OBO Bettermann
| OBO Bettermann Holding GmbH and Co. KG
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Holding GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1911 |
| Seat | Menden (Sauerland) , Germany |
| management | Pers. detention. Shareholder of OBO Bettermann Beteiligungs-GmbH. Managing directors: Ulrich Bettermann , Robert Gröning, Lajos Hernádi, Michael Büenfeld, Christoph Palausch |
| Number of employees | approx. 4300 |
| sales | approx. 600 million EUR (2020) |
| Branch | Building installation technology |
| Website | www.obo.de |
OBO Bettermann is a company based in Menden (Sauerland) . The group of companies, which has been family-owned since its foundation in 1911, is active in the field of electrical and building installation technology and has 40 subsidiaries and production sites worldwide . OBO Bettermann is a manufacturer of installation systems for the electrotechnical infrastructure of buildings and systems with around 30,000 electrotechnical products and services for industry, trade and infrastructure facilities.
The brand name OBO stands for metal dowels that can be installed "without drilling".
history
In 1911, the farmer Franz Bettermann and two former work colleagues founded a metalworking supplier for the lighting industry in the area in the Menden district of Hüingsen . Seven years later, Bettermann left the company he founded, opened a stamping shop as the sole owner and produced fastening material for electrical and sanitary installations. In 1932 the company combined metal and plastic production for modern installation and fastening technology.
During the war years, the founder restructured his previous sole proprietorship into a general partnership and appointed his four sons Franz, Johann, Ernst and Hubert as junior partners. In 1944, at the age of 65, he handed the management of the company entirely into the hands of his sons.
In the same year artillery fire almost completely destroyed the plant. The reconstruction was completed in 1945. The fact that a large part of the machine park had already been outsourced at the beginning of the war proved to be beneficial.
The OBO brand was created during the period of reconstruction. The metal dowels invented in 1952, which could be hammered into the wall without pre-drilling, gave the company its brand name. Appearances at national and increasingly also international trade fairs increased the level of awareness and thus the sales figures. In 1957 the brothers Johann, Ernst and Hubert acquired the new rolling mill in Menden-Bösperde, which was founded in 1827, and thus expanded the company by around 400 employees. The product range has thus been expanded to include cable routes .
In 1968, Ulrich L. Bettermann became the third generation to join the management. He concentrated on the international expansion of the group of companies with the aim of leading the industry. The company went through numerous change processes under his leadership. In 1985 he paid off his co-partners and became the sole owner and partner. In 1986 the first subsidiary was founded in Switzerland and gradually numerous regional branches throughout Germany.
In 1999, the two sons Andreas and Thomas Bettermann joined the company management as the fourth generation Bettermann.
OBO Bettermann now employs 4,300 people worldwide, around 1200 of them at the headquarters in Menden (Sauerland). The product range includes around 30,000 items. On May 13, 2011, the company celebrated its 100th birthday. On the occasion of the anniversary, a largely automated hot-dip galvanizing plant was inaugurated at the company's headquarters.
Subsidiaries and agencies abroad
OBO is represented by 40 companies in over 60 countries. Subsidiaries are u. a. in Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia , Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, the USA, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Belarus.
In addition to the OBO brand, the corporate group also includes the following other brand names established on the market:
- Chalfant (USA)
- Trench (United Kingdom)
- O-line / Armco (South Africa)
- REHAU - Cable Management by OBO (Europe)
OBO also has foreign agencies in Egypt, Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chile, Ghana, Greece, Great Britain, Indonesia, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Qatar, Colombia, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mozambique, New Zealand and Nigeria.
Product range
The OBO product range is divided into three areas of application. OBO sells its products to wholesalers via the three-tier distribution channel, which then continues to the specialist processing company (installer).
The three areas of application into which the OBO product portfolio is divided are: industrial installation, building installation and protective installation. The area of industrial installation includes cable support, connection and fastening systems for industry and infrastructure. The spectrum ranges from junction boxes and cable glands to fastening and assembly material such as screws, clips or dowels. This area also includes cable support systems such as cable trays or mesh trays, such as those required for laying power supply or data lines through a building. The building installation area includes cable routing and underfloor systems including the necessary built-in devices for administration, functional buildings and architecture. Products from this area include floor sockets and floor boxes, device installation ducts, skirting boards, service posts and underfloor applications for screed and concrete. The area of application for protective installations bundles the lightning protection, surge protection and fire protection systems from the OBO range. These include fire barriers for wall and ceiling openings, fire-protected cable ducts as well as lightning protection components and surge protection components. In the BET lightning protection and EMC technology center belonging to the group of companies, EMC specialists work with the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences to research the effects of lightning strikes and their effects, for example on electronic components.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ ON SITE WORLDWIDE: 4,000 EMPLOYEES. OVER 60 COUNTRIES. 40 SUBSIDIARIES. In: OBO Bettermann's official website. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d e history. In: OBO Bettermann Holding GmbH & Co. KG, D-58710 Menden. 2019, accessed November 19, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Regional proximity. In: OBO Bettermann Holding GmbH & Co. KG, D-58710 Menden. 2019, accessed November 19, 2019 .