Altendorf mechanical engineering

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Wilhelm Altendorf, Germany

logo
legal form GmbH and Co. KG
founding 1906
Seat Minden / Westf.
management
  • Jörg F. Mayer (sales management)
  • Wolfgang Ruhnau (commercial management)
Number of employees 266 (2016)
sales EUR 40 million (2016)
Branch mechanical engineering
Website www.altendorf.com

The company Wilhelm Altendorf GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of panel saws . The company, based in the East Westphalian city ​​of Minden , was founded in 1906.

history

Invention of the sliding table saw

Wilhelm Altendorf

In 1906 the furniture designer and draftsman Wilhelm Altendorf founded a factory for business furnishings in Berlin. Since the machines on the market at that time did not meet his requirements, he also constructed his own machines for woodworking . For the production of his furniture designs he developed a saw in which the workpiece is guided through the saw blade while lying on a sliding carriage : the world's first sizing and trimming circular saw . In 1914 the company already had around 50 employees.

World Wars and Great Depression

In 1919 Altendorf relocated the company headquarters to Minden , Westphalia, as the effects of the First World War and the general uprising made working in Berlin almost impossible. In 1929 Willy Altendorf, the first born son of the company founder, completed his engineering examination and joined the company. The fact that the family business survived the first half of the 20th century was thanks to the inventiveness of Wilhelm Altendorf. To compensate for the falling demand for woodworking machines, he developed, for example, a car with a wooden body, a cigarillo manufacturing machine and one of the first types of prefabricated houses . In 1939 he also brought the world's first high chair onto the market. When the company's founder Wilhelm died in 1948, Willy and his younger brother Kurt took over the company.

1956 until today

Carpentry Museum Bremen

In 1956, Willy and Kurt Altendorf decided to concentrate solely on the production and further development of the sizing and trimming circular saw. The company intensified its export activities as early as the 1950s. With the first foreign subsidiary in the USA, Altendorf began to set up commercial agencies under its own name in the mid-1980s. The Altendorf brand was also established abroad. Today Altendorf has two production sites in Germany, two more in Brazil and China, as well as subsidiaries in Australia, Brazil, China and Southeast Asia.

To date, more than 150,000 Altendorf sliding table saws have been used in joineries , joineries and wood, metal and plastic processing companies worldwide . The Altendorf company produces over 2,400 sliding table saws each year. In 2006 the Altendorf company celebrated its 100th anniversary. In 2010 the company was included in the lexicon of German world market leaders. On October 6, 2017, Avedon Capital Partners, together with Jörg F. Mayer and Wolfgang Ruhnau, took over the company shares from Wilfried and Tom Altendorf. The Altendorf family, most recently in the third and fourth generation as shareholders and in the management and advisory board of the company, withdrew completely from the company.

Generations

  • Wilhelm Altendorf (1874–1948): inventor of the sliding table saw and company founder
  • Kurt Altendorf (1910–2005): Managing partner until 2002, father of Wilfried Altendorf
  • Willy Altendorf (1904–1995): Managing partner until 1995
  • Siegfried Thiele (born 1934): Managing partner until 2003
  • Wilfried Altendorf (born 1941): Managing partner until 2013
  • Tom Altendorf (born 1976): Managing partner until 2017

Locations

The company headquarters in Minden

In addition to the main production facility in Minden, Westphalia, Altendorf set up a production facility in Qinhuangdao , China in 1995 .

In addition to the production facilities, Altendorf has its own sales and service locations in Bangalore / India, Gaspar / Brazil and Sydney / Australia.

In 2006 the service and sales center was inaugurated at the company headquarters in Minden. In addition to numerous offices, it houses an exhibition area that shows the development of the Altendorf sliding table saw and where the new machine models are presented. Rooms for training courses and lectures have also been integrated into the new service and sales center.

In 2015 the Sales Center East (Sydney, Australia) and the Sales Center West (Altendorf headquarters in Minden, Germany) were established.

Products

All sliding table saws built by Altendorf are based on the Altendorf system prototype. An original Altendorf sliding table saw from 1907 can be seen in the Carpentry Museum in Bremen . Today Altendorf offers users the choice between five machine types that can be individually adapted or equipped depending on the budget and area of ​​application: Altendorf F 45, WA 80 and WA 8, START 45 and WA 6. All Altendorf sliding table saws cut both wood and plastic .

Awards

Awarded the design award: the F45 Elmo

In 2007, Altendorf received one of the 50 iF gold awards for the sliding table saw F45 Elmo. More than 2200 applicants from 35 countries applied for the iF product design award.

  • 2016 iF Product Design Award, Hanover
  • 2013 iF Product Design Award, Hanover
  • 2013 iF Communication Design Award, Hanover
  • 2008 iF Product Design Award, Hanover
  • 2007 iF gold award, Hanover
  • 2004 iF Product Design Award, Hanover
  • 2002 iF Product Design Award, Hanover
  • 1999 iF Product Design Award, Hanover
  • 1998 Challengers Award, Atlanta, USA
  • 1997 iF Product Design Award, Hanover
  • 1995 Ergonomics Prize from Eumacop
  • 1993 Industry Design Prize, North Rhine-Westphalia

Source: Company homepage

See also

literature

  • The saw. 100 years of history and stories of the Altendorf sliding table saw. Konradin media group, Heidelberg. 2006. ISBN 3-87284-055-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b According to the company (email request)
  2. ↑ a b c Welt Online, July 24, 2006: The Altendorf - A circular saw conquers the world .
  3. ↑ The saw. 100 years of history and stories of the Altendorf sliding table saw. Page 34
  4. ↑ The saw. 100 years of history and stories of the Altendorf sliding table saw. Page 120
  5. ↑ a b c Company locations
  6. ↑ Florian Langenscheidt , Bernd Venohr (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German world market leaders. The premier class of German companies in words and pictures . German Standards Editions, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86936-221-2 .
  7. ↑ The saw. 100 years of history and stories of the Altendorf sliding table saw. Page 22
  8. ↑ The magazine for furniture and fittings . Edition March 2008, p. 86 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 17 ′ 8.2 "  N , 8 ° 52 ′ 41"  E