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On August 16, 2024, the long-time Elaskon operations manager and company owner, Günther Gedecke, became 95 years old. He is also the inventor of the distinctive company name “Elaskon”, which is based on the words “elastic” and “preservative” and at the same time describes the two most important properties of the lubricants with which “Elaskon” has conquered the world market.

Günther Gedecke was born on August 16, 1929 in Dresden and, after complet-ing his commercial training, initially worked in a mineral oil works in Pirna. In 1957 he moved to the then company Richter & Co as technical manager, which had been selling and later producing technical oils and greases since it was founded in 1928. In 1958, Gedecke took over the management of the medium-sized company as a general partner and ran it until 1992.
Günther Gedecke recognized very early on that the lubrication of ropes can make an essential contribution to operational safety and service life. Under this premise, he developed a process for producing a conveyor rope lubricant, which was patented in 1957.
He knew how important objective quality criteria are, which is why standardi-zation of rope lubricants was important to him. He played a key role in the implementation of TGL 11877 – 1961.

Under his leadership, the quality products of the ELASKON brand won sever-al gold medals at the former leading trade fair in Leipzig. The “Elaskon II con-veyor rope protection” was honored in 1964 in recognition of the high scien-tific and technical level. Awards for other products followed in 1973, 1980 and 1988.

Günther Gedecke maneuvered Elaskon through turbulent and uncertain times. With nationalization in 1972, the company became VEB Elaskonwerk. At the beginning of the 80s, 12 chemical-technical companies with around 1,500 em-ployees were brought together as the “Elaskon Combine” and headed by Gün-ther Gedecke as combine director. In 1992, Günther Gedecke managed to have the Elaskon factory retransferred by the Treuhand. At the same time, Gedecke was looking for partners and a successor to ensure the company had a stable perspective in the market economy.
In 1993 he decided to sell the company to the Präg Group from Kempten. Karl Schwald became managing director, who later gradually took over the compa-ny and now runs it as a family business together with his son Tobias and his brother Richard.   

Günther Gedecke always strived for development, optimization and the best quality. He appeared as a speaker and discussion partner at numerous interna-tional specialist events, symposiums and trade fairs. To this day he keeps him-self informed about market developments and is closely connected to his “Elaskoners”. “Especially in the early days, Günther Gedecke’s experiences and advice were important starting capital for us,” explains Managing Direc-tor, Karl Schwald. “We are very grateful to him for the support and above all wish him good health so that he can enjoy his retirement even in old age. The fact that he has developed Elaskon into a respected brand even in difficult times is a great life achievement that he can be very proud of.”
 

EWRIS honoured Steve Cawthorne for his long term of service and expertise. Steve will retire next year from his TWG Chairman position.

In reflection of when Steve was involved in standards and EWRIS, he remembered of European meetings with Dr. Siegmund and Michael Molkow in the 1990’s – stalwarts of the industry for sure some of the older members of EWRIS will remember. But it was not until the late 1990’s/ early 2000’s that he got heavily into EWRIS activities first under the chairmanship of Pierre Francois Baron and then Ray Allen; although he had worked with them for some time previously in the standards’ meetings. Steve would like to mention Anne Jourdain who was most supportive and welcoming of him into the EWRIS family. Unfortunately Anne, Pierre and Ray are no longer with us, but he would like to think that he was able to continue in their mould, bringing and maintaining professionalism and knowledge into the organisation.