#Industry News
Company anniversary
100 years of Elektrowerkzeuge Eibenstock
Eibenstock / Erzgebirge. In 2019, Elektrowerkzeuge GmbH Eibenstock celebrates its 100th anniversary of the founding of the company. The medium-sized company from the Erzgebirge / Saxony specialises in high-performance and durable professional products for tough construction site conditions and the industry. The products are sold under the own brand EIBENSTOCK in 80 countries worldwide. The brand philosophy of power tools from Eibenstock includes its own development competence, its own production with 80 percent vertical integration and the latest production technology.
Power tools: 100 years ‘Made in Germany’
The company was founded on November 1, 1919 in Leipzig, initially as a trading company for electric hand-held drills. After just a few years, they built their own production plant. During World War II, production was destroyed by an air raid in December 1943. Already during spring of the year 1944, they moved to Eibenstock in the Erzgebirge and resumed production.
After the war, the company survived in the GDR, initially in a private sector niche, and as from 1959, the state joined as a shareholder. In 1972, the company was forcibly nationalised. 1989, the year of the 70th anniversary, saw the fall of the Berlin Wall. With the reunification in 1990, the company was taken over by the "Treuhand-Trust". In 1993, the re-privatisation succeeded. The heirs of the former owner got the company back and transferred 52 percent of the company shares to Lothar Lässig, the current owner and managing director.
"The company was worth nothing in 1993. The company buildings were almost ruins. Many in the industry told me that I had no chance of succeeding. I will never forget that. But that got me so incited, that I wanted to prove it to everyone, including my employees. That's how we started again with 24 people", Lothar Lässig recalls. The first successful products were the electric drilling machines and agitators for the construction industry, which were urgently needed in the construction boom after the "Wende" (Unification of both GDR and BRD).
Owner Lothar Lässig stands for continuity and solid growth
Despite the political upheavals in 100 years of company history, the respective company management succeeded in achieving a high degree of continuity in the company's development. Owner Lothar Lässig is only the 4. CEO in 100 years. At the same time, he is the longest serving director of the power tool industry in Europe. Since 1985, he has been managing director of the company and today, he is the majority shareholder. Since the restart with 24 employees in 1993, the workforce at the Eibenstock site has increased more than tenfold with 280 employees today. The group employs more than 500 people worldwide.
The Lässig family is engaged in the company, too: Lothar Lässig's wife Karin leads the company Vakuum Technik GmbH, where daughter Diane and son Michael are working, too. Lothar Lässig's son Thomas is responsible for marketing and sales controlling at Elektrowerkzeuge GmbH Eibenstock. Another son-in-law, Zenel Vrajolli, successfully works as a sales representative. So much sense of family is also reflected in the positive working atmosphere and the corporate responsibility. The core workforce stays constant, the employees have been with the company for long and the junior staff undergoes in-house training.
Investment in the future: new training center for specialist trade
The company used the 25 successful years since the re-privatisation in 1993 to build a high equity ratio and thus gained their independence from banks. This is very important to the entrepreneurial family in order to finance all investments from their own resources. Since 2018, a new training center for specialist trade is getting constructed on the premises. Everything should be ready during spring of 2019 and will be officially inaugurated at the 100th anniversary. With this new milestone, Lothar Lässig writes another chapter of his success story: "We are the only power tool manufacturer from the former GDR that still exists. No one believed in our success at the restart, but ourselves. We made it."
Product innovation for the Trade Fair "BAU"(construction) in Munich: The handy ring saw ERS 400
Financial soundness allows the company to invest both permanently into the company's infrastructure and latest manufacturing technology as well as to develop product innovations. For example, Lothar Lässig and his team launched the world's first concrete grinder with a vibration-free grip. The product range of Elektrowerkzeuge Eibenstock has multiplied since the time of the GDR (Vorwendezeit) from 16 types to currently more than 1,000 products. The scope of supply also includes all accessories for power tools, such as drill stands. These are also produced in-house.
During the anniversary year, Elektrowerkzeuge Eibenstock will have some attractive monthly campaigns on offer for its customers, e.g. special editions of their machines. In January, the company presented a product innovation on the market: the handy ring saw ERS 400. This ring saw features a powerful electric motor with 2,700 W and a cutting depth of 255 mm. Its scope of application includes the production of wall through-puts and wall cut-outs for installations as well as the cutting of sewer pipes. With its integrated water supply, it also works for easy and quick separation of large stones used in structural engineering. Heavy, unwieldy and expensive equipment is therefore no longer required. On 14th January, the new saw was presented to the trade audience at the trade fair "BAU" (construction).
You will find an overview of the product range at: https://www.eibenstock.com/en/products
