"Shortages of skilled workers and bottlenecks in materials procurement are causing problems for many of our service providers," says Ralf Schwartz, managing director of Lackwerke Peters. Schwartz emphasizes how well the cooperation with electricians, roofers and plant mechanics has remained despite the adversity. Peters is a production company in the chemical industry with about 160 employees. Ralf Georg, Peters' maintenance manager, works with more than 20 trades. A trouble-free production process is of elementary importance to him. "As banal as it sounds: If it rains through the roof, that's the end of the fun, and all the alarm signals go off," says the 43-year-old industrial mechanic.
In the fall of 2021, there was such a situation. A storm swept across the Lower Rhine over the weekend and the roof of Production Hall Two literally came off. "Early on Monday morning, the roofers were there and repaired everything at record speed," reports Ralf Georg. This meant that the assigned shift was able to work through, so that no damage occurred for Peters and the customers could be served in time.