OSKAR LAPP 100 YEARS - "If something needs inventing, that could help make people's lives easier, I'll invent it." - Policabos
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100 YEARS
OSKAR LAPP
PI O NE E R , E NTR E PR E NE UR , FAMILY MAN
“If something needs
inventing, that could help
make people’s lives easier,
I’ll invent it.”
FOREWORD
HIS LIFE
IN FIGURES
Oskar and Ursula Ida Lapp
took the step in
OSKAR LAPP
1959 1921 – 1987
to found U.I. Lapp KG
in Stuttgart-Vaihingen.
On 20th March 2021, we are celebrating a spe- production sites, 43 sales companies and more than
cial family anniversary – our husband, father and 100 international representatives. Despite this size,
“He was a
grandfather Oskar Lapp, the founder of our compa- the LAPP Group has remained a family company. Four
The company starts up
ny, would have been 100 years old. We use this as
tinkerer, had fundamental values – being customer-oriented, inno-
with a bank loan of inventive
an opportunity to remember him – as a person, in- vative, success-oriented and family-oriented – that
50,000 ventor and entrepreneur. We would like to take you,
dear friends, customers and partners, on a journey
through our memories and his life. With this an-
talent and
an incredible
number of
our husband, father and grandfather established from
the very beginning are still the reliable compass for
our corporate culture to this day.
GERMAN MARKS niversary brochure, we are honouring his lifetime ideas, and
work and thanking you for your many years of loyal- Our husband, father and grandfather is still a great
always made
ty to us and our company. role model to this day. For us in the family, as well
something as for so many of our employees and partners. He
6 YEARS out of them.”
later, the company employs His inventions have revolutionised entire industries. lives in our values, thoughts and hearts. When he
Oskar Lapp was a visionary and a passionate entre- passed away in 1987, he left us far more than just
30 PEOPLE. preneur. With his clarity on what is essential and a a great company. His legacy also includes a special
vision for what is possible, he made our company a corporate culture, underpinned by humanity and
global market leader. His customers were always at sound principles. We are continuing his life’s work
By the centre of his actions: finding solutions to their with deep gratitude and we know that he would be
1987
problems, designing the optimal solutions and in pleased and proud that the third generation of LAPP
doing so making them successful. He encountered has already assumed responsibility with a visionary
many people on the stages of his life’s journey, in- outlook.
4 spiring them with his verve and cordiality. For him,
business meant relationships that often turned into To know where you need to go, you have to know
more companies are founded and
3 friendships – both at home and abroad. where you come from. Our husband, father and
grandfather, the man, inventor and entrepreneur
subsidiaries are established
in USA, UK and Italy. He is one of the well-known entrepreneurs who Oskar Lapp, has left us a wonderful legacy. It will
have made Germany, particularly our home region always accompany us on our journey to the future.
of Baden-Württemberg, a strong business location.
Without him, the LAPP Group would not exist. Today,
Publisher Design and layout With best regards,
U.I. Lapp GmbH campra GmbH 4,575 employees around the world develop, manu-
Schulze-Delitzsch-Str. 25 Hauptmannsreute 23 facture and sell more than 40,000 products. With 20 your Lapp family
70565 Stuttgart 70192 Stuttgart
www.lappkabel.com
Printing
Project management W. Kohlhammer Druckerei
Joanna Amor GmbH + Co. KG
Ann-Kathrin Hoffmann Augsburger Straße 722
70329 Stuttgart
Conception, editing
Storymaker GmbH
Derendinger Straße 50
72072 Tübingen
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T H E F A M I LY F O U N D E R
FAMILY IS LAPP AND LAPP IS FAMILY
The entrepreneurial family vision values and principles: “customer- Lapp would have wanted them to:
covers all generations: LAPP was, oriented”, “innovative”, “success- “Closeness and warmth can be felt
is and remains a family company oriented” and “family-oriented” by everyone in our company. If
which acts according to the maxim: are indispensable components of employees stop experiencing this,
Think global, act local. the company culture to this day. then one of the key pillars of our
It’s characterised by respect, flat corporate activities will be broken,”
Oskar Lapp wasn’t just a brilliant hierarchies, high transparency and says Andreas Lapp. Matthias Lapp,
inventor and entrepreneur. Oskar openness in communication. The the first representative of the
Background: shutterstock
Lapp was a family man, cosmopoli- “human component” is the highest grandchildren’s generation, also
tan and visionary, with a great love value of LAPP’s corporate culture. sticks to his grandfather’s legacy:
for people – for friends, employees “The company belongs to the
and customers. Early on, he an- His sons and grandchildren continue family and the family to the
chored and exemplified reliable to run the company just like Oskar company.”
