With vision to a Global Player
Visions begin with questions
In the 50s, the upswing in industrialisation led to a huge demand for cables and conductors.
Faced with this development, Oskar Lapp asked himself a simple question:
"How can I optimise the current method - the time-consuming manual inserting of single cores and switching strands into the outer sheaths?"
His answer: to invent the first industrially produced flexible, colour-coded signal cable - ÖLFLEX®.
1957 - Cornerstone setting for a successful future
Oskar Lapp develops the first ever industrially-produced signal cable: ÖLFLEX®. Ursula Ida and Oskar Lapp form U.I. Lapp KG using Ursula Ida Lapp's initials.
In 1959 Lapp set out a definite brand policy
Giving the products brand names was a completely new idea at the time, but it allowed them to be distinguished from the competition more easily. These brand names are still in use at Lapp today.
1963-1965 Foundation further companies
In 1963 Oskar Lapp founds Lapp Cableswerke GmbH the company Contact GmbH. By 1965 Oskar Lapp is employing a staff of 30. The company headquarters is moved from their house to Schulze-Delitzsch-Straße in Stuttgart Vaihingen.
1979 – Ölflex Inc. USA becomes the first overseas subsidiary
This early step into globalisation was very unusual for a German SME. Business in the US was successful right from the start.
Oskar Lapp loved the foreign market and had a good feel for the needs of his clients.
1983 - Lapp Systems
Siegbert Lapp as 1-st member of the 2-nd generation form another company:
"S" Glaskabel GmbH, which becomes 1995 in Lapp Kabelsysteme GmbH and is renamed later as Lapp Systems GmbH.
1987 - The new era
On April 25th 1987, Oskar Lapp died from a heart disease.
After his death Ursula Ida Lapp and his sons, Andreas and Siegbert Lapp, took over the management of the company. The new generation took the ideals and ideas of the company's founder to new heights.
Together they control the fate of company and are adding new chapters to its successful history.
1992 - Oskar-Lapp-Foundation
The Oskar Lapp Foundation was created in memory of the founder. It promotes research into heart disease.
The funding is to be used primarily to promote young and talented scientists. The Oskar Lapp Research Prize is awarded to young scientists each year.
1995-2005: Global Player
The number of international companies is growing. It employs 2500 people in 50 companies and more than 100 agencies around the world.
2007/2008 – All the signs point to expansion
The Lapp Group is growing throughout the world – with the expansion of the production plant in Forbach, development of the Lapp Center Asia, expansion in Siberia and the new manufacturing, distribution and logistics centres in Spain, the Czech Republic, Norway, Korea and Brazil.
New sales offices, such as those in India and China to name just two, are offering our customers a greatly improved service on the ground.