Expanding presence in global growth markets

Historically grown EJOT on expansion course

In 1984, the EJOT logo is introduced for all previously existing company names. In the same year, EJOT Baubefestigungen GmbH is founded with headquarters in Bad Laasphe. EJOT expands in Europe with its first sales offices in the UK, Norway and France. The company continues to pursue a strategy of expansion and even founds its own production companies.

>>Text: Andreas Wolf

The EJOT Group also expands its operations in Germany, opening a second production site in Bad Laasphe. In 1993, EJOT takes over the Tambach screw factory in Thuringia, making it one of the largest manufacturers of small screws in Europe. The awarding of DIN ISO 9001 and DIN EN ISO 14001 certifications demonstrates the high quality standard at EJOT. At the Bad Berleburg site, production is also expanded with the commissioning of a new production hall.

In 2000, the reorganisation of the group structure takes place, with the connection of the companies to the EJOT Holding GmbH & Co. KG and the establishment of an advisory board for the holding company. In the course of further international growth in Europe, America and Asia, the first Asian production facility EJOT Fastening Systems in Taicang, China, and the joint venture EJOT ATF in Mexico are founded. The new logistics centre of the Building Fasteners division is put into operation in Bad Laasphe, Germany. As a family-owned business, ensuring EJOT employees find a healthy work-life balance is a top priority for the company. The certificate “audit berufundfamilie” (work-life balance) is awarded to EJOT in 2011.

The following years are also characterised by the worldwide growth of the EJOT Group, combined with intensive construction activity of modern industrial architecture. The most important projects in 2013 are the inauguration of a new production hall in Taicang, China, the construction of the logistics centre and production hall 4.0 with a learning workshop in Bad Berleburg and the opening of Tech Centres in Detroit, USA, and Tokyo, Japan. As a founding member and co-shareholder, EJOT is involved in the Automotive Center South Westphalia (acs) in Attendorn, Germany, a platform for research and development work and the exchange of knowledge between car manufacturers, suppliers and university institutes in South Westphalia. EJOT formally becomes part of the German innovation elite and in 2016 is announced as a “TOP 100” German medium-sized business at the “Deutschen Mittelstands-Summit” (German medium-sized business summit).

With the death of Hans Werner Kocherscheidt in April 2017, EJOT loses its founder, who, with his tireless dedication and entrepreneurial vision, made the EJOT Group, with then 3,150 employees worldwide and annual turnover of over 530 million euros, what it is today.

The year 2018 starts with a strong economic tailwind. Virtually all industrial sectors in Europe are working at maximum capacity due to a combination of successfully won customer projects and a generally strong demand across the entire supply chain. Screw production increases to 10.5 billion parts. While the situation in the automotive industry becomes increasingly bleak in the course of the year, developments in the construction industry continue to be positive.

At the Tambach-Dietharz production site, 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the site's affiliation to the EJOT Group and the plans to expand the site are announced. At the heart of this development is the modernisation and expansion of heat and surface treatment. Another milestone for the Tambach-Dietharz site is reached with the “rate adjustment” project. It is decided that the working hours and pay levels of employees are to be brought up to western German standards in three stages. For its THREAD FORMING division at the Tambach-Dietharz site, EJOT is awarded for its “outstanding site development” in the renowned “Factory of the Year” competition.

In the industrial sector, a patent application is filed for the newly developed EVOT PT®, the third generation of the PT® family. Capacities for further international growth are also extended. In Poland, work begins to expand the new production building, which had only been inaugurated in the previous year. In San Luis Potosi, Mexico, the expanded production area is put into operation and in Delhi, India, employees start work at a new production hall and warehouse.

EJOT stands its ground in an increasingly difficult economic environment – for the EJOT Group, the year 2019 can be summarised in these words. Trade conflicts and the Brexit destabilise global markets. 2019 reaffirms that the EJOT Group has two stable pillars in the automotive and electrical industry and the construction industry. In addition, the international positioning of the EJOT Group helps to offset the local risks of individual markets. Annual turnover increases to 540 million in 2019 and the number of employees reaches a new all-time high at 3,600. Hopes are high for the business year 2020. Order levels are high and employees are enthusiastically completing customer projects. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hits. At the production site in Taicang, China, production comes to a halt. In Europe, there is still hope that the spread of the virus can be stemmed and controlled. Sadly, this hope does not materialise. By mid-March, Germany also goes into lockdown. A wave of order cancellations follows. EJOT is also in crisis mode. Sales projections are drastically lowered and a restrictive savings plan is introduced. All business activity that does not directly lead to sales and earnings is carefully examined. EJOT's successful management of its finances following the 2008/2009 financial crisis pays dividend and the company has a financial cushion for such crises. Company efforts are focused on maintaining its delivery capacity, a goal which in turn is achieved. By the summer, the situation improves again, but by autumn worsens considerably. In November, 1.1 billion parts are produced – a new company record. In a great joint effort, EJOT overcomes the difficulties of the crisis year of 2020 surprisingly well. E

2018

New HR6 machine prototype is presented. The HR6 is a new development of a heading-rolling machine combination After several years of planning and design phase, the first two prototypes were put into operation.

