Just over three months ago, large parts of the northern Sauerland region were hit by heavy rain and subsequent flooding. “We here in Neuenrade-Küntrop were very lucky at the time,” says Maximilian Schreiber, managing partner. “Around Neuenrade, houses, streets and also industrial companies were in the water. The damage caused was enormous.”

Then came the day shortly afterwards when the ground beneath the logistics area had to be opened up and removed as part of a larger-scale construction project. This work had become necessary because the use of the area had changed over time. What had originally been intended as a covered area for the storage of semi-finished parts independent of the weather was now used for the loading and unloading of 40 t articulated lorries. The enormous weight and intensive use by forklifts eventually led to the concrete slabs no longer lying smoothly next to each other. Therefore, forklifts could only drive over the area at half speed because of the edges that had been created.

“When the excavators opened up the ground underneath the concrete area, it was a surprise for us. We could see that back in the early 70s, only thin 100 mm pipes had been laid to drain surface water. A heavy rain event like the one 3 months ago would have inevitably led to our production facilities getting their feet wet. It’s hard to imagine what that would have meant for us,” says Schreiber. “Of course, we immediately rescheduled and also replaced the other thin pipes. In doing so, we used such sufficiently large pipe diameters that we will definitely stay on the dry side now.”