Company of the month

Styrian company builds dumpling rounding machines

Michael Sack and Carina Augsten from RH-Technik.(Bild: Tobias Pehböck)

Bread rolls, dumplings and the like go through quite a few stages on their way into business. RH Technik from Mürzzuschlag makes tedious kneading a thing of the past - and was awarded the SFG's Company of the Month award. Managing Director Michael Sack talks about the idea behind the "dumpling rounding machine".

From "oven loader" to "dumpling rounding machine": "We build the machines on which your bread, poppy seed rolls or apple strudel is produced," says Michael Sack, Managing Director and owner of RH-Technik. What was once laborious manual work can now be done by machines. "We automate the tasks that nobody actually wants to do," says Sack.

The mechanical engineering graduate has been at the helm of the company in the baked goods industry since last year. Sack left the Viennese family business behind and now has customers in Poland, Germany, the USA, New Zealand and Switzerland, among others. "Bread is simply cool," says the 33-year-old entrepreneur.

Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, State Councillor for Economic Affairs, Michael Sack (RH-Technik), Carina Augsten (RH-Technik) and Gerlinde Siml (SFG) at the award ceremony (from left to right).(Bild: SFG/Oliver Wolf)

"We are also a young, surprisingly cool team," he adds. In Mürzzuschlag, 15 designers, mechanical engineers, metalworkers and welders work closely together on 1500 square meters. From planning to the finished product, everything is combined in one company. In the end, industrial bakeries can buy "oven loaders" from them, for example. The same goes for equipment that kneads dough or conveyor technology that transports the baked goods through the bakery. "This allows trays to be automatically transported to the oven or proofing room," says Sack.

Portioning the dumpling dough is one thing, but shaping it is something else.

Michael Sack, Geschäftsführer von RH-Technik

A dumpling goes through several stages before it is cooked. The production process is simplified by, among other things, a "dumpling rounding machine", as it is known internally. "Portioning the dumpling dough is one thing, but shaping it is something else," says Sack. Instead of sticky hands and frayed nerves, you end up with perfectly round balls at the end of the day.

That's also what motivates Sack most about his work: "The best thing is holding the finished product in your hand." His favorite pastry? "The classic hand roll." Because there are hardly any other suppliers in Austria and the demand for appliances is constantly increasing, RH-Technik is currently looking for design engineers. "A sign that we have already doubled in size since last year," says Sack proudly.

Every month, SFG puts forward three candidates for Company of the Month. They introduce themselves in a video. Everyone can then vote on unternehmen-des-monats.at.