August Läpple

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

August Läpple (born April 11, 1885 in Flein ; † November 6, 1968 ) was a German manufacturer. Today's Läpple AG , based in Heilbronn and with around 2000 employees (as of 2011), emerged from a mechanical workshop and locksmith's shop with three employees that he opened in Weinsberg in 1919 .

Life

Läpple was born in Flein as the son of a shepherd and the youngest of his five children. At the age of fourteen he began an apprenticeship as a locksmith in Heilbronn , which he finished in 1902. His years of traveling as a journeyman took him to Karlsruhe , Frankfurt am Main , Düsseldorf and Hamburg . He worked at Bosch in Stuttgart, at the Esslingen machine factory and from 1908 at NSU in Neckarsulm , where he was promoted to head of the pattern making department.

Läpple wanted to become self-employed. In 1919 he passed the master craftsman's examination as a mechanic and acquired the house at Heilbronner Strasse 19 in Weinsberg, in the basement of which a blacksmith's shop was set up. There he opened a mechanical workshop with a locksmith's shop on April 1, 1919 with a journeyman and an apprentice , in which he first repaired bicycles and agricultural machines and manufactured cutter bars for mowing machines. From 1924 Läpple expanded the production spectrum to include tools for typewriter parts, household and kitchen appliances and for the automotive industry; his company entered toolmaking . With the transition from wooden structures to sheet metal parts in the automotive industry , the demand for pressed sheet metal parts increased, and in 1928 Läpple received its first major orders from the automotive industry . An extension became necessary, but this soon became insufficient due to the increasing number of employees. A newly acquired property at Schwabstrasse 22 offered space for a new building, which was moved into in 1930 with 18 employees. Despite the economic difficulties that the global economic crisis also brought with it for Läpple, the number of employees rose to around 100 by 1939.

In the 1930s, Läpple's sons joined the management. After a decline during the Second World War and in the immediate post-war period, the number of orders rose sharply again after the currency reform in 1948 , and the company needed more space for additional factory buildings. After the space in the vineyard could not be met, the company moved in 1950 all the way to Heilbronn to where a new factory was created at the Austraße to previously agriculturally used area, which continued to grow in the following decades and now the headquarters of Läpple AG is .

Even in old age, August Läpple came to the company almost every day. He was also at the Heilbronn plant in the morning on November 6, 1968. In the afternoon he fell because of malaise on the stairs of his house in Weinsberg and died shortly before 5 p.m. of the consequences of the fall. He was buried on November 9, 1968 in the Weinsberg cemetery.

family

In 1911 Läpple married Johanna Zeller (born October 11, 1884, † October 3, 1967). The children of the marriage were Erich Läpple (* May 28, 1912, † August 28, 2006), Erna Fleischmann b. Läpple (born June 10, 1913 - † July 27, 1990) and Helmut Läpple (* April 4, 1916 - † September 23, 2005).

Honors

August Läpple was an honorary member of the gymnastics and sports club Weinsberg, to which he belonged as an apparatus gymnast. On the occasion of his 70th birthday in 1955 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class .

Several communities in which the Läpple company has or had branches named streets after August Läpple. In Heilbronn, since April 11, 2006, the street at the headquarters of Läpple AG has been called August-Läpple-Strasse. It was created by renaming the eastern part of Imlinstraße, which is located between Austraße and Hans-Rießer-Straße. There are also August-Läpple streets in Weinsberg, Möckmühl - Züttlingen and Teublitz . There is an August-Läpple-Weg in Haßmersheim .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Läpple AG company profile (accessed on August 5, 2012)
  2. ^ Ma: manufacturer A. Läpple died. A great Swabian entrepreneur . In: Heilbronn voice . November 7, 1968.
  3. ^ [Family obituary] . In: Heilbronn voice . November 7, 1968.
  4. ↑ Heiko Fritze: "Now Läpple has a sensible address" . In: Heilbronn voice . April 12, 2006 ( from Stimme.de [accessed on August 5, 2012]).

literature

  • A [lfons] Weber builder: 50 years of August Läpple GmbH & Co. Specialized company for the sheet metal processing industry. Hoppenstedts Wirtschafts-Archiv, Darmstadt 1969, DNB 457336331

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Läpple, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Flein
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1968