Then politicans sold the factory to the Japanese combine “Japan Tobacco” to get some more money for their budget.

Now the Japanese decided to close the factory in two years. 300 workers are affected, and the close-down should happen gradually.

The Japanese want to concentrate their production in Austria on one place. This should be the Lower Austrian town of Hainburg. Hainburg was chosen because its factory is not under protection of historic buildings and monuments, in contradistinction to Linz.

Now the Styrian company caught an order in an estimated value of 10 mio EUR. South Korea wants to have the company for “free flow toll traces”.

Already 550 free flow toll traces and 350 toll boxes with intigrated bord computer and smart card were delivered to the Asian nation. “These are the worlds best toll boxes in the world”, says the boss of Efkon.

The prepaid system guarantees that toll system operators always receive their money. They don’t need to bill invoices. By one card it’s also possible to pay the bus, the underground, the parking taxes and even at the petrol station.

Efkon already made very good deals in Malaysia recently. The market share in this country amounts 100 percent. Also Taiwan and India are two very good sales markets in Asia.

Efkon employs 550 workers, 100 are located in Austria. Last year Efkon was able to achieve sales in the value of 50 mio EUR.

The company was able to increase its sales by 16,2 percent up to 199 mio EUR.

The growth was very strong in the sector of cultivation: 38,7 percent up to 32,8 mio EUR. The sector grassland increased by 11,9 percent up to 141 mio EUR.

Pöttinger has also a strong increase in exports. The export ratio amounted 81 percent. The company made its best deals with Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia.

The amount of employees increased from 986 to 1000.

Carinthia is different than the rest of Austria. In Austrias Southern province the industry complains about no availble apprentices.

Most of the pupils who start a job training choose traditional jobs like car mechanic (boys) or hairdresser (girls). Only few go into the industrial sector, too few.

Experts blame the bad reputation of the industry for this kind of development.

This year the sales should increase from 40 million EUR up to seven percent.

The company is located in Carinthias provincial capital Klagenfurt, and manufactures between 6 and 10 millions of high grade watch bands.

Hirsch has 5 manufacturing facilities: one in the headquarter in Klagenfurt, three in India (Bangalore, Hosur, and Dehradun), and another one in China (Longguang Zhen). The secret of success is the connection and combination between flamboyant design and traditional handicraft.

Hirsch has no competitor who can do business competition in all 62 countries at the same time. The only competitor is located in Italy: Morellato. But the Italians are only a competition in the Central European market.

Hirsch employs 1.450 workers world wide. 300 of them are located in Klagenfurt. The company exists since 1765. These are 8 generations.

The enterprise was founded by Rainer Aberer in 1984. The first target was to develope software for telecommunications. Since 1990 Omicron devotes itself in the development of checking devices for guard and measuring equipment in electronic energy systems.

In just a couple of years the enterprise was able to take the leading position in the world market. The sales increased from 300.000 EUR in 1991, up to 42 mio EUR in 2006.

The secret of success? “The customers comes first”, reveals Omicron manager Martin Pfanner.

Important the same way as the customer is also the employee. “Employees are the biggest value of a company”, tells the manager. Omicron created a motivating and exciting environment for its workers. The latest investment in the environment of the company took 7 mio EUR.

Arctic Cat AG wants to stabilize its market position in Europe. The Americans want to focus the whole business in Europe by its Austrian subsidiary from Salzburg.

Two years ago Arctic Cat won the business price of the growth competition in the federal state of Salzburg. Now the company wants to built up a chain store network in Italy, France, Germany and Great Britain.In the past year Arctic Cat Austria made sales in the value of 17 mio EUR. The increase in turnover amounts 83%!

Such a technology has a big potential for the Eastern European market.

The Austrian company Binder & Co. from the Styrian town of Gleisdorf, is world market leader in the manufacture of special machines for waste glass recycling. The new member countries of the European Union in the Eastern part of Europe, are the new markets of the company.

Machines of Binder & Co. are able to see like a human eye. Sensors can differentiate stained glass and white glass, as well as ceramics and other foreign matters with a size of ten millimetres.

If a soldier of the US Navy eats a sandwich, the sausage inside was cut with a cutting system from Austria. 1.500 of those machines are on the market in whole world. Some of them in the galleys of the worlds strongest navy.

S.A.M. stands for “sine auxilio manus” and means “without help from the hand”. The systems named “S.A.M.” are made for big supermarket chains like Spar and Edeka.

Kuchler owns 300 patents. “The networking of mechanic cutting machines with computers sets us apart from our competitors”, says the strategic adviser of Kuchler.

The export quota amounts 80 per cent. Main target countries are Germany, Czech Republic and Russia. Kuchler employs 70 coworkers, and has sales between 10 and 13 mio EUR every year.

The capacities should be clearly extended.

MAN want to increase the manufacture of driver’s cabs from now 30.000 up to 50.000 pieces per year. The truck production should be increased from 23.000 to 30.000 every year.

MAN should receive its demanded road connection from the motorway (Westautobahn) to the city of Steyr, promised Upper Austrias Federal Minister Josef Pühringer (Peoples Party). MAN is waiting for that road already since a couple of years. The start of construction follows on the 14th December, and should last about two or three years.

The chase around the supply of the gas-fired power plan Mellach has just started. And Gazprom is not the only one who might be interested in a deal.

Centrex Europe Energy & Gas AG and the Austrian OMV group are also motivated to get the contract for the supply. Centrex belongs to a holding which is based in Cyprus. The group trades with energy and gas most of all in the region of Central Asia.

The accidental death of the firm owner Klaus Hiendl was possibly the matter of the sale. The combine authority still has to confirm the take over.

