SCHOECK BLOG » Christian Witt

One day full of Isokorb® with Alex

Christian Witt — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:30:17 +0000

When Alex Krenczik called me to invite me to a half day seminar at the German-Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Toronto where he and other high level experts were presenting about their own experience and research results with thermal bridge aspects, I said “sure, I’d love to”, especially because I knew we will be launching the Schöck Isokorb® soon. The seminar was called “Avoiding / Coping with Thermal Bridging”. That was an excellent opportunity for me to meet people from the industry. So I accepted. What I didn’t know at that time was the tight agenda that Alex had prepared for us on that day.

“You can pick me up just before 8am”, he said. All right, no problem. I just have to wake up at 5am in order not to get into the morning traffic jam in Toronto – I thought. I can do it. What I did not expect is that Alex had booked a hotel on the very east end of the city. By the way, Toronto has approx. 3 million people and with the Greater Toronto Area around the City it adds to approx. 7 million. A piece of cake? Well, after 2 hours of driving on the jammed highway and Gardiner Expressway, I arrived 15 minutes after 8am. Good timing. Still, Alex was notably nervous. “Are we going to make it? The seminar starts at 9am”, he said. “Sure” was my answer. And we made it. I delivered him at 9am flat in front of the venue building after another 45 minutes of bumper-to-bumper experience. I parked the car and arrived just a few minutes later to see a full room of attendees. “Wow, this is going to be great”, I said to myself. There were some Architects, Engineers, Government Reps and Developers: the perfect mix.

"Avoiding / Coping with Thermal Bridging" Seminar

Alex was first with his presentation. A very good strategy, as we noticed afterwards. Then all four following presentations backed-up in a formidable way what Alex had just presented. Not only it was made clear that thermal bridging is a big concern in Canada, but it was also shown that balconies cannot be disregarded from the equation, as they have a major effect. Numbers like “10%” improvement were confirmed by research.

Seminar Impressions

12:30pm I left the venue to pick up the car, as we had to rush to Pearson Airport. Our flight to Ottawa was at 2:10pm. After the morning experience, I wasn’t sure we would make it. But this time, we had a smooth ride. We arrived at 1:15pm, just in time to check in. With only one little wrap in our stomach, we left Toronto on time. After a very bumpy flight, we finally arrived in Ottawa at 3.15pm. Our next meeting was scheduled for 3:45pm.

In Ottawa we met Kim Menard, Manager Development & Construction with Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC) and some of her colleagues. She had prepared a presentation on the Beaver Barracks project, a 24.5 million CAD$ development with Schöck Isokorbs in all balconies. After her presentation, we had the chance to see the job site from the roof of the neighbour building and from the street level. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter the job site as we were not dressed with safety shoes and vests. Safety goes first!

Some impressions of Beaver Barrack’s

I was very much exited to see the job site, as I was somehow involved from the beginning. I remember Kim’s first call very well. It was end of March 2009. My container had arrived and I was helping the movers bring our furniture into the house. Kim wanted to meet me and discuss about the Isokorb®, ASAP. So I met her the very next day in Ottawa. Since that day she was the major supporter to get the Isokorb® approved for one of her new developments. Thanks to her engagement, Alex sales talent, the unconditional support from Seref Diler’s team in Germany and the support from a local engineering firm based in Toronto, the Isokorb® was finally approved by the City of Ottawa and is being currently installed by AGF Raymond, one of Ottawa’s largest steel rebar suppliers. They will also be installing our ComBAR® for an MTO project soon.

5:30pm, Alex and I finally sit outside of a restaurant and had some food and cold beer. We were starving. But we had to hurry. Our flight back to Toronto was at 8pm. As I said before: tight schedule. No time for relaxing… On our way to the restaurant we found a building, a perfect example why the Isokorb® must be planned from the start. Take a look…

What happened to the balconies?

