This year, the Ministry of the Environment of the State of Baden-Württemberg celebrates its 20th anniversary. To celebrate this, Environment Minister Tanja Gönner is travelling throughout Baden-Württemberg, visiting various companies and institutes. On Wednesday, 28 March 2007, she visited J. Schmalz GmbH, manufacturers of vacuum and handling technology, in Glatten. She was accompanied by Member of the State Parliament Michael Theurer, District Vice-President Eberhard Wurster, District Administrator Peter Dombrowsky, Martin Steudinger, Chief Executive of the Office for Public Order, Construction and the Environment (both from the District Administrator's Office in Freudenstadt) and Tore-Derek Pfeifer, Mayor of the town of Glatten.

After a short presentation, followed by a tour of the company premises, the group discussed current environmental matters and innovative technologies for sustainable development. Tanja Gönner praised the two managing directors Dr. Kurt Schmalz and Wolfgang Schmalz, who have made Schmalz an exemplary company. Dr. Kurt Schmalz took over the management of the company, which then had only a few employees, 23 years ago. Since then, with the aid of his brother Wolfgang Schmalz, he has expended it into a company with over 400 employees which is one of the world's leading manufacturers of vacuum technology. "This is an enormous success in such a short time," said Tanja Gönner. She thanked the Schmalz brothers for their efforts and their dedication to the principle of sustainability: economically successful and, and the same time, with ecological and social responsibility.

Wolfgang Schmalz presented the investment and construction projects planned in the next two years. In the environmental protection area, these are the installation of a new wood-chip heating system (to replace the current old one), the recommissioning of the water turbine for generation of electricity and the creation of a biotope to compensate for the agricultural land consumed by the factory buildings and to provide new habitats for threatened animals and plants. In this respect, Wolfgang Schmalz mentioned the culture of constructive debate between Schmalz and the various authorities, including the town of Glatten, which helped to promote timely implementation of the various projects. The Mayor of Glatten, Tore-Derek Pfeifer, confirmed the good relations with the company and said that Schmalz is an exemplary success story in the rural area. Together with other local companies, Schmalz contributes to the lowest unemployment figures in the Federal Republic of Germany – considerably less than 4%.
And Michael Theurer added: the example of Schmalz shows the practical implementation of an ecological market economy, something which should encourage other companies to follow suit.