diner. �

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The management team: from the left, Volker Husmann, Dr. Dirk Bunthoff and Karl Werner Kohns

Karl Werner Kohns welcomes guests and ”his customers“

Bernhard Ehl, a genuine entrepreneurthrough and through, dynamic and enthusiastic as ever

The mayor of Andernach pays tribute tothe relationship between MASA and the town

Minister of Finance,Gernot Mittlermakes hisspeech withsome elementswhich arereminiscent of an electioncampaign

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www.cpi-worldwide.com CPI - Concrete Plant International – # 5 - October 2005

Alberto Fratus with the interpreter and moderator for the whole day, Peter Sommer from MASA AG

View into the plant halls with machines awaiting dispatch to destinations all over the world

Further information:

MASA AG, Masa-Straße 2, 56626 Andernach, GERMANYT +49 2632 92920, F +49 2632 929211info@masa-ag.com, www.masa-ag.de

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