Gerhard Metz, founder of the IST METZ Group, and pioneer in the field of UV curing, celebrated his 75th birthday on 17 May. We chatted to the passionate engineer about the experiences that he has had – both in his career and personal life – along the way from student to entrepreneur.
Mr Metz, if you had to draw a graph of your life would it be a straight line or a curve?
It would definitely be an upwards-sloping straight line. My life has consisted of a series of correct decisions that have always taken me onwards and upwards.
There seem to have been a few upheavals in your life though, at first glance...
...But they ended up contributing to my success. This is the way it’s been since my time as a student: I was the first jet-propulsion engineer in the GDR and later, in Ludwigsfelde, the first GDR engineer, who could design and construct test stands for jet-propulsion engines. So I had a successful start to my career, which was also helped by the fact that I had become a father at an early age, which quickly taught me the meaning of responsibility.
So what made you decide to move to the West?
The GDR cancelled its entire aircraft manufacturing programme in the spring of 1961. This meant that I would no longer have been able to work in my chosen career. That, plus the deterioration in the supply networks persuaded my wife and me to go to West Berlin at the end of July 1961. This rather simple escape proved to be another step upwards: once we had been discharged from the reception centre and sent to Nürtingen, I immediately found work again as a test stand engineer.
So how did you come into contact with UV curing?
That was in 1967. A few years previously, I’d switched from the aviation industry to drying technology. My colleagues at Hildebrand had understood my misgivings about the firm’s long-term survival unless we expanded the product range. We went out and collected ideas, and UV-curing was brought into play. Soon afterwards, we unveiled our first UV curing system, which sold very successfully even in the Soviet Union, as it then was. The UV division was hived off into Werner & Pfleiderer-Hildebrand-Strahlentechnik GmbH (STG) in 1977. When STG’s shareholder – Hildebrand – became insolvent in 1982, everything was touch and go. Then my wife Renate’s knack for bold decisions proved itself once more. She obtained capital there and then and we were able to buy STG. We’d used up pretty much all of our private funds, but at least we owned our own firm.
Your wife seems to have played an important role in your career
If she hadn’t been a part of my life, then I wouldn’t have achieved half of what I have today. We had to stretch ourselves from the very beginning, and having our first daughter early on just added to this. Renate never wavered and vigorously supported me in many decisions. She took care not only of our household, but also of STG’s and then IST METZ GmbH’s finances, with great success. And she also made it possible for me to realise my wish of becoming an entrepreneur.
Weren't you ever just a little bit daunted by this far-reaching decision that you'd made?
No. We were always conscious of the fact that there are risks and have always put a brave face on it. If money was tight, then that was something that we were used to from earlier times. And things soon started to take off. I can still remember, when we had about 30 employees, I felt like I’d reached the highpoint of my life. I knew every single member of staff and their families. It was great fun to work there in such a personal atmosphere.
If you look at the IST METZ Group today though, that was only the beginning...
The firm continued to grow and we needed more space. We discovered the new industrial estate in Nürtingen-Zizishausen one time when we were out walking, bought a plot without further ado and constructed our first building there in 1985. At the time, things were going well: turnover was at 30 million marks and we often had cause to celebrate with our employees.
Your relationship with your employees has clearly always been somewhat special
Well yes, people like to joke about me that I did actually take some of that socialist ethos on board. We always socialised to some extent outside the workplace, from a beer or two after work to getting together to play some cards. Getting on together as people was always important to us. And of course, that proved helpful, for example, when handling an ever-increasing number of orders. But that wasn’t the reason why I formed real friendships with some of my colleagues and got involved socially – that’s just in my nature.
How did you make sure then, that this corporate culture continued after your retirement from the day-to-day management of the business?
Well that was covered on two fronts: firstly, 55% ownership of the group was transferred to a foundation, controlled by my wife and me together with a board of trustees, who will continue to manage the group according to our wishes after we have died. Also, the executive reins were initially handed over to two long-time employees: the managing director Joachim Jung and my son-in-law Peter Zylka, both of whom I could depend upon to continue managing the firm in the same spirit. My son-in-law later took early retirement and moved to Italy and unfortunately, Joachim Jung's tenure was cut short by his untimely death. However I am confident that the current managing director, Dirk Jägers, will bring the same tradition of social responsibility to bear when managing IST METZ.
How have you been spending your time since retiring?
I’m happiest at home in Waren an der Müritz – the place where I grew up and where I met my wife at the Carnival when we were both still children. Our first house was near Lake Tegernsee, where I kept myself busy with odd jobs – we always liked building things. Since moving to Waren, I’ve become keen on going out in my motor boat, but we have also become involved in our home region. We sponsor a sports club and the church where we got married; I support chess tuition for children in and around Waren and my wife is actively involved in welfare and support for the blind and other organisations serving the needy. We visit Nürtingen as well, from time to time, purely to keep ourselves up-to-date and meet up with old friends. Apart from that we rarely travel - and why should we? We're perfectly happy here in Müritz.
