Company history
Bernhard Jürgenhake (Sr) founded a company 1950 in Lippstadt which was dealing with sorting tasks for the company which is now called Hella KG.
Over the years these tasks have been extended to the areas of sheet metal forming and cable assembly.
In the year 1980 Dr. Dipl. Ing. Bernhard Jürgenhake joined the company and contributed to the area of cable assembly in a great way.
Additional to the production the company put its main focus on the development of operation aids for the cable production. The completion of the first automated machine for the production of cables was a great breakthrough for the young company. This machine which cuts cables to length, strips and fits contacts to cables excelled itself not just by reaching a speed which tops the speed of machines which are generally available on the market by a factor of 2 but also offered considerably more efficiency , e.g. in the production of branched line phases. The automated machine has lead to an extensive increase in turnover in the cable assembly. Production space was doubled by setting up an additional production hall. By 1985 two further automated machines had been constructed. In 1986 the company enhanced further when a neighboring property inclusive production hall was added. The sheet metal processing was moved to this new hall.
The development of high performance crimping tools as well as a system controlling the cable production process was started in 1988. These products are independently distributed and marketed and are also being used in the cable production. In order to gain the adequate tool capacity the construction of cutting and bending tools for sheet metal forming was terminated in 1989. At the end of 1990 the decision was made to discontinue the sheet metal processing which contributed only 5 % to the general turnover at this stage due to fierce competition in this sector and to focus the entire technological and economical capacity of the company on producing and processing cables.
The operation site located in Erwitter Straße changed hands in 1991. In autumn 1992 the decision was made to construct a newly-built administration and production site, which was ready to be occupied on 01.01.1994. The new building benefits from the separation of high bay storage and production.
In 1995 an integrated PPS system with the possibility to exchange data between customers and suppliers according to all VDA standards was introduced.
In 1996 the high bay warehouse was extended and a fully-automatic tray warehouse was set up. The tray warehouse and the pallet warehouse are being permanently controlled by modern graphic oriented software.
Also in 1996 a clean room for the production of dust-, fat- and above all silicon-free cable harnesses for electronic appliances was set up.
In 1997 the subsidiary Jürgenhake Magyarorszag KFT in Szekszard in Hungary was founded. The production in rented premises started on 01.10.1998.
The subsidiary in Szekszard moved into newly-built premises in 1999. The production in Szekszard focuses mainly on manual workstations as well as dual belt assembly systems for the wiring of headlights. The computerized storage system confirms with the one in Lippstadt but is being operated merely on a manual and not an automated basis.
At the location in Lippstadt great efforts were being made in order to extend its function as a development supplier. The capacity for the development of products has been increased. Data exchange of CAD-Data has been implemented. Apart from cable groups the production of plastic parts, sheet-metal components and bulb sockets up to production standard has been introduced. Parallel the restructuring of the production into teams in order to introduce teamwork carried on. Also the Purchasing and Sales department, AVIAS and the QM-department were turned into groups working on a team-basis by the end of 1999.
In the years 2000 and 2001 the company managed a great increase in turnover; the workforce of the subsidiary in Szekszard reached its peak of 185 employees at the beginning of 2001. Injection-molded plastic parts which are included into wire harnesses have been produced in Szekszard since the end of 2000. Regardless the positive development of the Hungarian subsidiary one had to face that due to fierce competition in the industry sector for cable harnesses it proved to be harder and harder to operate at full production capacity at the headquarter in Lippstadt. Therefore Lippstadt was transferred into a Service-, Engineering- and Logistics centre in 2002. Thanks to the co operation in two projects with the customers Goodrich and Behr-Hella which are both operating in the high-tech-field a determination of production to the full extend has been prevented.
Cost levels in Hungary are adapting to Western European standard due to further expansions in Eastern-Europe. In order to remain competitive a third company was set up in Timisoara in Romania. This company was called “Jürgenhake Romania SRL”.
It started its operations on 01.01.2003. Cost-intensive products, especially for the automobile industry, were being produced there.
At the end of 2004 the workforce in Timisoara remarkably amounted to 75 employees. Due to the fact that the rented premises reached the full extend of its capacity one further subsidiary, the company “Jürgenhake Immobiliare SRL” was founded in December 2004. This company rents out buildings as well as sells and purchases real estates. In January 2005 premises for a new production hall were accumulated.
Further restructuring in order to remain competitive was carried out in 2004 when the company was transferred into a Holding, which was no longer operating as a producer. The production for cable harnesses for the aviation industry and the production of electronic components were relocated to the Jürgenhake Deutschland GmbH which was founded in 2004.
Unfortunately our proprietor and CEO Dr. Ing. Bernhard Jürgenhake unexpectedly passed away on 07 March 2006. According to his last will and testament his children Katrin Jürgenhake and Christoph Jürgenhake are the new proprietors of the company. Mr. Andre Russ acts as CEO.
In April 2009 the production in Romania had to be terminated due to an extensive slump in turnover. Today we focus our operation on the production in Hungary and Germany.