Umarex

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Umarex GmbH & Co. KG

logo
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding 1972
Seat Arnsberg , Germany
management Executive Director:
  • Wulf-Heinz Pflaumer
  • Franz Wonisch
  • Eyck Pflaumer
  • Martin Wonisch
Number of employees 842
sales 159.5 million euros
Branch weapons
Website www.umarex.de
As of December 31, 2017

The Umarex GmbH & Co. KG is a mid-sized, owner-operated weapons manufacturer based in Arnsberg (district Neheim ) in Hochsauerlandkreis . Umarex is part of the PW Group (formerly the Umarex group of companies).

To PW Group, for example, also includes the company Laser liner, the laser measuring equipment manufactures, and sporting weapons manufacturer Carl Walther . The PW Group also owns the license rights to the Hämmerli company . Another area of ​​activity of the group of companies is the operation of shops and kiosks under the PW STORE brand (until 2013: PW TOBACCO), not least for the sale of Umarex products.

history

In 1972 the company was founded as "UMA Mayer & Ussfeller GmbH". They made gas and signal weapons. From 1978 compressed air weapons were also added. When the "Reck Sportwaffenfabrik Karl Arndt" was taken over in 1979, the name changed first to UMARECK and later to UMAREX. The aim of the company was to manufacture replica weapons that were as true to the original as possible.

The real success began in 1978 with the RECK PK 800. This gas signal weapon was the almost perfect replica of the famous Walther PPK . Today Umarex is the largest pneumatic weapon importer in Europe and the world's largest manufacturer of replicas. Umarex acquired licenses to build gas signal and CO 2 weapons from international weapons manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson and Carl Walther.

In 1993 Umarex took over the traditional company Carl Walther. In 2006, the company also acquired the rights of the former Swiss sporting arms manufacturer Hämmerli from the L&O Group (Lüke & Ortmeier Group) based in Emsdetten, and in 2008 the license rights for free weapons from the Heckler and Koch company .

In 1996 the American subsidiary Umarex USA was founded in Fort Smith ( Arkansas ).

In 2010, the weapons division of the clamping tool manufacturer Röhm from Sontheim / Brenz was taken over (blank firing and compressed air weapons as well as LTS light weapon technology). Umarex employs a total of around 840 people and, including its subsidiaries, has an annual turnover of around 160 million euros.

The plans for the new logistics center planned in Arnsberg- Voßwinkel , which should replace the three warehouse locations in Arnsberg-Neheim and a warehouse in Werl , are currently inactive. Due to major sales problems in the USA, caused by the local shortage of small-caliber ammunition, and due to export restrictions imposed by the German federal authorities in some countries, the proportion of temporary workers employed since 2008 was reduced at the end of 2014, but some temporary workers were also permanently hired. In order to make itself more independent from the classic arms business, Umarex also intends to increasingly sell high-quality leisure products and accessories for official security, emergency and rescue forces in the future.

At the end of September 2015 it became known that the public prosecutor was investigating the subsidiary Carl Walther for the illegal export of pistols to Colombia. On September 27, 2017, after almost exactly two years, the Stuttgart public prosecutor reported the termination of the proceedings via dpa : The small-caliber weapons delivered to Colombia were "of no military importance" and the export was therefore not subject to approval.

A process came to an end in February 2020 because an employee of Umarex in Arnsberg smuggled, assembled and sold components for at least 70 pistols (55 P 22 and 15 P 38) from the factory premises from 2015 to spring 2019. He had partially hidden gun parts under components that he was allowed to take home for his homework . Because since 2016 police officers in North Rhine-Westphalia repeatedly confiscated unregistered and marked P 22 capable of shooting, this indicated the Umarex plant as the source. The safety precautions in the factory have been strengthened. The employee smuggled pistol barrels, grips and other components through the controls in a thermos and a wallet, until he was finally caught. In addition to the Umarex employee, four middlemen were charged. The Umarex employee sold the pistols for 250 to 300 euros. The middlemen sold it on for three times the price. The employee was sentenced to four years and two months in prison. The main middleman, the hub of arms sales, got four years and nine months. Another middleman was sentenced to eight years in prison for armed drug trafficking, including seven kilos of marijuana and 47,000 euros in cash. Two smaller middlemen were sentenced to suspended sentences and fines.

Trademarks and license rights (excerpt)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Gazette: Consolidated financial statements for the financial year from January 1, 2017 to December 31 , 2017 , accessed on September 28, 2019
  2. ^ Westfälische Rundschau , local section Arnsberg, edition of August 12, 2008
  3. ↑ UMAREX takes over the weapons division from Röhm . In: Deutsches Waffen-Journal , Internet edition of December 23, 2009, accessed on March 31, 2013
  4. ↑ Westfalenpost of March 16, 2015
  5. ↑ Südwestpresse from September 24, 2015
  6. ↑ Heilbronn voice of September 27, 2017
  7. ↑ Gun parts stolen from a factory in Sauerland: Sauerlandkurier sold pistols for 250 euros on October 17, 2019, accessed on February 15, 2020
  8. ↑ Umarex trial: Ex-employee will be imprisoned for four years WAZ from February 13, 2020, accessed on February 15, 2020