Down the “Streif” in pajamas


The next generation
A dream job overnight for the whole year –
for a whole working lifetime.
Look back to January 18, 1975... A small living room, freshly decorated with wallpaper featuring a modern pop art design and green concentric circles. The whole family is gathered around a dark walnut coffee table with fingers crossed for the Austrian skiing stars at the traditional Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbühel. With no live timing during the TV broadcast, the head of the family stops his watch for each racer precisely when they jump over the “Hausbergkante”. “It’s going be a close call for Franz Klammer!” he says.
Still wearing his aerodynamic slim-fit jersey pajamas – as well as ski boots and new skis that Santa Claus kindly brought him last month – the youngest member of the family is skiing along with the nation’s heroes in a low Klammer squat. In one giant jump, he flies over the “Mausefalle”. At the "Steilhang" exit, the edges of the green-and-white Fischer C4s dig deep into the shag-pile carpet. A sensational victory!
“In winter, a courageous downhill skier like Klammer. And in summer, a major farmer with a big combine harvester,
like Kastnerbauer in Mörschwang. My dream job.”
//Andreas Fill (aged almost 5)
Today, Andreas Fill is quite calm about the fact that nothing came of this childhood dream. No wonder, because at the age of just 30, he was given the amazing opportunity to take over a first-class machine engineering company and work on developing it further together with his team. After the company founder switched careers, the generation change happened almost overnight. His 18-hour days as a new member of the state parliament meant that Josef Fill had no time for anything else, so he found it easier than expected to hand over the reins to his son.
Andreas and his team made the most of this “freedom”, among other things trying out new ways to improve branding and communication. The first intranet was installed, the PR work was professionalized, and the company’s image was given a complete makeover. The tagline “Technik der Zukunft” (Technology of the Future) was changed to “Fill your Future”.

“It’s a special privilege to be able to create something extraordinary together with my wife and a great team. And not just in summer and winter,” says Andreas Fill when describing the dream job he has held for years. Even if Josef Fill hasn’t always approved of all the projects from the outset, he is now very proud of the modern fitness center and the Planet Filli Future childcare center.
“Silence is praise enough.” This kind of recognition, still practiced in our part of the world, is just as applicable to the founding generation today as it was back then on January 18, 1975. Although he raced to an incredible victory on his living room "Streif" in record time, the cheers for the little wannabe downhill star were muted. Perhaps this was due to the shag-pile carpet, which Andreas had shredded with his sharp steel edges!