What has been reported about our work.
Reports from television and the press about sites where GRANTIRO has worked, and about the questions behind them. Most of the pieces are no longer available from the media outlets, which is why they are kept here in the archive. The summaries below are ours; the original reports appeared in German.
The Breyden foundry is looking for an investor to save 230 jobs
The foundry in Lollar was shut down at the end of 2025. The works council and management are looking for an investor for the site together with the economic development agency of the Gießen district, the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs and GRANTIRO.
A transfer company has been in place for the 230 employees since the start of the year, and it runs for only twelve months. A workable solution is therefore needed by mid-year, otherwise the prospect of continuing production drops sharply.
Four routes are being examined: adding brake disc coating to the plant’s competencies, a sales push, contacts brokered through GRANTIRO, and industrial reuse of the site without a foundry.
Works council in Eitorf wants to keep the ZF site with a new concept
The automotive supplier ZF is closing its plant in Eitorf at the end of 2027. The works council and the IG Metall union refuse to accept that as the end of the site and are looking for investors themselves.
The works council commissioned GRANTIRO to run the innovation process, and a budget for developing the business concepts was negotiated with the parent group.
Of 590 employees, 250 to 300 are to stay on and build something new. Around 300 ideas came out of interviews with the workforce, and about 30 concepts matching the site’s profile were worked out in the following workshops.
GRANTIRO on ZDF heute live
Recession, insolvencies and a gloomy business outlook: the German government met at Schloss Meseberg to agree on counter-measures.
Peter E. Rasenberger of GRANTIRO analysed the closing press conference live on ZDF and put the growth package into context for industrial companies.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
GRANTIRO on ZDF heute: why wind power manufacturers are running out of air
Germany wants to expand wind power, yet one manufacturer after another is closing. The Eickhoff gearbox plant in Klipphausen, only fifteen years old, was to shut down at the end of the year.
Peter Rasenberger of GRANTIRO put the case in a wider frame: de-industrialisation is happening precisely in the fields the energy transition depends on, and the number of companies moving abroad is rising.
At Eickhoff the employees took matters into their own hands and, supported by the IG Metall union and GRANTIRO, developed ideas for keeping the plant and the team together.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
GRANTIRO on ZDF heute in Deutschland
GRANTIRO co-founder Peter E. Rasenberger spoke to ZDF about de-industrialisation in German wind energy.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
GRANTIRO on ZDF Morgenmagazin
GRANTIRO co-founder Peter E. Rasenberger spoke to ZDF about de-industrialisation in Germany.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Wind power from Klipphausen: employees want to save the gearbox plant themselves
The Eickhoff Wind Power gearbox plant in Klipphausen was facing closure. More than 150 employees decided to try to save it rather than give up.
Together with the IG Metall union and GRANTIRO they worked their way from around 300 ideas down to 30, with the aim of presenting a final concept to an investor who would take over the whole plant.
The union stressed that simply letting a modern plant go would be absurd, and that the previous owner supported the effort because a sale would cost far less than a closure.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Why wind turbine manufacturers in Saxony are closing their plants
It sounds paradoxical: wind power is to be expanded, yet in Saxony one manufacturer after another is closing. The report follows the Eickhoff workforce in Klipphausen after the announcement that their plant would shut.
The employees decided to take the wheel themselves and to develop, with the union and GRANTIRO, a future for the site beyond wind turbine gearboxes.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Niesky gets serious about wooden wind turbines
An idea by grammar school students in Niesky, to build wind turbines from wood instead of concrete and steel, could turn into production in the town and the surrounding district.
The idea was born in a two-day innovation workshop run by the Schleiermacher grammar school, the development agency Eno and GRANTIRO. The potential has now been analysed and Dresden is backing the project.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Why not build wind turbines out of wood?
Grammar school students in Niesky developed ideas for what could come after the coal phase-out: wind turbines made of wood, hemp cultivation, and an app for the district.
The ideas came out of an innovation workshop in which GRANTIRO worked with the school and regional partners.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Job cuts at Alstom
After Alstom took over the train manufacturer Bombardier, German sites feared for their future and employees expected substantial job cuts.
The article describes the hope for an unconventional restart at the Görlitz site, and the search for business models that would use the plant and the workforce rather than shrink them.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Investor takes over the Ledvance plant in Eichstätt
The plant of the lighting manufacturer Ledvance in Eichstätt was saved. The Munich investor Callista Private Equity acquired the business together with all 333 employees and the essential assets.
The buyer committed to continuing operations with a site guarantee until 2023. The IG Metall union welcomed the takeover.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Ledvance employees fight for their plant
The employees of the Ledvance plant in Eichstätt, the former Osram lamp factory, feared for their jobs after the Chinese owner announced the closure.
Many of them worked on a new business model for the site on their own initiative, supported by GRANTIRO and the IG Metall union, while the owner pushed for the shutdown.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Saving analogue photochemistry
Tetenal Europe produced chemical products for 170 years, above all for developing analogue photographs. Then the company went insolvent, and the employees refused to give up.
The article tells the story of the revival: new business models around the renaissance of analogue photography, and a management buy-out from within the workforce.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
What to do when restructuring is no longer an option?
Written by Peter E. Rasenberger and Georg von der Ropp: what if an entirely new business model were developed out of an ongoing insolvency, and the company were sold on that new basis?
The article uses Schaidt Innovations as its case: a modern plant in Rhineland-Palatinate whose core business, car radios, had collapsed, and which was sold with a new business model and every job kept.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
Case study: farewell to the sound console
During its insolvency the former car radio manufacturer Schaidt Innovations managed to find a new owner with a different business model.
Under the name Webasto Mechatronics the site in Schaidt now produces charging stations and control units, among other things.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
The future of the automotive industry
Written by Dr. Wolf-R. von der Fecht and Peter Rasenberger: is your business model fit for the future? The quick test is to look inside an electric vehicle and check whether your products appear in it.
A combustion drive train has around 2,000 components, an electric one only 80. Suppliers whose parts do not appear in the electric car need a different business model, not a more efficient one.
The original report is no longer available from the outlet. Text held in the GRANTIRO archive.
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