HELDECO was launched 30 years ago. The foundations for the success of this Styrian flagship company are based on a grand vision by founder Helmut Dettenweitz Sen., genuine friendships and a top-secret non-disclosure agreement during its establishment. A look back at the founding (night).
When Helmut Dettenweitz Snr and Helmut Dettenweitz Jnr met Othmar Aigner, the mood was – to put it mildly – gloomy. „Together we sat there for a few minutes to begin with. None of us said anything,“ Aigner recalls today. The trio's silence had been preceded by turbulent days. The father-and-son duo had developed into key specialists at the leading regional company: while Dettenweitz Jnr was being groomed as a management assistant to become a leader of tomorrow, Dettenweitz Snr had worked his way up over decades to become a leading figure and ultimately managed the company's operations – with an unforeseen ending: in a surprise move, the owner appointed a regional politician as managing director – agreements that had previously been in place with the duo became void in an instant.
The falling-out became inevitable: Dettenweitz Sen., exactly 50 years old at the time, and son Helmut had to go. „After a few minutes I then told him that they'd probably have to go it alone now,“ says Aigner, who back then was himself working as an entrepreneur running a business and tax consultancy practice in Kapfenberg. The company's business purpose wasn't even discussed. Aigner: „Heli lived and breathed metalworking. There were no ifs and buts about it.“
founding team
The mood of crisis gave way from minute to minute – making room for new visions and big ideas: the frequency of the meetings in the wine cellar increased, as did the number of participants in the mostly nocturnal exchange of ideas. Whether alcohol was involved? „One has to assume so,“ says Aigner.
Not without a smile. Yet it cannot be called a half-baked idea: because Dettenweitz's visionary power in particular proved contagious – when former colleagues and friends learned of the new ambitions, they spontaneously got in touch. The result: the duo quickly became a founding sextet. Dettenweitz Snr and Helmut Dettenweitz Jnr brought Clemens Pichler, Herbert Zettl, Hannes Schrittwieser and Fritz Neuherz onto the founding team. Aigner remained loyal to tax and business consultancy, but threw himself enthusiastically into the initial pro forma balance sheets and the preparation of the business plan. ‘Back then, there were friends sitting at the table, not strangers,„ Aigner explains.
Confidentiality
The plans hatched in Aigner’s wine cellar never left it. Secrecy was agreed upon, even with wives and partners. „Otherwise, the project would have been doomed to failure before it even began,“ Aigner laughs. The families were only informed when the company was officially founded – no easy undertaking, especially as „employees suddenly became entrepreneurs – and that was certainly one of the biggest hurdles. Because that takes an extreme amount of courage,“ Aigner emphasises. Demonstrating a strong willingness to change was not the only hurdle, because venture capital for high-tech start-ups was sought in vain back then, unlike today.
That is why the founders pooled their resources to purchase land, buildings and machinery. Each member of the sextet contributed 200,000 schillings – a total of around 87,000 euros. This formed the basis for the acquisition of the former site of a regional sawmill, with the Raiffeisenlandesbank in Graz providing the rest. Was there any doubt about the current location? „Of course. There was intense discussion about whether we should take the company somewhere else. In the end, however, we agreed that we wanted to stay here. Because we wanted our commitment to benefit the region as well,“ explains Aigner.
Initial orders
The first hall was built on a greenfield site, managed independently by the shareholders themselves. Alongside the founders„ boundless ambition, the expertise of Dettenweitz Sr. in particular helped secure their first contracts. “He had deep roots in the industry and knew exactly what he was doing. Everyone else was also a genuine expert in their field," explains Aigner.
Just one year after its foundation, the HELDECO team already numbered eleven employees, and by 1992 turnover had reached around ten million schillings (726,000 euros). Another year later, HELDECO was named „Start-up of the Year“. HELDECO's winning streak could no longer be stopped: „What has been achieved here is something quite special,“ Aigner emphasises. Indeed: since its foundation, HELDECO has grown to 60 employees, is unquestionably among the innovation pioneers in Central European metal processing – and serves global players all around the world: material for the next chapters in the company's history.
