Farewell, Adieu, Arrivederci, Adios, Tot Ziens....

In all these languages Stephan Meiser’s vocabulary goes far beyond “Farewell“, because he speaks  English, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch fluently. In the framework of the spring event of the company Schweers melancholy and sentimentality were in the air. Project Manager Stephan Meiser – a pioneer of the beginnings of the company in 1988 – entered well-deserved retirement.

The photo showing Stephan Meiser (blue pullover) and his successors in Project Management Julian Courte (white pullover) and Saeed Akhtar (red pullover) is extraordinarily appropriate to illustrate Stephan Meiser’s philosophy of life. Since the three colors of the French national flag may be associated with the motto of the French Revolution „Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood“. And this may also be the guiding principle for the idea of a united Europe Stephan Meiser has in mind and to which he is dedicated with enthusiasm. This solidarity which is practiced by the staff of the company Schweers consisting of people of eight different nations in day-to-day life and in addition to this the dynamic international business of the company which led Stephan Meiser around the world – among others USA, Australia and the United Arabic Emirates – are the reasons why the 36 years in the team of the company Schweers gave Stephan Meiser a great joy. This will also have a sustainable effect for him during his retirement. He was entrusted with the task to co-ordinate the new initiated “Ferdinand International – Schweers Club of Friends” based on his complete name Stephan Ferdinand Meiser. In this club long-term employees – three further team members have been employed with the company Schweers for more than 30 years now – and former employees being in retirement shall uphold the maxims of the company Schweers and they shall also have the function of mentors for new young employees and, thus, be engaged for the sustainable structure and the future of the company. Apart from Stephan Meiser, the first new members are Arunas Blandis, managing the company business in Australia, and Torben Andersen, Manager of Schweers Nordic in Denmark, both of them took part in the Schweers spring event.  

In his eulogy for Stephan Meiser, company founder and boss Michael Schweers emphasized among others that Stephan Meiser  had been nominated by the company Schweers for the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his engagement in the field of international understanding in an honorary capacity, which he was awarded in November 2021. Furthermore, Michael Schweers pointed out that Stephan Meiser was an ambassador par excellence for Schweers' products and services on the international stage, to whom the company owes a great deal. 

Stephan Meiser was very happy to receive a gift from his colleagues that had a strong individual touch. Each of them had painted a 10 x 10-centimeter pane of glass with a different motif, giving Stephan Meiser a lasting memento of special value. Michael Schweers caused a big surprise and made Stephan Meiser very happy when he announced that the company Schweers was giving him the company car as a present.

The Schweers spring festival was rounded off by the Meerbusch percussion band "SAMBA É VIDA", whose members included Martina Schwarz, Head of International Marketing at Schweers/PanStreet. Three bagpipe players from the Wupper District Pipe Band also created an excellent atmosphere with Scottish melodies. A premiere then took place when "SAMBA É VIDA" and the bagpipe trio performed samba rhythms and bagpipe music with very successful flowing transitions – the co-operation of the two music bands might even be repeated and expanded in the future.

Food and drink were also well catered for at the spring festival. Employees prepared international culinary delights themselves.

To put it briefly, the Schweers’ spring event was very successful and contributed significantly to the team spirit.

Autor: Christian Dick