Läpple AG
| Läpple AG
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1919 |
| Seat | Heilbronn , Germany |
| management |
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| Number of employees | 2,700 (2018) |
| sales | EUR 521 million (2018) |
| Branch | Sheet metal processing , mechanical engineering , automation |
| Website | www.laepple.de |
The Läpple AG , headquartered in Heilbronn is a global supplier of pressed parts, body components, standard parts and rotary tables and automation solutions. The company also offers services for internal and external training and further education.
The Läpple AG is a 100% family-owned.
history
Establishment and initial business development
On April 1, 1919 founded August Läpple the company Heilbronner Strasse 19 in the vineyard as a mechanic workshop. With a journeyman and an apprentice , he first made bicycles and cutter bars for mowers and repaired agricultural machines. From 1924 Läpple expanded the production spectrum to include tools for typewriter parts, household and kitchen appliances and for the automotive industry. The company thus entered toolmaking . Parallel adopted by the transition from wood structures to metal parts in the automotive industry , the need for sheet-metal pressed parts to. In 1928 Läpple received its first major orders from the automotive industry . Due to the rapid growth, a building extension was soon no longer sufficient for the increasing number of employees. In 1930, the company moved into a new building at Schwabstrasse 22, now with 18 employees. Despite the economic difficulties that the global economic crisis brought with it for Läpple, the number of employees rose to around 100 by 1939.
Construction and relocation
In 1940 Erich and Helmut Läpple , the sons of the company founder, and son-in-law Ernst Fleischmann took over the management. The production facilities survived the Second World War relatively unscathed. In order to bridge the restrictions imposed by the Allies on automobile construction, however, the company has now also manufactured building hardware and household appliances. With the release of the motor vehicle industry after the currency reform in 1948, the number of orders for Läpple rose sharply. In 1948 the company became the first supplier to the Stuttgart automobile manufacturer Porsche .
In 1950 Läpple moved completely to Heilbronn in order to be able to meet the increasing space requirements in the long term. A new plant was built on a site on Austraße, which was continuously expanded in the following decades and where the headquarters of Läpple AG is still today.
Expansion and acquisitions
The company grew rapidly in the 1950s through the manufacture of large tools for bodywork, for the motorcycle, helmet and refrigerator industries, as well as with all kinds of small tools. In 1958, Läpple was the largest independent toolmaker in Germany with over 1,300 employees.
Expansion and internationalization shaped the following period: In 1972 a branch was opened in Rosslyn in South Africa , and in 1974 another in Carlow in Ireland . In 1975 Läpple took over the insolvent company Fibro GmbH with locations in Weinsberg and Haßmersheim . In 1990, the 400,000 square meter site of the former Maxhütte ironworks in Teublitz in the Upper Palatinate was purchased and built into a sheet metal processing site.
At the end of 2003, Helmut Läpple († September 23, 2005) and Erich Läpple († August 28, 2006) withdrew completely from the management. The company was subsequently converted into a stock corporation and on September 1, 2004, Wolf-Peter Graeser, for the first time, received a board member who did not belong to the Läpple family. After the takeover of the Bad Friedrichshall-based company GSA Automation in 2004, it was integrated into the subsidiary Fibro and in 2006 merged with the automation and robotics division of Fibro GmbH to form Fibro-GSA Automation GmbH.
In July 2006, Läpple received a major order from BMW in America and then started building a new plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This was inaugurated in April 2008.
In autumn 2007 a new plant for the mold making division was acquired and rebuilt in Möckmühl-Züttlingen . For this reason, Läpple Formenbau GmbH was founded on January 1, 2008.
Crisis and restructuring
The global economic crisis from 2007 and the slump in industrial production have had a hard time affecting the traditional company for several years. As a result, there were massive cuts in the corporate structure and restructuring of the entire group.
The plant in Ireland was closed in 2007 for cost and quality reasons. In 2009 Läpple Formenbau GmbH in Möckmühl-Züttlingen was sold to the Portuguese automotive supplier Planfuro. The plant in South Africa was transferred to the Italian automotive supplier Magnetto at around the same time and was finally sold at the beginning of 2010. The newly built plant in the USA was also sold to the Spanish automotive supplier Gestamp just a year and a half after it opened in October 2009.
In total, several hundred jobs had to be cut at the various locations of the group between 2007 and 2010. Around 250 employees were transferred to a training and employment company.
Läpple AG and its CEO, Wolf-Peter Graeser, parted ways on June 12, 2008, while the restructuring measures were still ongoing. At first, CFO Ralf Herkenhoff also took on the responsibilities of CEO. On December 1, 2008, Daniel Böhmer was appointed spokesman for the Executive Board. Böhmer left the company again in February 2010. Olaf Hedden, who initially took up the position of the third board member in February 2009, was appointed spokesman for the board by the newly formed supervisory board with equal representation. He should press ahead with the restructuring of the group and make the company fit for the future again.