After a slight delay, we arrived in Toronto at 9:30pm. Alex went to his hotel and I drove back to Kitchener. I arrived at home at 10:45pm, demolished, tired, but very happy about the extremely interesting experience. One day full of Isokorb®… I can get used to it. Thanks Alex!

Alex on top of the roof!

Now I am more convinced than ever, this is just the perfect time to launch the Isokorb® in Canada. Thanks to Alex, Seref and Dieter’s excellent preparation of the market, the foundation is poured and strong enough for us to now start building a “skyscraper” on top of it. I look very forward to working with you guys and get the Isokorb® to be another success story for Schöck Canada Inc. You can count on me!

Schöck Canada “survives” Rankin’s 2011 Keep the Spirit Co-Ed Beach Volleyball Tournament…

Christian Witt — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:16:06 +0000

Schöck Canada Inc. is very proud to have been part of the 9th Annual Keep the Spirit Co-Ed (4′s) Beach Volleyball Tournament hosted by the St. Catharines Firefighters. This year’s tournament took place on Saturday, July 16th at the “Not So Pro” Sandbox at Lock 3 in St. Catharines. As in previous years, all proceeds will be donated to the Rankin Cancer Run.

The Rankin Cancer Run is a charity event, which focuses on funding cancer care in the Niagara Region. In the first five years, the run has raised just under $2,000,000. All of this money went right back into the local community.

Every year, they seek sponsors for the tournament. Schöck Canada decided to support this good cause for the second time in a row. And this year we also registered a team for the recreational competition.

NSP Sandbox at Lock 3

We survived an extremely hot day under the sun (approx. 35°C). The sand was burning. Our feet developed huge blisters… But we made it up to Quarterfinals! The members of our team were Laurie Snow, Stefanie Witt, Kevin Jüngel and myself.

Stefanie Witt, one of four exhausted players after 4 hours of heat…

We are all looking forward to playing again next year. The goal is Finals!

Yours truly, Christian Witt B.

Schöck ComBAR®, the only possible option…

Christian Witt — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:08:47 +0000

The Christie Street Bridge is located in the heart of the town of Grimsby in the Niagara Region in Ontario, crossing the CN Rail Tracks. The Niagara Region is currently rehabilitating this bridge. ELLIS Engineering Inc. has undertaken the Environmental Assessment and the detailed design and is in charge of the contract administration for this project. The General Contractor (GC) is the renowned company Rankin Construction out of St. Catharines, ON.

Christie Street Bridge over CN Rail Tracks in the Town of Grimsby, ON

The parapet walls, approach slabs and parts of the deck were in need of rehabilitation. Therefore, this project called for Schöck ComBAR® glass fibre rebar to reinforce the new PL-2 parapet walls on the bridge. Since most of the bridge deck will remain in place, the vertical ComBAR® bars are to be doweled into the deck.

Corrosion “problems” in the deck…

ComBAR® has proved to achieve the minimum bonding requirement for this project in less than 160mm embedment under test lab conditions. The embedment for this project was therefore only 200mm. Hilti Hit RE500 was used as epoxy to connect ComBAR® with the existing deck. The areas over the wingwalls will use the well known ComBAR® headed bars at the inside face of the wall.

Why ComBAR®? ComBAR® is the only Glass Fibre rebar that has a ribbed surface and assures optimal bonding between the bar and the concrete in both short and long term applications. Since the ribs are mechanically “cut”, these remain intact and do not detach from the core of the bar. Schöck has extensively tested ComBAR® for short and long term applications, considering bonding creep effects over time. After many years of development and research, Schöck and several Universities worldwide came to the conclusion, that this is the only viable way to assure a bonding behaviour that is analogous to steel rebar, where the week member is the concrete and not the bar.

ComBAR® – only high grade glass fibre rebar with ribbed surface

The ComBAR® installation was carried out by the GC itself. The project also called for 3 field pull out tests. ComBAR® bars were tested on site up to 90 kN of pull out force (approx. 450 MPa stress in the bar). Nothing moved… ComBAR® has shown again to be a consistent product with an extremely high level of performance.

