Stainless steel expertise spanning generations

Stainless steel. Welded, drawn, profiled and, above all: traded.

The company Rohr- und Fittingsfabrik, Zwick, Lang & Stede OHG is founded by August Zwick, Walter Lang and Hermann Stede. Product portfolio: elbows and sleeves for steel conduits, Peschel tubes and tube parts for the sanitation industry. Fabrication in rented space.

Acquisition of a 5,500 m² factory site in Hagen-Hohenlimburg. Start of production of gas-welded tubes. Shaping of cold-drawn steel open-seam tubes on draw benches.

All three owners agree not to convert production to armaments, as required. As a result, almost all employees are drafted into military service. Walter Zwick, August's son, is also drafted in 1942 at the age of 40 and does not return from the war. The founding generation ensures the continued existence of the company.

August Zwick’s grandchild Albrecht Zwick succeeds in shaping steel strip of grade 4762-/4772 into a tube with very narrow DIN tolerances, using a special tube drawing process followed by TIG welding.

Albrecht Zwick takes on his grandfather August Zwick’s part of the partnership – just three years later, he is the sole owner.

Start of production of welded stainless steel tubes in round and rectangular formats.

The company becomes a limited partnership (KG).

The company headquarters are relocated to Bandstahlstraße 27 on the Hagen-Unteres Lennetal industrial estate and the site is expanded to 8,000 m².

25-year old Achim Zwick (Dipl.-Ing.) joins the company as the fourth generation of the family. 

The company becomes a limited liability company (GmbH). Due to a drastically changing competitive environment, the company’s own production of welded tubes is severely reduced and almost entirely abandoned in the years that follow. Trading in stainless steel products is expanded.

With Albrecht Zwick having increasingly withdrawn from business operations in 1998 for age reasons, his son Achim Zwick becomes the sole managing director. In the following years, business development focuses on the expansion of trading activities. 

Expansion of the warehousing capacity with the acquisition and renovation of new warehouses consisting of an additional 12,000 m² at Bandstahlstraße 30. With a plot size of 38,000 m², there is now the potential to build additional warehouses.

The purchase of a neighbouring plot of land measuring 20,000 m² enables future growth at the Bandstahlstraße 30 site.

With the start-up of a third and a fourth grinding machine for rectangular tubes and flat bars, a modern grinding centre with annual capacity of 2,000 tonnes is created. A wide variety of surfaces according to the customers’ specific requirements can now be offered swiftly and flexibly. Contract work is also taken on.

Construction work finally begins on the plot of land at Bandstahlstraße 30 acquired in 2012. Three new warehouses, each measuring 4,500 m², are built. The groundbreaking ceremony for a modern administrative building is also held. 

Following almost two years of construction work, Administration moves into the new office building at Bandstahlstraße 30. In addition to spacious offices and meeting rooms, a canteen and terrace have created the perfect setting for a friendly and open work environment. 

The new Warehouse A, measuring 4,500 m^2, goes into operation.

Warehouses B and C totalling 9,000 m² are put into operation. With these investments, the available warehouse space is increased to 28,000 m² in total, thereby contributing to Zwick’s business development. Together with the new warehouses, bright and modern communal rooms are also created for the blue-collar workers.

The processes from order acceptance to mobile scanning solutions in loading are already fully digital. Order data can be exchanged with Zwick's customers via EDI. This claim to innovation and focus on the future is visually expressed by the new corporate design, which was introduced just in time for the company's 100th anniversary.