In September 2010, Läpple's tool shop was sold to the Portuguese company Directarget and the company's name was changed to the Society for Innovative Tool Systems (GIW). After GIW went bankrupt in November 2012, the division was finally sold to the Chinese company Tianjin Motor Dies Europe.
In 2011, the business units Fibro-GSA Automation GmbH and Produktionsanlagen GmbH were merged into Fibro Läpple Technology GmbH (FLT). Haßmersheim has served as the location since then.
With the renaming of the sheet metal processing division with the locations Heilbronn and Teublitz to Läpple Automotive GmbH, the restructuring measures were largely completed at the end of 2013.
From February 1, 2014 until the end of 2016, Peter Spahn continued the reorientation of the Läpple Group as spokesman for the Executive Board. Continuous profitable growth with a return on sales of between 5 and 7 percent was achieved.
Current developments
The 2016 financial year ended with a turnover of 439 million euros. The increase in sales in the previous year (2015: EUR 448 million) is due to special effects from project start-ups. The past year also showed growth in the series business. The group's companies currently employ around 2,340 people.
Since January 1, 2017, Klemens Schmiederer has been the new spokesman for the Läpple Group's board of directors and has been supported by Stephan Itter as commercial director since April 1, 2017.
Companies belonging to the Läpple Group
- Läpple Automotive GmbH Heilbronn plant
- Läpple Automotive GmbH Teublitz plant
- Läpple Training GmbH, Heilbronn
- Läpple Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH, Heilbronn
- Fibro GmbH, Hassmersheim
- Fibro GmbH, Weinsberg
- Fibro SARL, France
- Fibro Inc., USA
- Fibro Asia Pte. Ltd.
- Fibro Korea Co. Ltd., Incheon
- Fibro India Pvt. Ltd.
- Fibro (Shanghai) Standard Parts Co. Ltd.
- Fibro Läpple Technology GmbH, Hassmersheim
- Fibro Läpple Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., China
- Fibro Läpple Technology Ltd., Canada
- Fibro Läpple Technology Inc., USA
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
- Julius Keil: The West German economy and its leading men. State of Baden-Württemberg, Part I: Northern part. United publishing companies, Frankfurt / Main 1958
Web links
- laepple.de - Official website of Läpple AG
- Photo gallery of the Heilbronn voice of the Läpple location Heilbronn
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1] , change of boss at Läpple: (from Heilbronner Demokratie, accessed on January 4, 2017).
- ↑ [2] , Vernessa Oberhansl: Automotive supplier Läpple gets new CFO (at: Finance Magazine, accessed on January 25, 2016).
- ↑ a b [3] , Läpple sees opportunities in e-mobility (from Heilbronner Demokratie, accessed on April 27, 2019).
- ↑ Heiko Fritze: The new work is almost too small . In: Heilbronn voice . April 8, 2008 ( from Stimme.de [accessed March 9, 2016]).
- ↑ Läpple founds its own Formenbau GmbH , Läpple AG press release of December 5, 2007 (accessed March 9, 2016)
- ↑ Heiko Fritze: "Läpple closes his factory in Carlow", accessed: March 9, 2016
- ↑ Werner Tewes: Läpple sells plants in South Africa and Möckmühl . In: Heilbronn voice . December 2, 2009 ( from Stimme.de [accessed December 5, 2009]).
- ↑ Stéphane Itasse: Läpple sells US subsidiary . maschinenmarkt.vogel.de, October 7, 2009
- ↑ Heiko Fritze: Läpple wants to cut 450 jobs . In: Heilbronner Voice from May 2, 2008
- ↑ Manfred Stockburger: Läpple cuts 150 jobs in Bavaria . In: Heilbronn voice . May 23, 2009 ( from Stimme.de [accessed December 5, 2009]).
- ^ Wet: Läpple: Agreement in Teublitz . In: Heilbronn voice . September 15, 2009 ( from Stimme.de [accessed December 5, 2009]).
- ^ Heiko Fritze, Siegfried Lambert: Job cuts at Läpple without layoffs . In: Heilbronn voice . January 14, 2009 ( from Stimme.de [accessed December 5, 2009]).
- ↑ Manfred Stockburger: Läpple is leaderless . In: Heilbronn voice . June 14, 2008 ( from Stimme.de [accessed December 5, 2009]).
- ^ Wet: Olaf Hedden new Läpple boss in Heilbronn . In: Heilbronn voice . February 23, 2010 ( from Stimme.de [accessed on March 14, 2010]).
- ↑ Jürgen Paul: GIW is aiming for a turnaround in earnings . In: Heilbronn voice . March 30, 2010 ( from Stimme.de [accessed June 20, 2012]).