Another successful ComBAR® story. Well done ComBAR®!

ComBAR® installation on Christie Street Bridge, June 2011

Schöck Canada Inc. moves into new premises…

Christian Witt — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:47:30 +0000

Despite the economic crisis in the last years, the Schöck Group never stopped growing and developing new solutions for the construction industry. Our overall sales are continuously increasing, we are exploring and entering new markets and we are writing success stories with every step we take and wherever our innovative building solutions are used. We just love to enthuse our clients with our unique products and services.

As most of you know, we started our local business in Canada on April 1st, 2009 when we opened up our first sales office and warehouse at 199 Trillium Drive in Kitchener, Ontario.

Since this date, the local business has grown and we are a well established company in Ontario now. Our products are being specified – especially in bridge projects. Engineering firms know where to find us when our assistance and expertise is required, and the name Schöck has become a “general term” to the industry linked to best quality products and services.

Now, almost two years later, after our incredibly positive development our personnel capacity needed to grow, as well. In the past couple of months we have not only expanded our sales force, but have also started our own local engineering department.

SCI-TEAM (from left to right: Mai-Linh Ho, Barron Wang, Christian Witt, Sven Ustrabowski, Ben Jütte, Marnie Röder, Ekaterina Tropynina)

Suddenly, our first office became too small. At the same time, we also had to think in the long term and look for a new warehousing partner that will be capable of handling the growing work flow and of offering the required flexibility to continue with our expansion plans.

NEW OFFICE – 279 KING STREET WEST IN KITCHENER

In order to celebrate the growth and success together with our business partners, clients and friends, we invited to an open house event on March 9th, 2011. The number of participants surprised us positively. We had a full house from 2pm to 6pm. More than 50 guests attended and celebrated with us and much more that wished to attend but couldn’t come, contacted us by email and phone to extend their congratulations. But specially one guest could not miss this event: our EBI.

EBI cake

For those who attended and those who couldn’t come, please enjoy the following pictures of a nice afternoon between friends and remember: Schöck Canada Inc. is your partner for Innovative Building Solutions, the only manufacturer of High Grade Glass Fibre Reinforcement and we are only a phone call away. Visit us at 202-279 King Street West, Kitchener, ON, N2B 1G1.

OPEN HOUSE EVENT – OUR APPRECIATED GUESTS

OPEN HOUSE EVENT – BUFFET

The remaining food was donated to the House of Friendship. We are happy we could also support people in need this time.

THANK YOU LETTER – HOUSE OF FRIENDSHIP

Vom Kunden „eingerahmt“…

Christian Witt — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:25:32 +0000

Termin in Windsor, Ontario. Nach fast 3 Stunden Autofahrt, kam ich bei unserem Kunden Facca Incorporated an. Wir hatten einige Projekte zu besprechen. Das Gespräch war nicht nur positiv verlaufen, wie immer, sondern führte erfreulicherweise auch noch zu einem sehr netten Auftrag, in dem 6 Brücken involviert sind. Auslieferung ist im Sommer 2011.

Facca Incorporated ist ein sehr fortschrittliches Bauunternehmen in Ontario. Sie sind ebenso unser erster Kunde in Kanada gewesen, die ersten, die an uns geglaubt haben, als wir hier frisch und neu waren und keine wusste wer wir sind. Das Bild hat sich nun komplett geändert. Mittlerweile kennt uns in Ontario fast jeder Bauunternehmer, Ingenieurbüro und Universität.

Facca und Schöck haben über die Jahre seit der ersten Begegnung in 2007 nicht nur eine sehr gute Beziehung aufgebaut, sondern bereits an über 15 Brückenstrukturen gemeinsam gearbeitet, in denen ComBAR® in Parapets Walls, Barrier Walls, Sidewalks, Approach Slabs und Brückendecks erfolgreich eingebaut worden ist.

