Twin jubilee at fischer’s: 50 years of fixing systems, 25 years of automotive

World success in double pack

Two business divisions of the fischer group of companies in Waldachtal (Freudenstadt district) celebrate their anniversary in 2008: 50 years ago, a fischer product revolutionised anchor engineering, 25 years ago, the company made the first steps in the car industry. World-wide success all round in both divisions.

In 1958, ten years after establishing the company, Artur Fischer (89) developed the S Plug – until today the world’s most widely produced and copied plug. The “small grey one”, made of high-grade nylon, revolutionised the market for fixing products. Before that, people had to make do with small wooden blocks set in plaster or hemp-filled metal sleeves.

In 1980 aged 29, the founder’s son Klaus Fischer took (57) over the general management of the company. He has since made his company into a global player with as many as 27 national companies on all five continents – four more will join this year, by 2010 the group will have 40 companies. With a headcount of 3,800 people, the company currently generates sales of over 500 million Euro.

From South Africa to Norway, from Argentina to Japan, fischer fixing systems are in demand by professionals and home workers alike. And plastic plugs only make up a smaller fraction of the product range: steel anchors and chemical fixings, adhesives and complete systems (for instance the installation grid in industrial constructions) are also part of the assortment. 14.5 million plugs and anchors are sold every day, there are about 6,000 solutions for every kind of building material and applications – and many customised developments.

Made-to-measures products also include cup holders and CD boxes, storage trays and ventilation nozzles, kinematic and multi-functional components: whether made in standard series or for optional equipment – fischer automotive systems have developed solutions for the car industry since the eighties of last century. The manufacturer of a patented audio archive (fischer CBOX) has become a specialist in world-wide demand. Among the customers are Audi, BMW and Daimler, but also General Motors and Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi, Rolls-Royce and Rover.

fischertechnik (construction kits) and fischer Consulting  (process consulting) are two more of fischer’s successful business divisions. They all celebrate under the jubilee motto “inspiring people, shaping the future”.

The motto also reflects the fundamental convictions of the owner and CEO Professor E.h. Klaus Fischer: to have a “profound understanding of our customers’ needs” and to think far ahead at the same time “to know what will be important for our customers in ten or fifteen year’s time”. With its fischer ProcessSystems (fPS) fischer strives for permanent improvement. “Our objective is a flexible, lean and customer-driven business generating as little waste as possible”. This is true for all divisions and for each and every national company.

Business success, says Klaus Fischer, depends decisively on the people working for the company: “It is our people who are our most valuable assets, not plants, equipment or buildings”. As far as training and advancement is concerned, the company therefore invests heavily in its people – from integration weeks for new employees via fPS and language training right through to stays abroad for trainees.