display

Marcel Berner would actually have flown to Tokyo this summer to help open the Olympic Games.

Yes, without the entrepreneur from Ehningen in Baden-Württemberg, the games would probably not have started at all.

Because Berner's company Innovative Pyrotechnik GmbH - a medium-sized company with a total of eleven employees - supplies the electronic ignition system for the opening fireworks organized by the Japanese company Marutamaya.

As is well known, the games fell into the water.

And the whole pyrotechnics industry in a deep hole.

Pyrotechnics isn't just fireworks like you and I do: light the fuse, step back, and wait for it to pop.

Pyrotechnicians have a wide range of jobs

display

Pyrotechnicians make sure that it bangs in exactly the right places during stage shows, for example, and that nobody is harmed.

They provide the almost entirely digital technology that is used to control major events.

The fireworks for the opening and closing fireworks of the Olympic Winter Games in Seoul as well as the 4th of July fireworks in New York were shot with the ignition system developed by Pyrodigital.

The ignition system is also part of several shows at Disney parks and Universal Studios parks in the United States and Asia.

And is used at concerts by the German rapper Cro as well as on the world tours of the Rolling Stones.

display

That Germany is a fireworks, sorry, pyrotechnics superpower may surprise you.

Traditionally, Southern European countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal are known for their quality fireworks, and China supplies the bulk goods.

The German company Weco, which primarily supplies supermarkets and discounters, claims to be “the only fireworks company in Europe with substantial in-house production capacities” 40 percent of total sales are produced in-house.

Weco's big competitor in mass-produced goods, Nico, can be manufactured abroad, but "according to German safety standards", with "certification from the Federal Institute for Materials Testing" and of course "sustainable".

Digitization has also perfected the profession of pyrotechnicians over the years

Source: private

display

In a high-wage country like Germany, as in other industries, the focus in pyrotechnics has shifted from mass production to more complex control and ignition technology.

Marcel Berner attaches importance to the fact that besides his company in Germany there are also other medium-sized special effects equipment manufacturers whose customers are mostly international event technology companies.

The professional path of Berner's father Joachim can be considered exemplary.

First he worked for the Stuttgart fireworks manufacturer Lünig, which was later bought by Nico.

In the early 1990s, Joachim Berner started his own business as a pyrotechnician.

Here you can listen to our WELT podcasts

We use the player from the provider Podigee for our WELT podcasts.

We need your consent so that you can see the podcast player and to interact with or display content from Podigee and other social networks.

Activate social networks

I consent to content from social networks being displayed to me.

This allows personal data to be transmitted to third-party providers.

This may require the storage of cookies on your device.

More information can be found here.

At that time, pyrotechnicians were still working by hand: "They listened to the music at stage shows and closed the circuit at the appropriate points," remembers Marcel Berner.

In 1989 Joachim Berner won first prize at the world's most important fireworks festival in Montreal.

The second prize went to the American Eric Tucker, who for the first time demonstrated a digital control unit that had been developed by Ken Nixon.

When Nixon withdrew from the business in 2016, he asked Joachim Berner if he wanted to take over Nixon's company "Pyrodigital".

At that time, Marcel Berner was studying electrical engineering and information technology in Stuttgart.

"I was in the middle of my doctorate, but I interrupted my studies and started the company here in Ehningen with my college friends Peter Maute and Salvador Martinez."

Marcel Berner

Source: private

Joachim Berner and Marcel's younger brother Mischa continue to take care of the events, while Marcel and his engineering friends take care of the further development and construction of the controllers (control panels) and the ignition modules.

display

The company sells around 1000 to 1300 modules and 60 to 80 smaller and 30 to 40 large controllers annually.

80 percent of the products go to the USA and Japan.

The turnover is around 1.2 million euros.

There are also 1.4 to 1.8 million of the events and concerts.

The store is running.

Ran. Then came Corona.

No major events, no rock concerts, ban on public fireworks events.

2020 started well.

Several major orders were about to be concluded.

But then sales collapsed to 3.7 percent of the previous year.

“It doesn't just affect us as a company with eleven employees,” says Berner.

“A lot of temporary workers are needed for tours and major events, and highly specialized specialists are also employed, who often work as solo freelancers: video specialists who take care of LED screens, light and sound technicians, and even pyrotechnicians.

They lose their entire income overnight, and they are not being helped properly. "

"We were really well looked after"

State aid depends on the fact that those affected have lost earnings as a result of federal decisions.

But what about a pyrotechnician who wanted to go on a world tour with the Stones?

The tour is canceled.

Who is liable?

People quickly slide into Hartz IV.

Otherwise, Berner is full of praise for the aid from the federal government and the state of Baden-Württemberg that have kept his company going.

Unusual for a medium-sized company, he also praised the employment agency: “I had to call them about the short-time work.

Of course the hotline was overloaded, so I dialed any other number and got someone on the line who wasn't responsible but promised to pass my number on.

Shortly afterwards they called back.

We were really well looked after. "

During the forced break, Marcel Berner worked on his doctoral thesis and developed a new business idea with his team.

At www.meinSilvester.de you can buy high-quality fireworks packages for the Corona-compatible midnight party on your doorstep.

The fireworks itself is designed by the German two-man company "PyroProdukt" and manufactured in China.

The highlight: The fuses are technically conventional - hit a match and kick away - but prepared in such a way that they fire in sync with a song.

The offer includes rock music like "Back In Black" by AC / DC, hits like "Regenbogenfarben" by Kerstin Ott, romantic things like "Killing Me Softly" by the Fugees and pop like "Rockstar" by Nickelback - a total of 16 titles.

You have to download the chosen song yourself from YouTube, Spotify and Co. and play it on a boombox - or from a CD - while the fireworks hiss and pop like at a concert.

Then there is a grand finale.

Perhaps nothing for the city center, where young people throw China crackers at each other, but for the suburbs and small towns an alternative to the indiscriminate flaring of supermarket goods.

With government help and its own ideas, Pyrodigital can hope with the rest of the industry that things will look up again for the open air season in 2021.

The Olympic Games in Tokyo should also be rescheduled.

No sales ban - but no firecrackers in public places

For New Year's Eve there should be a ban on fireworks and firecrackers in busy squares and streets.

A general ban on the sale of crackers and rockets seems off the table.

The industry still expects an enormous drop in sales.

Source: WORLD