Horst Brandstätter

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Horst Brandstätter (born June 27, 1933 in Zirndorf ; † June 3, 2015 in Fürth ) was a German entrepreneur . In the 1970s, he brought the Playmobil system toy onto the market.

Life

Brandstätter lost his father Karl at the age of seven in World War II and then spent his childhood and youth in children's homes .

In 1954 Horst Brandstätter joined his uncle's company, geobra Brandstätter , in Zirndorf near Fürth. The company was founded by Horst Brandstätter's grandfather Georg Brandstätter. At that time mainly toy telephones, money boxes and shop items were manufactured , initially from sheet metal , later from plastic .

In 1958 the hula hoops had their first success. The company then expanded with various products from the toy and leisure sector, plastic being the main material used.

In the 1960s, Brandstätter opened a new production facility in Dietenhofen , as buses had to bring employees from the villages to Zirndorf at that time. Since then this location has been continuously expanded.

In 1964 he founded HOB GmbH & Co. KG to build turntables and intercom systems . In 1981 his son Klaus Brandstätter in the company and changed the production towards hardware and software , in particular for remote control , English Remote Control or Remote Access .

In 1971 Brandstätter opened the first foreign production Brand Malta in Hal Far on Malta .

The oil crisis in the early 1970s prompted Brandstätter to create an expandable system toy with a high play value and the lowest possible consumption of raw materials. He thought of a series of vehicles for toddlers in which even simple figures could sit. This approach was too easy for the developer Hans Beck and he developed a series of similar basic figures that differed only in the color scheme and the addition of appropriate equipment: the Playmobil system toy . The first figures were presented in 1974 at the International Toy Fair . By the end of 1974 the company had already turned over 3.5 million D-Marks , and by then 300,000 "Klickys" had been produced. In 1990 the company opened a new headquarters for administration , marketing , development and sales in Zirndorf . In addition to Playmobil, “Lechuza” planters and garden furniture have also been manufactured since 2000.

Horst Brandstätter was the founder of the “Playmobil Children's Fund” foundation and the Playmobil FunPark amusement park , which are geared towards active employment and physical exercise for children.

The business magazine Forbes put Horst Brandstätter's fortune in 2015 at around 1.3 billion US dollars .

Horst Brandstätter died on June 3, 2015 at the age of 81. He was the father of two sons and a grandfather of four . He was divorced twice.

obituary

"Basically everything depended on one invention, the Playmobil toy figure, and that was consistently developed, but you always stuck to the core and Horst Brandstätter simply developed a keen sense for the hearts and souls of children all over the world, has always remained down to earth and with a sense of home. "

- Playmobil father Horst Brandstätter has died - Obituary by Dirk von Vopelius, President IHK Mittelfranken - Bayerischer Rundfunk, evening show from June 8, 2015

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Playmobil boss Horst Brandstätter has died . Nordbayern.de , June 8, 2015
  2. ↑ Horst Brandstätter - head of Playmobil: The father of plastic men
  3. ↑ From turntables to software programming : The Cadolzburger HOB celebrates its 40th anniversary - press release from November 21, 2007
  4. ↑ The World's Billionaires , accessed October 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ Playmobil father Horst Brandstätter has died . Obituary by Dirk von Vopelius, President of the IHK Mittelfranken, from 00:35
personal data
SURNAME Brandstätter, Horst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES HOB; Mr. Playmobil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Zirndorf , Germany
DATE OF DEATH 3rd June 2015
Place of death Fuerth , Germany