2018

Ground-breaking ceremony for new production hall at Tambach-Dietharz site. The area of surface technology is being expanded The functional areas EJOMAT, final inspection, dispatch, workshop maintenance, electrical workshop, technical rooms as well as a goods depot with four HGV-docking stations will be relocated to the 4,400 m2 hall.

2018

EVO PT ® – Successor to DELTA PT ® is presented. At the licensee meeting, the results of the new EVO PT® were officially reported for the first time. The third version of the screw for direct fastening in plastics – an area in which EJOT has earned a reputation as a world market leader through its predecessors PT® and DELTA PT ®.

2018

EJOT established the joint venture ClickBuild together with Wierig Profiltechnik GmbH. The common objective is to develop an Internet platform that can be used to simplify the most important steps in the refurbishment of hall roofs. The project was discontinued in 2021.

For more on the history of EJOT, please also see our timeline on all pages of this centenary edition of the EJOT customer magazine.

PT® screw revolutionises the screw market

For customers and competitors it is the EJOT screw. The PT® screw, invented in the 1970s. No other product is connected with EJOT as much as the PT® screw. It has a special thread suitable for fastening most of the thermoplastic materials known at that time. It was a revolution in the screw market.

>>Text: Heinrich-Georg Homrighausen and Andreas Wolf

2018

New company collective agreement for TambachDietharz: As the first company in the metal and electrical industry in eastern Germany, EJOT, headquartered in Bad Berleburg, will adjust weekly working hours and remuneration to West German levels for its employees at the production site in Tambach-Dietharz in Thuringia.

2018

25 years of EJOT Tambach and the “Outstanding Site Development” award. The business unit Thread Forming at the location in Tambach-Dietharz receives the award in the category “Outstanding Site Development” in the “Factory of the Year” benchmark competition. A success story for the 25th anniversary, which will be celebrated in December.

2019

Website Relaunch: At the end of February, the long-planned go-live of our new website took place. In total, 19 local online presences of our international subsidiaries go live in addition to the ejot.com site.

2019

The new production hall of EJOT Polska in Ciasna is officially opened. This is the second construction stage of the factory in Poland, which was finished less than two years after the completion of the first plant.

For the first time, the PT ® made it possible to fasten into plastics without having to pre-form a female thread, use the failure-prone and expensive metal inserts or the sheet metal and wood screws that were not process-safe. The Eberhard Jaeger company in Bad Laasphe, Westphalia (Germany), which Hans Werner Kocherscheidt, owner of the Adolf Böhl screw factory, had acquired in 1965, was the think tank for the Plastic Thread, as the name is in full. Both companies merged in 1992 under the company name EJOT Verbindungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG.

The development of direct fastening into plastic is inseparably connected with the engineer Hermann Großberndt. He already attracted attention in the industry in the late 1960s as co-author of the “legendary” sheet metal screw manual. The owner of the EJOT Group, Hans Werner Kocherscheidt, recognised Großberndt's instinct for screws and application technology and was able to convince him to move to Bad Laasphe. Herrmann Großberndt later described the initial situation for the invention of the PT ® screw with his co-author, Kurt Ociepka, in one of his many scientific publications as follows:

“... According to today's state of the art, two types of connections can be made by means of metallic screws: - Threaded inserts which are either inserted into the open tool and moulded in or are pressed in, screwed in, welded in or dowelled after the parts manufacturing process.

The fasteners are screwed into these inserts. - Screws that form or cut their female thread in so-called screw-in tubes (eyes). Increasing pressure to rationalise has recently led to the latter process becoming increasingly important. The screws used here are mainly sheet metal screws in various versions (with fine or coarse pitch, in the case of harder thermoplastics also as notched screws or with polygon shaped cross-sections), wood or chip board screws as well as special screw designs (e.g. double helix screws) ...” (article “Self-tapping screws for thermoplastics – thread profiles and screw-in tubes”, 1979)

Hermann Großberndt

The development of plastic fastening at EJOT is inseparably connected with the engineer Hermann Großberndt, who died in 1999. He invented the PT® screw on the drawing board and thus closed the important gap he had identified in the joining of plastics.With this screw and the associated application philosophy, EJOT became the industry leader in the field of plastic fastening in the 1980s. Hermann Großberndt also significantly developed the successor patent, the Delta PT® screw. Hermann Großberndt also made other discoveries:

the invention of the first drilling screw in the 1950s revolutionised fastening technology worldwide. Hermann Großberndt also had a decisive influence on

the development of the FDS® screw (Flow Drill Screw), which is used in car body construction to join thin sheets of steel and aluminium with high quality and without a pilot hole.

So in Bad Laasphe, a small team of engineers and technicians led by Hermann Großberndt worked on a screw connection for plastic products. Together with Kurt Ociepka he produced the prototypes and carried out thousands of screw tests by hand. Hermann Großberndt had recognised long before that the sheet metal and wood screws produced by Eberhard Jaeger were unsuitable for plastics. The market situation became increasingly difficult for EJOT because plastic products were conquering the world, especially in the household appliance sector. A competitor used a screw for fastening into plastics which did not solve the connection problem optimally, but better than the sheet metal screw from EJOT. Because of this, EJOT lost market shares and customers at that time. In light of this, Hermann