Als ich an diesem Tag aus ihrem Büro herausging, fielen mir einige Bilderrahmen an der Wand auf. „Die sind neu“, hatte ich gedacht. Sie waren nicht nur neu, sondern einige davon zeigten auch noch unseren ersten gemeinsamen Projektbericht. Ja, das hat meinen Tag noch fröhlicher und mich stolzer auf unseren ComBAR® und auf Schöck gemacht.

Facca Incorporated zeigt mit Stolz das erste gemeinsame Projekt mit Schöck und Schöck ComBAR® in der Empfangshalle des Unternehmens

Schöck Canada Inc. expandiert…

Christian Witt — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:13:43 +0000

Lieber Blog-Leser,

Trotz der bekannten Wirtschaftssituation in den letzten Jahren, ist Schöck kontinuierlich weitergewachsen. Und die Schöck Canada Inc. ebenso. Ich darf mit Stolz darüber berichten, dass wir Anfang Februar 2011 in ein neues Büro und ein neues Lager umgezogen sind.

King Street West: unser neues Bürogebäude

Aufgrund der positiven Geschäftsentwicklung im lokalen Markt war es uns nicht mehr möglich, im bisherigen Gebäude zu bleiben. Denn wir sind nicht nur im Umsatz gewachsen, sondern auch in der Personalkraft. Daher haben wir jetzt ein größeres Büro sowie ein Lager in Downtown Kitchener gefunden, die unserem geplanten Wachstum mittel- bis langfristig gerecht werden.

Unser neues Büro bietet Platz für bis zu 7 Mitarbeiter, einen großen Besprechungsraum und Empfangsbereich. Alle Büros sind umgeben von einer durchgehenden Fensterfront, ein komplett neues Gefühl nach fast 2 Jahren in einem 12 m² fensterlosen Büro.

Wir haben uns ebenso entschieden, den lokalen Logistikpartner zu wechseln. Kumpfort Zone, genannt nach dem Inhaber Rick Kumpf wird in der Lage sein, uns bei dem weiteren geplanten Wachstum zu unterstützen. Wir freuen uns sehr auf die Zusammenarbeit mit Rick, seinem Sohn Richard und dem Rest des Teams.

Ich hoffe, viele von Ihnen hier in Kanada willkommen zu heißen. Bis dahin, viele Grüße und viel Erfolg.

Christian Witt B.

Wintergrüße von der Schöck Canada Inc…

Christian Witt — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:45:49 +0000

Liebe Kollegen und Kolleginnen, liebe Kunden, Freunde und Blog-Leser,

die Schöck Canada Inc. wünscht Euch / Ihnen und Euren / Ihren Familien eine frohe und gesunde Winterzeit sowie viel Erfolg und interessante Geschäfte im nächsten Jahr.

Christian Witt und Familie beim traditionellen Baumfällen in St. Jacobs, Ontario

Wir freuen uns weiterhin auf die weiteren Blog-Beiträge und hoffen Euch / Sie alle bald wieder zu treffen, ob in Baden-Baden, Kanada oder hier, in unserem Blog.

Tunnels USA Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Christian Witt — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:54:47 +0000

This conference was organized by Arena International Events Group for the first time ever and took place in Boston, Massachusetts from December 6th to December 8th, 2010. We decided to attend this year with a booth in order to introduce our ComBAR® Glassfibre Reinforcement System to the US-Market for the first time again in the last 5 years. We presented our new folding display wall designed specifically for Tunneling Construction applications. The event attracted approx. 60 participants from North America, including Transport Canada, the Ministry of Transportation Québec and several DOT’s (Department of Transportation) from different States across the US. The conference finished with a very interesting site visit to Boston’s state of the art and highly sophisticated Highway Operations Center, hosted by The Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Booth Schoeck Canada Inc., one of 5 exhibitors.

