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In 1923, Karl Marbach Senior founded the Marbach company together with two partners. The three-man operation has since grown into an international company with 1,600 employees worldwide. The company from Baden-Württemberg can now look back on 100 years of history.
Founded on 16 July 1923 Karl Marbach Senior together with two partners, runs a mechanical workshop in Heilbronn. The most important products of the company were punching knives for the regional shoe industry. The company was founded in the crisis years after the First World War. Due to the global economic crisis, however, there were fewer and fewer customers from the shoe industry. As luck would have it, the Nupnau advertising materials factory in Heilbronn was looking for a regional supplier of steel rule cuts at this time. Karl Marbach Senior therefore began to deal with the production of steel strip cuts. This decision will prove to be very far-sighted.
Operation during the war
Only a short time later, the Second World War brought another global crisis. In addition to steel rule dies for the advertising industry, Marbach also produced Tools for the sealing industry. That paid off: Because tools for the production of seals for engines, gearboxes and pumps were urgently needed. On 4 December 1944, the company building in Fügerstraße was partially hit in an air raid and production was temporarily relocated to Unterheinriet. However, this makeshift facility was also destroyed in 1945. A temporary locksmith's workshop was set up from the remains of the factory in an old, disused cattle shed.
After the war, the company was relocated back to Heilbronn. There they had to start all over again. The The newly launched production initially comprised steel strip cuts for the engine and gasket industry, but increasingly also punching moulds for the advertising and packaging industry. In 1955, Karl Marbach Junior, the second generation, joined the company, bringing with him many new ideas. The first expansion of the Marbach company was its own department for thermoforming toolmaking in 1957, which finally became legally independent almost 30 years later.
New technologies in die making
In 1969, Karl Marbach Junior heard about a new, revolutionary cutting technology for the first time. At a symposium in England, he met S. Ray Miller Junior, the President of Atlas Steel Rule Dies Inc. from Elkhart (USA). This company was the first in the world to use a CO2-laser in cutting die production and Miller spoke on the subject of „Wood cutting with light“. The two remained in contact and In 1972, Marbach finally invested in the first CNC-controlled CO2- Laser cutting system for cutting die production in Europe. The introduction of this technology was a quantum leap in diemaking and made Marbach the market leader in Europe, which the company was able to consolidate as innovation leader in the following years.
Over the years, Marbach has developed numerous Technologies and innovations brought to market, many of which are still standard in the industry today. These include mpower, marbastrip, the creasing plate mould and the greenplate. However, it is not only Marbach's own developments and patents that have made the company the innovation leader it is today. The company has always been interested in new technologies and has managed to develop many Utilise innovations from other industries for yourself. In 1967, Marbach took over the licence for the production of rillma matrices. With rillma, Marbach was able to offer its customers not only the cutting-die but also the appropriate counter-die, giving them the opportunity to produce folding cartons with unprecedented precision.
International branches
Today, Marbach consists of over 20 production and sales subsidiaries as well as joint ventures and franchising partners. Internationalisation began in 1984 with an investment in the company Arden Dies in Stockport (England). In the following decades, subsidiaries and joint ventures followed in countries such as France, Spain, Egypt and Eastern Europe, as well as sales offices and franchise partners in other countries such as Russia, Colombia and the United Arab Emirates. Since 2012 alone, Marbach has opened Subsidiaries in the USA, Mexico, China and Malaysia.
In July 2023, the Marbach Group turns 100 and the company is constantly growing. Over the years, this growth has repeatedly led to cramped conditions in the existing buildings and thus to the need for new buildings. It began with the reconstruction of the building in Heilbronn's Fügerstraße after the Second World War. After that, the current location was rebuilt several times from 1962 onwards: New buildings in 1962, 1976, 2007 and 2014 as well as various extensions over the years and even an extension in 2017 gave the growing company the space it needed. However, investments were not only made in Heilbronn, but also in Poland Various new buildings, e.g. in Tarnowsky Gory in 2009 and 2021 and in Kielce in 2016. The company has been continuously investing in its sites for almost 100 years. Modern buildings and technology are a success factor for a future-orientated company and greater sustainability.
The The secret of Marbach's success is also linked to the Marbach family. and thus with the people who founded, expanded and made this company successful. Those whose tireless commitment and wealth of ideas have ensured the company's continued existence even in times of crisis. The family behind the company, which has been has done everything to ensure that the company becomes, is and remains successful. All three generations - from Karl Marbach Senior and Karl Marbach Junior to the current managing partner Peter Marbach - have turned the company from a small craft business into what it is today: a world market leader in the manufacture of moulds for the packaging industry.
In the coming months leading up to the 100th anniversary of the Marbach Group, the Heilbronn-based tool manufacturer will be showing visitors to its Website on a journey into the past. In a 11-part series under the title „100 years of Marbach“ he stops at the most important developments and events that have made the Marbach Group what it is today: world market leader in die-cutting technology.
Source: Marbach
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