(Photo: © Gottschalk & Michaelis)
January 2026
There is another way: Berlin-based medium-sized company Gottschalk und Michaelis has now taken over a small Berlin-based lift company.
The company in question is Michael Pietsch Aufzüge- und Fördertechnik. Owner Michael Pietsch retired at the end of 2025. The 66-year-old had been working in the lift industry for almost 50 years.
The buyer is the long-established company Gottschalk und Michaelis, which has been active in the Berlin lift market since 1880. Martin Kalinowski has been managing director there since the end of 2024. The parent company is the machine tool manufacturer Alzmetall.
"The main reason for the sale, apart from my age, is the fact that my employee has wanted to retire for years," Michael Pietsch explains to LIFTjournal. "But there are no other qualified and reliable employees on the market." His company specialised in old lifts, which require two people for maintenance and repair.
Furthermore, Michael Pietsch has not found a successor: "The high level of personal commitment deters most people!" explains the technical specialist, who founded his company in 2006.
He also made a conscious decision not to sell to a large corporation: "My customers chose me because I am a small business owner. I feel committed to this decision."
For Gottschalk & Michaelis, the purchase was interesting for several reasons, emphasises Managing Director Martin Kalinowski: ‘I am familiar with the company, of course; they service many older lift systems – which is also one of our areas of focus. I am also convinced that, as a medium-sized company, we are particularly well placed to maintain the personal contact that Mr Pietsch's customers value so highly.’
Gottschalk & Michaelis has 30 employees, maintains around 1,200 systems and builds between twenty and thirty special systems every year.
More information: pietsch-aufzuege.de
gm-aufzuege.de
Digitalpaper
Write a comment