50 years of fischer fixing systems: Setting new standards with innovations
The problem solvers50 years of fischer plugs and anchors: Established in 1958, the fischer brand is synonymous for safe, innovative and sophisticated technical solutions which set new standards in fixing engineering. The products are in demand world-wide – both among professionals and DIY workers
 Opening the jubilee year, owner and CEO Klaus Fischer said at the fischer expert forum, the high-level meeting of construction specialists: “Our aim is to be the best in our industry world-wide. And we can do so only with your knowledge. Our customers’ experience”, Professor E.h. Klaus Fischer continued, “must flow into the advance development of our fixing systems”, stressing a central element of the corporate philosophy.
Innovations with ultimate practical usefulness have always been a tradition at fischer in Waldachtal (Freudenstadt District). This is where it all started on a Saturday back in 1958 when the father of today’s CEO, Artur Fischer, clamped a round piece of nylon (polyamide) into the vise in his workshop, looked at it from all sides, cutting notches into it and finally giving it wings. It was the birth hour of the world’s most famous plug: the S Plug.
This was by no means the first invention of the skilled locksmith: the photo flash with synchronised release came first, followed later by the fischertechnik construction kit, a reusable laundry hanger and most recently the TiP play material. But most of Artur Fischer’s inventions were made in the field of fixing technology, among these the undercut anchor in concrete and the overture, as it were: the “plastic expansion fixing” which eventually became a household name.
 The “small grey one” is still the world’s most widely produced and copied plug. But fischer’s core competence has long ago shifted to heavy duty anchors made of steel, chemical anchorings and a wide range of other innovative solutions, not only for DIY workers, but also for professional users in the most varied of trades. In the course of the last five decades, the fixing specialist from the Northern Black Forest has risen to market leader, and the brand has become synonymous for plug and anchor technology.
50 years of innovations
In 1980 aged 29, the founder’s son Klaus Fischer took 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. “We see ourselves as problem solvers”, he says. And his claim is backed by a wide-ranging assortment of steel, plastic and chemical fixings. The company develops and produces in-house in all three fields and keeps on setting new standards:
 The fischer SX is the first anchor with quadruple expansion, the fischer SXS is the world’s first plastic plug with construction approval for use in cracked concrete. The fischer UX is the first universal plug which ties into knots, and the SXR 10 long-shaft fixing which will be launched in the jubilee year is the first nylon fixing with the European Technical Approval (ETA) for virtually all load-bearing types of masonry materials and for centric tension in cracked concrete.
- Heavy duty anchorings is another area where fischer sets standards. No other manufacturer has more approvals in this field. The most recent advance developments, the hammerset anchor EA II and the anchor bolt FBN II make maximum use of the arithmetical tensile load capacity of the concrete, which means it can now be used right up to its load limit.
- If things get too heavy for plastic anchors and if steel anchors find no grip, chemical fixings are just the right solution. With the Highbond anchor and the unique FIS V injection mortar, fischer also offers secure and permanent fixing solutions in masonry, concrete or problematic building materials.
- The Zykon undercut system, the resin anchor system or the first anchor for fixing dynamic loads are other milestones in fixing technology. Another quantum leap for fischer was in façade fixings: with the world-wide unique undercut system for fixing stonework, ceramic and fibre cement boards which was later also used for fixing glass and photovoltaic modules. The fischer Zykon glass fitting FZP-G is the only undercut anchor with construction approval for fixing glass panes without the need to drill through the glass.
 The fischer Thermax is a revolutionary spaced installation system which is ideal for fixing a wide range of loads to buildings with composite thermal insulation systems, without creating thermal bridges. Again, this is where the fixing specialist is today the first and only manufacturer.
Today, the product assortment covers virtually the whole spectrum of fixings. Next to the classic plugs and anchors, fischer also supplies a fire protection system with fire stops, SaMontec for domestic service installations, elements for composite thermal insulation systems as well as adhesives, bolts and screws.
The company has also consolidated its position with an active and global industrial rights policy. Today, fischer has most European Technical Approvals (ETA) by far and every year files 14.19 patents per 1,000 employees in Germany (industry average 0.58) which puts fischer in third place nationwide.
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