In July we had the honour of celebrating a very rare anniversary: Herbert Heim, our long-standing Production Manager for grape presses and grape processing systems, celebrated his 50th anniversary in our company. Within the context of a ceremony with the entire staff, Bernd Scharfenberger congratulated Mr Heim, thanked him for the many years of good cooperation and highly praised his achievements in the company.

The administrator of the Bad Dürkheim district, Sabine Röhl, awarded Mr Heim with a certificate of honour for his long-standing staff membership in the company on behalf of the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate Kurt Beck. Horst Konrad from the District Craftsmen's Association in Neustadt presented him with a medal coined specially for the 100th anniversary of the Chamber of Crafts. The first councillor of the town of Bad Dürkheim, Theo Hoffmann, also congratulated Mr Heim and presented a book and a wine gift to him.

Herbert Heim joined the company on 13 July 1956 at the age of 14 as an apprentice in the agricultural machinery trade. Following this trade test in 1960 and his master craftsman's examination in 1966, Mr Heim took on more and more responsibility at the company's shop-floor level. In 1971, he already became shop floor manager in the engineering department at the age of 29. Here he is in charge of the production of the Europress grape presses, grape processing systems and many special designs.

Mr Heim has worked with three generations of the Scharfenberger family and witnessed two company relocations, the first one within Wachenheim in 1963 and the second one from Wachenheim to today's location in Bad Dürkheim in 1993. He has always acquired the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge without any fuss and probably anticipating what the future would hold in store for the company and his employees. We appreciate the great dedication and helpfulness he has shown not only during the 50 years in our company but also in his unfailing support of the sponsors' association for the preservation of the Wachtenburg castle ruin in Wachenheim on the German Wine Route. Herbert Heim has always been fully committed to our company and has played an important role in the positive company development. At the end of this year Mr Heim will go into well-deserved retirement.