MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik is a major German plant construction business focused on custom-engineered solutions for the oil and gas industry. Since 2012, the company has been part of the internationally operating STREICHER Group, headquartered in Deggendorf, Germany.
Founded by master builder Max Streicher in 1909, the family-owned group has about 3,500 employees today and is divided into four divisions: Pipelines and Plants, Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Structural Engineering, and Raw and Construction Materials.
“Our company belongs to the Pipelines and Plants division,” states Manfred Bernhardt, Operation Manager of MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik. “Together with STREICHER Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG in Gommern near Magdeburg, we are responsible for the entire group’s plant construction activities.”
Based in Niederwinkling in Bavaria, MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik specialises in fuel supply engineering, turbine engineering, refinery engineering and gas storage/compressor engineering. The fuel supply engineering portfolio comprises gas measuring and regulating stations, fuel supply facilities for power plants, pressure vessels, biogas plants for liquid gas conditioning as well as all related maintenance services.
In the turbine engineering segment, the company provides assembly, pipe work and modification services for gas and steam turbines and inspection, maintenance and reconstruction services.
The third activity, refinery engineering, focuses on systems and components for the petrochemical and chemical industries. The comprehensive offering is rounded off by feeding-in and transport compressors, plant automation solutions and gas storage caverns.
STREICHER has concentrated on plant construction services since the beginning of the 1990s, and the subsidiary employs approximately 130 people today. “Our staff numbers have doubled in this period as a result of our positioning as a provider of complete plant engineering solutions,” explains Mr. Bernhardt.
MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik is operating in a highly competitive market environment. “The situation in the oil and gas industry is very tense at the moment,” says Mr. Bernhardt. “Due to the low oil price, many oil and gas companies are very cautious with regard to major investments. There are currently too few large-scale projects.”
Nevertheless, MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik is confident that it will be able to continue growing in the medium and long term. “We benefit from the trend that more and more plant manufacturers give up their engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities,” explains Mr. Bernhardt. “As a consequence, competition becomes less fierce, this results in new market opportunities for us.”
MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik attaches great importance to constant training and staff development. The company has many loyal employees who have been with STREICHER for up to four decades.
In addition, the plant engineering firm uses permanent workers exclusively and no temporary staff. A problem, however, which the company is confronted with is the growing taxation of expense allowances for assembly work. “The tax-free wage fractions are constantly being reduced by the government,” explains Mr. Bernhardt. “This means that assembly and installation jobs which can take between months and years, both at home and abroad, are becoming less and less attractive, and that is getting increasingly difficult for us to find qualified people for these jobs.”
Yet MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik is proud to have many people with profound know-how and many years of experience in plant construction and engineering. “Expertise and experience make the difference in our business,” says Mr. Bernhardt. “In addition, you need to take every new project seriously and provide enough manpower, right from the start. Last but not least, effective project management and controlling is absolutely essential to be successful.”
MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik generates approximately 50% of its revenues through international projects. At present, the company is involved in major oil and gas projects in South America, Asia, North Africa and in the ‘–stan’ countries such as Kazakhstan. Most projects handled by MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik have a volume in the double-digit million euro range.
“Larger projects up to 200 million EUR are managed in cooperation with our sister plant engineering firms in the STREICHER Group,” states Mr. Bernhardt.
In Germany, MAX STREICHER Anlagentechnik continues to expand its service portfolio to further enhance customer proximity. “Our customers are increasingly outsourcing maintenance and other services,” Mr. Bernhardt describes the development in the domestic market. “It is our commitment to meet these growing demands with excellent, quality services and custom-engineered plant solutions.”
