Production
Production facilities and manufacturing competence of Holst Porzellan
In the first eight decades of our company's history, German porcelain still accounted for more than 95% of our collection. At the beginning of the 1990s, the great death of the traditional manufacturers Eschenbach, Winterling, Schwarzenbach, Hutschenreuther, Kronester, Schirnding, Mitterteich, Rosenthal, Arzberg and many others began. Premium manufacturers were forced to file for insolvency and were only partially able to maintain their production facilities with new investors. Often only the names were sold and today they only serve as German-sounding brands for foreign manufacturers. At the end Germasn tableware in the world market halved between 1976 and 2012.
We have accompanied the German porcelain industry part of the way. But Seehofer's health reforms since 1992, the general change in values in society and increasing cost pressure on commercial consumers (hotels, restaurants, canteens, hospitals) required a reorientation of our product range concept and a cost-oriented focus on the real needs of professional hosts.
In 1997, we realized that a brand no longer adds value to commercial tableware - nor does it achieve the differentiation from products - that a brand needs to survive.
The aim was to build up a professional collection which, in addition to the major brand manufacturers such as Bauscher, Schönwald, RAK, Kahle or Seltmann, had clear characteristics of a high degree of independence. Above all, however, we did not want to sell a just brand, but a good workable tool for the table and kitchen.
Why does Holst produce porcelain abroad today?
We cannot express it more clear than Pierluigi Coppo, CEO and owner of Rosenthal Porzellan: "...countries like Hungary, Romania, Poland, Portugal or China, which also produce porcelain and use the same machines as we do... make quite good quality at very low prices. On top of that, there are restrictions in Germany such as taxes, legal regulations, labour laws..."
That says it all! Thank you Luigi!
The competence of production facilities
Almost every porcelain factory claims to be able to do "everything". Porcelain for hotels, restaurants, clinics & health care, etc. This claim is neither good nor correct. The manufacturing processes for porcelain are very different; it is rolled, moulded, turned and pressed.
The raw material composition and preparation alone are so different depending on the type and target group of the porcelain that one factory alone can hardly achieve this. There are traditional handcrafted production methods as well as semi-automatic and fully automatic production processes. No single manufacturer can produce all these different types of production equally efficiently.
Due to their nature as industrial companies, porcelain brands are usually "only good" in one customer segment. This realisation and our experience with the various manufacturers over the years have inspired us to offer a holistic collection with different materials and qualities from different production sites under the motto "Simple & Strong"!
This depth of range represents the core competence of Holst Porzellan/Germany.
- Development & Design - Made in Germany
- QM - Quality Management - German Style
- Budget & Basic quality at reasonable prices - Made in Asia
- High quality "Premium" for demanding hosts
- Alumina, High Alumina and Ultra Alumina - our further developments in porcelain
- Slate porcelain and wood porcelain as design lines
- Passion for our work
The usual porcelain manufacturers fill their baskets from a single production, sometimes with minor sorting differences. Holst Porzellan has a series produced in more than 9 countries for defined target groups. A plate for low-budget HoReCa does not necessarily have the same quality characteristics as a banquet plate for a state reception. Colours, glazes, thickness of the cullet, presentation and quality are subject to clearly defined specifications, so that in the end a compatible modular collection is created.
Together with our sister company in Hong Kong, German-Fareast Porcelain Ltd., we have been operating our "OEM department" since 1999, supplying porcelain to both well-known and unknown third-party brands. Occasionally even expensive premium products with noble brand names originate from our forge. Holst Porzellan is a manufacturer in the sense of EU regulation 85-374, which is important for our customers!
The manufacturing competence of Holst PorzellanI
If we look at our porcelain quality, we need to break it! Hard Porcelain, ceramics and all other kinds of stoneware in the world of tableware often looks nearly the same. The quality of the raw materials, a continuous furnace management and many other circumstances are responsible for the fact that porcelain is subject to natural fluctuations.
New shapes, decorations and finishes are personally accompanied and monitored by members of our own team. We stand attention at the end of the kiln when the first items of a new line are released! We personally make sure that hardness, shape, colour and whiteness meet the specifications of our collection. This can only be done personally!
In addition, we maintain our own offices or employees and partners in some countries, who continuously accompany and monitor the ongoing production of our standard articles and stock collection.
The digital competence of Holst Porzellan
In 1998, the German trade magazine "Trend Kompass" named us a pioneer on the Internet and one of the leading online companies in our industry for the extensive content of our website. Since 2003 Holst Porzellan has been working completely paperless and practices the digital office 2.0 in all departments. Since 2014 we have been maintaining our own networks with our sister company in Hong Kong and the most important of our partner plants in Asia.
By this way, we can influence the quality and design of our goods already during the ongoing production process, even if we are not on site ourselves for a few weeks. These possibilities are based on a trustful and cooperative partnership, which we maintain with our plants. This is one of many criteria with which we set ourselves apart from the competition.
The social competence of Holst Porzellan
There are many instruments that should suggest the consumers that the products comes out from "fair trade" with high humanitarian and social standards. BCSI and other seals of approval are intended to certify this. Unfortunately, we know too many examples from our practice, where and how these standards are circumvented and the customer is ultimately cheated. Especially we Germans are relatively indifferent to social exploitation is often documented by the consumption of products and services of which we know, that the freezer & courier driver does not receive any social benefits, the asparagus is pricked by low budget Russian workers and the beef is cut up by Bulgarian piecework slaves. To which country we can sell our old cars we never ask, the main thing is that it sells well!
As a family company est. 1928 we keep our social responsibility very seriously. Although we cannot save the world, we cannot prohibit child labour in emerging countries or prevent any other kind of exploitation of people and labour, we can personally convince ourselves, with a watchful eye and ear, that such filthy things do not happen in our partner factories. We are on site, talk and work with the people, eat together in the canteen and drink tea together.
We exclude factories which, in our opinion, subjugate their workers below human dignity, where children work or where there is obvious danger to life, limb and health. We despise countries that stone women because they have broken marriages, hang Christians, Hindus, Muslims, gays or lesbians just because of their beliefs or send children to minefields. Apart from that, in such countries, we ourselves would be afraid to go there.
To use our own intellect and to meet all ages, skin colours, religions and attitudes without greed and with openness and respect counts for us much more than a promising logo on our website.
The ecological competence of Holst Porzellan
Nor Holst Porzellan can save the world in terms of environmental protection and ecological responsibility. Nor do we know what "bioelectricity" is or how to sell disposable diapers with sustainability. However, we make sure that our porcelain is not fitted with unnecessary packaging and have been avoiding all kinds of plastic and blister boxes for more than 20 years.
We encourage our factories to collect their old, worn plaster moulds for road construction, recycle mass production surpluses and build heat channels for drying rooms. Above all, however, we do not allow our defective goods (c-grade) to simply be destroyed, but to be sold or distributed "at the cheapest price" in the producing countries. Few consumers are aware that almost all well-known brands insist that the III. and IV. choice simply has to be destroyed because of the brand logo. A madness!
On the one hand, they boast of adhering to social norms with BCSI and other standards, while on the other hand they forbid the distribution of surplus goods to the needy. That does not make sense to us.
Do you have questions or suggestions?
Simply contact us.