A hot trip
Graz 4 vocational school on a 2-day excursion with HERZ

Hannes Morocutti guides the students of the Graz 4 vocational school through the Brennpunkt° heating museum. The route is created: Graz - Vienna - Neustift an der Lafnitz - Pinkafeld - Kemeten. The students of the Graz 4 vocational school specializing in installation and building technology went on a 2-day excursion with HERZ in the new school year. The trip took them from the Brennpunkt° heating museum in Vienna to training courses and factory tours at the HERZ production facilities and a delicious dinner at Rabenbräu in Neustift an der Lafnitz. It was an instructive, varied and exciting trip for the students.

As part of a 2-day excursion, the pupils of the 4a-IGT vocational school in Graz 4 took a trip from Styria to Vienna and Burgenland. With the aim of gaining an insight behind the scenes of building technology and the future world of work, as well as receiving training on hydraulic balancing from experts, 18 pupils set off on the trip together with the head of the class, engineer Walter Knaus, and BS Graz 4 director, engineer Gerald Winkelbauer.

The hottest museum in Vienna

After arriving at Brennpunkt° - Museum der Heizkutur Wien, the students were given a guided tour of the heating museum by Hannes Morocutti. The heating museum was opened in 1984 as a display depot by engineers Beer and Peters-Engl. Since the early 1980s, the two engineers had been collecting old heating systems from municipal buildings that were no longer needed due to the switch to district heating and natural gas. The Brennpunkt° heating museum in the 12th district is now open to visitors by appointment by telephone (+43 1 4000 34 10o) or in writing (office@brennpunkt.wien.at).

HERZ production facilities

HERZ has 5 production sites throughout Austria, and the number has risen to 42 throughout Europe. With its factory in the 23rd district of Vienna, HERZ is one of the few industrial companies in Austria that, in addition to state-of-the-art robot-equipped manufacturing machines and production, also offers the experience of manual brass chill casting. During the guided tour of the production facility, which specializes in the manufacture of fittings and valves, the students of BS Graz 4 experienced the steps from the production of casting moulds and the manufacture of cores from pressed sand to the manual casting of fittings, their processing and nickel plating.

Exciting to see where the origins of my profession lie. Interesting to see how fittings that I deal with every day are manufactured.- Student of 4a-IGT

After arriving at HERZ Energietechnik in Pinkafeld, Mayor Kurt Maczek welcomed the students. HERZ Energietechnik is the full-service provider for renewable energy systems. In 2022, HERZ Energietechnik doubled its production capacity by expanding its warehouse and production areas. During a guided tour, the students were able to marvel at the production chain of HERZ biomass systems and heat pumps, from prototype construction to final assembly and final testing.

The two-day excursion concluded with a tour of the HERZ production facility in Kemeten. This is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery for the production of heating and drinking water fittings as well as home transfer stations. In addition, the housing parts for biomass boilers and heat pumps from HERZ Energietechnik are manufactured in the sheet metal processing area. A state-of-the-art pipe bending machine is also used to ensure precisely fitting pipes within the compact HERZ home transfer stations. Numerous CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) machines ensure precise machining and production of the individual parts through computer-aided machine control.

It was an interesting tour. The best part was the explanation of the solid fuel boilers in Pinkafeld, as we learned and saw things that we don't often see and hear about. I learned a lot on our trip that I will need later on.- Student of 4a-IGT

HERZ is delighted with the feedback from the students and once again proves the importance of cooperation and support from educational institutions.

Walter Knaus (head of the 4a-IGT class) with the students of the Graz 4 vocational school on a visit to HERZ.