4 | 100 YEARS OSKAR LAPP | MARCH 2021
THE PERSON
A MAN OF ACTION –
A MAN WITH HEART
Visionary, determined and innovative – these are the qualities that made Oskar Lapp
a successful inventor and entrepreneur. His life’s work is the global LAPP Group.
The man Oskar Lapp was optimistic, lively and heartfelt. This is how he shaped
the special corporate culture whose core values still live on today.
“Opportunities need to be seen and per- Without further ado he converted the production of
ceived. We need to tackle them with all we’ve got. household appliances to tools and mechanical pen-
Vita Oskar Lapp
This is the only way they can be used.” That was the cils. The requirements were to change again as the
20th March 1921 motto of Oskar Lapp. And he tackled them, took the Second World War began: turned parts for the air-
Oskar Lapp was opportunities: throughout his life and his work. craft industry and valve cones for locomotives were
born in Benshau- needed. How do you produce these? Oskar Lapp gath-
sen/Thuringia
He was born on 20th March 1921, in a world that was ered this knowledge in no time at all.
as the youngest
of four children recovering from the turbulences of the First World
of Ida and Eduard War and offered unimaginable opportunities with the During this time, he deepened his passion for technol-
Lapp. beginning of the roaring twenties. Oskar Lapp spent ogy. He dreamt of studying. But initially everything “My husband was
a lot of time in his father’s small tool factory. He grew proceeded quite differently. In 1944, shortly before talented. And he
more and more eager to work on his own terms. Like
his father, Oskar had organisational talent and tech-
the end of the war, Oskar Lapp, who had refused to
join the Nazi party, was drafted for military service.
was gifted by God.”
nical intelligence, as well as huge energy and deter- He was taken Soviet prisoner of war, where he had to Ursula Ida Lapp
1936 mination. Not to mention the urge to solve problems. do forced labour. His mental strength helped him to
Oskar completed He enjoyed improving and perfecting things. He endure it. He exercised his mind by playing chess – it
tool lathe training
completed his training as a tool lathe operator with kept his mind off the things that made him homesick.
at the Röhm
company in distinction. In 1949, he returned home. He endured the incarcera-
Zella-Mehlis with tion relatively well and n
ever talked about his time in The Lapp family’s sons
excellent results. Oskar joined his parents’ business and quickly real- the Siberian camp. Only when his mother fed the pigs Siegbert, Andreas and Volker
ised that the business had to change with the times. did he say that the pig feed was a real treat for him. 11th May 1951 grew up with the company
Ursula Ida and
Oskar celebrated
1939 their wedding.
The Weimar Christmas 1950 1952
Chamber of 1940 1944 – 1949 Oskar Lapp met Ursula Oskar got his first 1955
Crafts awarded a Oskar joined his Shortly before the end of the Ida Emmelmann at an job in the research Oskar Lapp left the
prize to his jour- parents’ company, Second World War, Oskar was operetta evening in Bens and development GDR and became the
neyman’s project. Lapp & Roth, and drafted into military service and 1949 – 1952 hausen, where she was department of 30th June 1952 representative for
The prize was a switched production became a Soviet prisoner of war. Oskar studied performing the leading VEB Fahrzeug- Oskar became a Southern Germany of a
cruise by ship to from household ap- mechanical engineering role in “Das Walzermädel und Gerätewerke proud father – his manufacturing company.
Norway. pliances to tools and 1949 he returned home at the Schmalkalden von Wien”. Simson in Suhl. first son Siegbert Ursula Ida followed with
mechanical pencils. safe and sound. School of Engineering. was born. their son Siegbert.
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THE PERSON
Oskar Lapp lost no time with his new start and ful- opportunity came faster than he thought: during a
filled his dream of becoming an engineer. The young family holiday in the West, he ended up in hospital, so
German Democratic Republic urgently needed tech- he took the opportunity and stayed for good. He would
nicians, and he passed his studies at the engineering never travel to Benshausen again and also refused to “You don’t talk
college in Schmalkalden in 1952 with distinction. establish subsidiaries in East Germany for the rest
of his life. Around half a year later, Ursula Ida also
about work. You get
Oskar didn’t wait to make a new start in his private succeeded in fleeing through West Berlin with their on with the work.”
life either. At Christmas 1950, the Benshausen sing- son Siegbert at her side and pregnant with A ndreas. