Hitzinger: Back to its Best

After around a year within the Techco Group, Hitzinger, the Linz-based company with a long tradition of generator manufacturing, is well on the way to regaining the status and repute earned within the hydropower market over many years. At Hitzinger, the whole world revolves around electric machinery. Now the economic turbulence of 2023 has been left behind the company is ready to concentrate all efforts on its core area of expertise: the production of customised power generators for navy, rail, industrial, and – above all – hydropower applications. Hitzinger‘s reorganisation has led to the development of refurbishment and repairs as a separate area of business expertise, enabling the experienced machine-building specialists to contribute their extensive hydropower sector knowledge and know-how to the refurbishment of existing generators.

HITZINGER has stood for supreme-quality sustainable energy generators for almost 80 years. Headquartered in Linz, Austria, many decades of experience, and products that have always met the toughest market demands, have contributed to the excellent reputation the company enjoys within the industry. The company‘s trademark has always been the provision of customised energy solutions for specific requirements, and the capacity to incorporate numerous special and specific customer requests – establishing standards in the past that the company intends to uphold long into the future. “It’s logical that a reputation like ours generates a corresponding level of expectation. Past successes demand that we continue to guarantee the highest quality solutions – so nothing has changed in this respect,” states Dr. Daniel Huber (Dipl.-Ing.), Managing Director for Technology and Sales. The continued existence of the long-standing Linz-based HITZINGER brand is due in no small measure to the unwavering support and loyalty of its customers, and is now clearly being reflected in the order books. Huber continues: “The numerous orders from within the hydropower sector are a great motivator. They show us that customers have maintained their belief in – and appreciation of – the quality and performance of our generators.”

Utilising new synergies

HITZINGER Power Solutions GmbH emerged from the 2023 insolvency, and has been part of the Austrian Techco Group since February 2024. The Linz-based generator manufacturer has a long history, and has been integrated into the secure environment of a stable industrial group that currently employs around 400 people, generating an annual turnover of 60 million euros. Daniel Huber believes potential synergies can be utilised moving forward: “Above all, the opportunities we see for leveraging synergies in the hydropower sector stem from the fact that the group includes a manufacturer of mechanical sheet-metal bending parts and a manufacturer of switchgear and transformer stations. These are overlaps that HITZINGER can, and definitely will, utilise in future collaborations within the hydropower sector.”

HITZINGER’s corporate culture proves its worth

One significant reason the HITZINGER brand survived the troubles of the previous year unscathed was the unbroken loyalty of its employees. The takeover by the Techco Group facilitated the retention of central know-how carriers in key positions. Managing Director Daniel Huber explains how sustained employee cohesion and a willingness to face the challenges together were of great benefit: “Over the years, the firm’s corporate culture ensured employees had built up a strong bond with the HITZINGER brand and company. A sense of togetherness had clearly developed. If it hadn’t, the company would probably no longer exist in this form. We are all very proud to have got through this together.” Huber returned to the Linz-based generator manufacturer after a brief stint with another company. In the last few months the company has also managed to bring back some proven employees who have expressed their belief in the new Techco Group setup. Philipp Oberndorfer, head of the sales team in the hydropower sector, is, like Daniel Huber himself, a well-known figure within the hydropower industry.
HITZINGER is justifiably proud of having employees it can refer to as ‘long- servers’. The longest-serving and best-known employee of all is Helmut Roland, a mechanical engineer who joined the company in 1979, and now makes his wealth of experience and knowledge available to the company as an expert consultant.

In-house engineering expertise

Along with HITZINGER’s commitment to research and development, the internal engineering and design expertise the business has accrued will be indispensable in the future. “We are constantly faced with the latest demands of the market, and with trends that require the right response. Grid codes, the latest requirements for the electricity grid, are perhaps the best example of this. We managed to adapt our machines in record time thanks to our extensive experience. Generators built today are expected to comply with the very latest and specific grid feed-in guidelines. Furthermore, it’s essential to consider the type of documentation the customer will require in order to obtain valid certification. We are currently leading the way in this area,” says Huber, and explains the importance of a company having a free hand in this respect: “Anyone who, like us, has mastered the design of electrical equipment down to the finest detail, will ultimately find it much easier to adapt the generators to given requirements. Dependence on third parties would make this much more difficult, which is why we need to keep this engineering expertise in-house.” In this context, the expert points out that, as well as having to focus on the three-phase machine itself, generator manufacturers now need to be on top of the entire electrical system.

