„The Vogtland region is my home and the most important thing is my family. I’m so happy and proud that my children have followed me into the company. That makes it easier to say goodbye. It would be awful if I could only drive past the company. But I don’t want to stand in the way of the next generation.”

Anybody, who has successfully fought for something for years, often does not find it easy to let go of it all. That is exactly the situation for Friedmar Götz from Vowalon Beschichtung GmbH in Treuen. He navigated what was formerly the state-owned combine successfully round many a dangerous cliff during the years of radical change around 1990 and guided it into a new era. This involved taking huge risks: the whole family acted as guarantor for the company with all it possessed. Friedmar Götz summarises thing up now by saying, “When we look back, we wonder how we coped with it all.” A major change is taking place at the end of 2015: the company with its 200 employees will pass into the hands of daughter Mareen and son Gregor. Friedmar Götz quotes a sentence from a former politician, Martin Bangemann, to describe this: “I’m leaving, but I’m not disappearing.”

“I definitely wanted to learn English, even in East German days, and registered for a course at the adult education centre. That enabled me to travel round the world and find customers later on.”

“I’ve spent 50 years at the company and 30 years at the top – now it’s time for my grandchildren, for travelling, cycling and working with my fretsaw. The latter is one of my little hobbies – I’ve already made several large Christmas pyramids. It’s always a great feeling if they turn after I’ve finished making them.”

Enough material for a novel

Managing director Friedmar Götz, now aged 64, believes that he could write a book about his experiences during the last few decades. After studying mechanical engineering, he started work at the company in Treuen in the mid-1970s; it had been manufacturing coatings since about 1900. “We were part of a state-owned combine with the major factory in Tannenbergsthal in East German days. Things were not particularly good for us at Treuen; we had to play second fiddle.” One goal dominated Friedmar Götz’s thinking at the time when the Berlin Wall fell; he was factory manager by then: We need to become independent! “I can remember a crucial meeting of the employees in the dining room at the Treuener Hof culture centre. From that time on, we fought hard to break away from the factory in Tannenbergsthal.

“What motivated me? I was ambitious, because I said to myself, “We’re not any more stupid than the people in Western Germany. We can be just as successful. I knew many people in Western countries abroad and tried to continue doing business with them.”

” He now describes this step as the most important in the company’s history. The affiliated factory filed for bankruptcy one year later. “It had joined forces with a company from West Germany, but we made it on our own.” He and Jutta Hölzel, the brand-new managing directors, worked hard and did not give up, even when money became increasingly scarce in the mid-1990s and “the pressure increased”, as Friedmar Götz puts it today. The company with its 200 employees now generates annual turnover of approx. EUR 30 million. It supplies imitation leather for upholstery and vehicles and coatings for household textiles – and the following is very important, according to Götz. “We’re a niche manufacturer and that’s enabled us to accept huge orders.” They include special membranes for fire brigade suits or film for helium balloons. Friedmar Götz adds, “Forty percent of our products are exported round the globe.”  

“When the borders opened up, I immediately travelled round the world. I looked at imitation leather production in China and tried in America to encourage customers to place orders in Treuen. I realised that people were not any different in other places and we didn’t need to be afraid of going there. That helped me a great deal afterwards.”

Vita Friedmar Götz

• Born in Rodewisch in 1950
• Studied mechanical engineering in what was known as Karl-Marx-Stadt from 1971 until 1975
• Employed at the Treuen factory of the Tannenbergsthal imitation leather state-owned combine from 1975 onwards
• Managing partner of Vowalon Beschichtung GmbH from July 1992 onwards
• Honorary appointments: Chairman of the Association for Promoting the Research Institute for Leather and Plastic Sheeting, a board member of the Textile Innovation Network/Chemnitz, President of the VTI Chemnitz (Association of the North-East German Textile Industry) and others.