For a financially strong businessman from the Middle East, "Made in Germany" was an absolute must. So he turned to a German metalworker, who then commissioned Vetrotech: 30 panes of bullet-resistant glass of the highest category in a wide range of formats were to be supplied, including XL formats.
In order to be sure that the bullet-resistant glazing would actually provide the desired security, the customer conditioned the order on a successful bullet test. A security crew of several members from the Middle East travelled to Cologne-Porz to witness the bullet-test of several sample panes in the Vetrotech bullet cellar with critical eyes. Seen, approved and commissioned - after a short time, the entourage made its way back home.
"For us, the XL panes in particular were a real challenge," says Sales Manager Christoph Baier, "because we had never before produced panes of this size in this bullet category." The glasses were manufactured at the Vetrotech plant in Kinon Aachen; then the transport boxes were built and a wide-bodied cargo aircraft, a Russian Illjuschin, was ordered to transport the XL panes.
The transport box doesn’t fit into the plane. What to do?
Take-off date: on a Tuesday in May at 5 pm. Postponement of the date: unthinkable! The production was faultless and on time. But then, according to Christoph Baier: "My colleague and I were just in Oslo for a consultation when a call came in: The XL transport crate does not fit into the Illjuschin, the crate is too high!
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What to do? At such short notice, the only obvious alternative was to change the transport plane and order a larger Antonov instead of the Illjuschin. However, the transport costs would have been double the already six-figure amount. A quick call to the client showed that this would have been a deal breaker.
Box building while the engines are running
So all that remained was building a new transport box. As the saying goes: "It it doesn't fit, it will be made to fit." The new box had to be over 30 centimetres lower than the existing one. "Ancient mathematical knowledge helped us to solve the problem," says Christoph Baier. "Thanks to the Pythagorean theorem, we came up with the idea of pushing the pane into the box diagonally and storing it without vibration."
privat/Vetrotech Saint-Gobain
The construction plans were sent over to Germany from Oslo and the technicians built the new box in no time at all - with the engines running, so to speak. And indeed, the new box fit through the rear loading bay and the plane was able to take off on schedule.
Christoph Baier: "Even though none of us were allowed to observe the installation on site: We know that the client was satisfied. In retrospect, this is one of the most exciting jobs I have been involved in over 30 years. The main lesson for me: There is no such thing as impossible!"