New workflow ideas

Ongoing machine development is part of everyday life at the company for Managing Director Daniel Huber: “Development is a continuous process. Drawing on decades of experience in machine design, calculation, production and testing, we are in constant pursuit of new ideas for optimisation, enabling new production techniques and materials to find their way into serial production. It’s a never-ending work in progress.” Among other things, HITZINGER has modified the product line of small scale alternators. The alternators are not only applicable universally but also offer advantage in pricing due to the standardization of components. Of course, HITZINGER has continued its good relations with Austrian universities and universities of applied sciences, with whom the company collaborates – particularly on tricky scientific issues. This is an important channel for the transfer of expertise; a highly valued item at HITZINGER.
In addition to product development, Daniel Huber and his team are addressing various other market requirements: “The topics of digitalisation, product life cycles and life cycle costs are also playing an increasingly important role in our activities, so we are giving plenty of thought to new business models in which HITZINGER can fulfil its high expectations. It is about the question of whether a capital good should only be valued according to its purchase price or also according to its life cycle costs and ultimately aims to determine how we, as a quality supplier of electrical machines, can differentiate ourselves from our low-cost competitors from Asia. After all, we don‘t build machines where the warranty ends after two years..” In this case Daniel Huber is referring to HITZINGER generators that have provided reliable service for over 50 years, and only once required bearing replacements.

Generator regeneration

Hence, HITZINGER believes it’s logical and makes good sense to accompany the machines it has built throughout their entire life cycles. Who else is better suited to this task than the manufacturer? An independent ‘Refurbishment & Repair’ business department was set up within the company under the management of Gregor Bauer (Ing.). “As a manufacturer, we have access to all calculation documents, building regulations, original requirements and designs. That’s an entire database, some of which goes back decades. This makes it possible to compare current measurements and readings with those provided at the time of initial delivery, and to verify results reliably. Conventional repair companies do not offer these advantages. At best they can restore the status quo. If parameters have changed over the course of time, we can adapt and optimise machines to accommodate the new challenges,” says Daniel Huber on the benefits of the new refurbishment department. Work is carried out by long-serving, experienced employees. These repair work experts have gained a great deal of experience in the field over many years – ultimately for the good of HITZINGER customers.

Downtimes are critical

As a rule, refurbishing a generator is less time-consuming than building a new one. Ultimately there is less downtime for the plant. Daniel Huber elucidates: “All in all, if a clean power plant can be reconnected to the grid earlier, refurbishment is both more economical and better for the environment,” and outlines the refurbishment procedure in a little more detail: “During refurbishment, the generator is brought into the factory, dismantled, cleaned and dried by our specialist staff. Subsequently, all components are inspected, various electrical readings are taken, wear parts are replaced and the entire machine is overhauled – and that‘s just the standard programme. Customers with generators that are 20 or 30 years old usually take advantage of our advanced programme in which active parts, such as windings or protective plates, are replaced. The even more comprehensive stage 3 overhaul involves modernising existing machines and adapting them to the latest requirements – like new grid feed-in guidelines.” Basic refurbishments take a few weeks, more extensive refurbs a few weeks more. Whatever the case, the aim is to guarantee rapid refurbishment and minimise system downtimes. The high concentration of profound expertise within the company, and the broad range of in-house production services, enables both standard parts and optimised components to be manufactured in a short time. HITZINGER‘s refurbishment team has not only chosen to focus on its own generators exclusively but to repair and refurbish machines of other manufacturers as well. “The wealth of experience concentrated here means our refurbishment programme can include generators from other manufacturers,” Huber explains, and points out that there has already been a great market response to – and ready acceptance of – this service package.

Focus on core expertise

Since being taken over by the Techco Group, HITZINGER has become noticeably leaner. The airport ground power supply and UPS systems divisions have been discontinued. Both divisions have been removed, enabling the long-established company to concentrate even more closely on generators for hydropower applications, on the railway and navy sectors, and on industry. In Daniel Huber’s words: “We are focussing on our core competencies, supplying customised machines for every type of application. The needs of each project and customer are handled with an individual approach to find the best possible solution, and this is a principle we will continue to adhere to.”
HITZINGER lives up to its well-known company slogan: ‘Power.Anytime.Any-where.’ As a company that thinks and acts sustainably, HITZINGER is an innovative and competent partner for the provision of clean energy. Decades of experience and Austrian technical expertise guarantee supremely efficient products that produce a reliable and sustainable supply of energy. HITZINGER is back!