Although the number of participants was relatively low, the interest in ComBAR® was very high, especially in the tunnel sector but (unexpected for this conference) also in the bridge sector due to the corrosion problems in various areas of the United States and Canada. Engineering firms and owners invited Schöck Canada Inc. to present the benefits of ComBAR® to their offices in the US. As of now, the US market works with GFRP systems more or less on a project basis only. ComBAR® would be an excellent alternative to replace traditional lower grade GFRP, stainless steel, epoxy coated and galvanized rebar.

Tunnels USA Conference – Lunch Time

We will follow-up with all the contacts we made and hope to learn more about the US market.

Forthcoming Events by Arena are:
Fire Protection Safety in Tunnels Asia in June 2011 and Fire Protection Safety in Tunnels Europe in October 2011.

Ein glückliches Mädchen bei der diesjährigen Spendenübergabe…

Christian Witt — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:55:55 +0000

Vorgestern haben meine Frau und ich im Namen der Schöck Canada Inc. eine Spende in Höhe von 1,000 CAD (ca. 740 EUR) und ein Geburtstagsgeschenk an Stefani Roldán übergeben. Sie ist heute 5 Jahre alt geworden!

Stefani leidet seit Anfang des Jahres an Leukämie (ALL) und macht eine sehr schwierige Zeit durch. Und es stehen ihr leider noch weitere Jahre Therapie bevor. Heute durften wir sie glücklich(er) machen… Ihr hübsches Lächeln ist ihr unbezahlbares Geschenk an uns.

Wir haben dieses Geld anstatt der diesjährigen Weihnachtskarten gespendet. Mehr Infos zu Stefani gibt es unter www.schoeck-canada.com.

Viele Grüße aus dem kalten Kanada

ComBAR®-Einbau bei frostigen Temperaturen …im Sommer? Geht auch…

Christian Witt — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 11:34:34 +0000

14. September 2010. Eigentlich noch Sommer in Kanada. Ich fuhr auf die Baustelle zum Einbau von ComBAR® bei der Wilson’s Bridge in Centre Wellington, 40km nördlich von Kitchener. Es muss 7:10 Uhr gewesen sein, als ich links in den sandigen Weg hinein fuhr. Aber wo ist die Brücke? Sie war doch letzte Woche da? Ich fuhr weiter, schließlich hatte ich David Copperfield nicht mit mir im Auto. „Aha!“, plötzlich erschien sie ganz leicht im Morgennebel. Ich guckte auf die Außentemperatur im Display meines Autos. Ich konnte es kaum glauben: „1°C – drive with care, ice possible“.

Wer sieht die Brücke im Nebel?

Die Jungs auf der Baustelle ließen sich von der Temperatur und der hübschen Collage nicht beeindrucken. Die Kolonne kam aus Sudbury, 460 km von Kitchener entfernt, Richtung Norden, wo es schon früher sehr kalt werden kann. Vielleicht deswegen? Ich hingegen zitterte am ganzen Körper. Aber ich musste raus und hübsche Bilder schießen, bevor ich mich auf die Brücke traute.

Sie hatten mit dem Einbau von ComBAR® bereits begonnen. Wir gingen die Handling and Safety Instructions durch und ich beantwortete Ihre Fragen. „Wow, this stuff is just great“, sagte Dan, der Vorarbeiter. „I’ve worked with the other stuff, the sand coating one. That’s hard man, and the sand peels off easily. I will tell my boss how great these bars (ComBAR®) are.” Sowas höre ich immer wieder sehr gerne. Ich bin sehr stolz auf uns und auf ComBAR®.

ComBAR®-Einbau bei frostigen Temperaturen

Und dann kam noch zur Krönung des Tages der Prüfingenieur. Er bat mich um Muster für sein Büro. „These bars are great“, sagte er zu mir. „I heard that this is the new standard“, fügte er hinzu. “I think I will consider this system in the neighbour bridge that is being currently built”. Ist das unser nächstes Projekt?

By the way, ein Tag nach dem Einbau erreichten wir Temperaturen über 24°C. This is Canada!