Company development

Walter Kohl forms the firm Kohl & Sohn in Rodenkirchen near Cologne.

The main product is milk cans.

Workers celebrating
the firm’s 25th anniversary
in 1922

Wolfgang Ohrem, main shareholder and chairman of the board of Kohl Group AG starts as an apprentice toolmaker with Kohl & Sohn.

In 1964, he passes the examination as master toolmaker and becomes tool-making manager in the firm in which he was an apprentice.

In 1968, he completes an evening course of studies in mechanical engineering and takes over as works manager.

W. Ohrem at the age of 18
after passing his examination at the end of apprenticeship –
seen here under the bridges of Paris

Wolfgang Ohrem seizes the opportunity and buys the company from the founder’s son by paying the latter a regular monthly pension.

At that time, the firm’s headcount is 30 and sales are worth 1.0 million DM.

Thanks to specializing in complex metal parts and innovative methods, the company develops and grows. Annual sales are short of the 20 million DM line at the end of the 1980s.

Inside view
of the production hall
Adamstraße in 1969

Wolfgang Ohrem takes another entrepreneurial initiative and takes over commitment in the eastern German states.

He acquires a majority in Gerätewerk Treuenbrietzen, a producer of precision mechanical and safety components.

There he meets Volker Kempa as a friend and partner, who today is also a shareholder of the Kohl Group.

The facility in Treuenbrietzen in 1989
before it was bought

Kohl & Sohn is 100 years old and moves to Dieselstraße.

The Kohl Group continues to grow. Sales reach 80 million DM. New, successful fields are developed in Treuenbrietzen.

Stanztech GmbH wins a breakthrough as supplier of punched and welded assemblies to car manufacturers.

Kohl & Sohn
at the new site on Dieselstraße
in the industrial estate of Rodenkirchen

Group sales top the 100 million DM line for the first time.

The factory in Treuenbrietzen celebrates 10 years as a member of the Group. The Group sites in Cologne and Treuenbrietzen continue their development and install latest technology.

The factory in Treuenbrietzen in 2004,
after new, extensive
expansion work

To make sure that the work of their lifetimes is continued, Wolfgang Ohrem and Volker Kempa give the Group and forward-looking organizational structure.

The two shareholders Wolfgang Ohrem and Volker Kempa rearrange their shareholding in an 80/20% ratio. The Holding now holds 100% of the shares in the operative businesses and is transformed into an Aktiengesellschaft (plc).

This way, an experienced team steers the course of the Group.

„Full steam ahead for continued growth“
Wolfgang Ohrem and Volker Kempa in front of the corporate symbol
(from right)

A successful years draws to an end.

Group sales go up to 70 million Euro. The headcount is now roughly 480, of these 170 in Cologne.

Investments of some 10 million Euro in 2003 alone provide the basis for the next sales target of 100 million Euro.

Wolfgang Ohrem after 49 years in the industry -
continues to live according to his motto:
“ He who believes to be someone has stopped to become something."