The Austrian furniture shop chain XXXLutz is active in Germany already since a couple of years. If the combine authority confirms the deal, XXXLutz has 17.400 workers in 198 furniture shops in Germany.

Siemens Austria is planning to save money and want new structures. So called “shared services” should be implemented in the beginning of October.

400 jobs are in danger. Especially in logistics, fleet of cars management, and purchase.

The instruction comes from Siemens in Munich. It seems the autonomy of the Siemens subsidiary in Austria of the former times is over now.

The Raiffeisenlandesbank from the federal state Upper Austria has arranged a close cooperation with the Southern Russian province Krasnodar.

Exports and foreign direct investments are the watchwords of the cooperation.

Investments in the fields of agriculture, healthcare and infrastructure should be done. Austrians have good chances to participate in roadmaking projects.

Delegates of following companies attended the meeting: health care enterprise Vamed, VOEST Alpine Intertrading, building enterprise Alpine Mayreder, building material producer Asamer and the food combine Vivatis.

Even for the case if the EU-milk-quota-system is going to end in 2015.

The market is stable and the milk price increased for the third time in a row last year.

The Austrian dairy industry was able to keep the sales in the domestic market stable. The export sales increased.

The company wants to have establishments in Moscow, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

“We benifit from the good conjuncture”, says Café+Co boss Gerald Steger. After the plus of 13 percent last year to sales of 98 mio EUR, the company targets the mark of 110 mio EUR.

Café+Co made good sales with desktop devices for the upper office area. Also the taste of the offered products should be coordinated to local conventions.

20 mio EUR are going to be invested in its main factory in Asten, close to Upper Austrias capital Linz. A high-bay warehouse for 11.000 stillage spaces as well as a new laboratory equipment should be created of that money.

Backaldrin topseller bread snack “Kornspitz” was made last year more than one billion times. The sales of the company increased by 105 mio EUR 13 percent last year.

Backaldrin manufacturers more than 400 different baking mixture products. Those are sold to industrial bakeries and confectioners in more than 70 countries. The company was founded in 1964.

The financially stricken glass producer with 250 coworkers cannot clear its financial problems. The enterprise has filed for insolvency today. The liquidation proceedings should follow immediately.

Main creditors are the banks of BA-CA and Oberbank. The banks negociated recently with several interested parties. Among them the Czech Bohemia-group and the German Zwiesel Kristallglas AG.

Zwiesel has the best chances. They wants to save up to 180 working places in Braunau, and promised to invest several millions of EUR to modernize extensively.

The beautiful weather had no negative influence on the attendance, said congress and fair director Georg Lamp.

This years topics were spring, gardening and barbecue, as well as cars, fashion, building, living and renovating. But also the energy conservation was a very important subject-matter on the trade show.

The fair lasted from Thursday to Sunday. 38.000 visitors were counted. The free entry on the first day was used by 4.000 people.

As from October the admixture of ethanol to gas will be duty by law, the hype of biological gas in the past will cause sales problems. The Austrian mineral oil administration “OMV” is the biggest potential purchaser of the fuel-addition. But their demand only amounts 50.000 square metres every year.

The “Agrana” biological ethanol plant in the Lower Austrian village of Pischeldorf was made to produce 240.000 square metres.

Our oversupply should be exported, says Agrana speaker Doris Schober. But for that suitable cars and an adequate petrol station network is needed, replies the Austrian auto drivers club “ARBÖ”.

According to a report in the German newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung” both companies are planning to participate in the privatization of the Turkish electricity market. Thereby new power plants should be built as well.

Until 2010 Verbund and Sabanci want to hold a market share of 10% in the Turkish electricity market.

The share of Verbund raised up to 1,06 percent yesterday morning to more than 34 EUR.

“A great place to work”, the Austrian subsidiary of the US-combine Procter & Gamble was elected the second time in a row to “Austrias best employer”. The silver medal goes to Oracle Austria and bronze to the bank “Raiffeisenlandesbank Vorarlberg”.

The chain store “DM Drogerie Markt” received, the second time in a row as well, the special award for “lifelong learning”. Further special awards went to the consulting company “Die Berater” for “taking use of the potential of older co-workers” and to the domestic T-System subsidiary for “equal opportunities for women”.

Five factors were analyzied in the competition: authenticity, respect, equity, pride and alignment to teams.

The survey took place by an anonymous inquiry schedule.

But the first signs of degeneration can be seen on the horizon. We are strong enough to handle that, thinks the secretary general.

The first economist of the Austrian industrialists association Christian Helmenstein declares the Austrian industry will fulfil its role as developmentally driver also this year.

The order amounts to 13,5 Mio EUR. In 2005 Rosenbauer made sales in the value of 321,3 Mio EUR. The company delivers now 16 airport fire engines “Panther 6×6″ for military bases, declared Rosenbauer last Friday in a press release.

Already in June 2004 the company delivered 21 fire engines to Australia.

Also India is very interested in the Rosenbauer fire engine “Panther 6×6″. 29 pieces should be delivered to Indias biggest airports in the next weeks.

In spite of the glut on the market in the fast food sector, Mc Donalds still moves on. It is true the amounts of 162 fast food restaurants in Austria stagnated last year, but until the year 2015 McDonald’s want to pass the mark of 200 restaurants.

162 Mc Donalds’s restaurants in Austria were frequented by more than 105 mio customers last year. August 2006 was the top month in the whole 30 years of age McDonald’s history. Sales in the amount of 30 mio EUR were made.

McDonald’s has a market share in the fast food sector of 73 percent. In the whole restaurant sector the market share is located by 14 percent. The strongest competitors of McDonald’s in Austria are Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken.