06/14/2013

Schuler Automation Hessdorf celebrates 50th anniversary

Company has been developing and manufacturing coil lines, blanking lines and transfer systems since 1963

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Around 450 customers and employees came to Schuler Automation in Hessdorf to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

What began in 1963 as a small garage business in Erlangen, Germany, has since become part of a globally operating corporation: Schuler Automation today celebrated its 50th anniversary in Hessdorf, Germany. Some 450 customers and staff gathered at the company’s base in Louis-Schuler-Strasse, its home since the early 90s, to look back on the milestones of the past decades, enjoy a factory tour, and together toast this special achievement.

“For a company to grow and successfully compete on the international market over so many years, it needs to get plenty of things right,” said the Schuler Group’s CEO Stefan Klebert. “And Schuler Automation certainly got many things right.”

With more than 340 employees, Schuler Automation in Hessdorf has regularly proven its high degree of innovation with developments such as founder Hermann Schleicher’s pneumatic grippers, to high-performance blanking lines, and pioneering part transfer systems for press lines.

“Automation has made us a successful, one-stop supplier of equipment for the entire metalforming sector,” stated Klebert.

“Over the years, we have continually enhanced our three product lines: coil lines, blanking lines and transfer systems,” added Managing Director Stephan Mergner. “With new products – such as the Intra Trans – we are increasingly tapping the modernization market and also targeting new customer groups with our innovative laser blanking line. We believe this will generate further growth for us in the future.”

The Technology Field Automation, which also includes the Group’s Gemmingen facility, has more than doubled its sales over the last five years and now accounts for around 15 percent of consolidated revenue. New orders received by the Hessdorf plant alone were more than 200 times higher than the one million deutschmarks generated in 1963, the year of its founding.

“When Hermann Schleicher took the bold step of setting up his own business, he possessed all those qualities and characteristics which distinguish the most successful founders of this era: a wealth of ideas, tremendous courage, an unshakeable trust in his own knowledge and skills, a willingness to take risks, and a reliable group of colleagues to accompany him on his journey,” stated Commercial Director Bernhard Kraus, as he recalled the popular “old-school boss” who passed away in 2005. “Today, two generations later, we would like show our respect and pay tribute to a man whose hard work and creativity laid the foundation for what we are celebrating today: the successful development of a company over half a century. And this company, which has belonged to Schuler since 1990, will not only honor the legacy of its founder, but continue its sustainable development with its eyes fixed firmly on the future.”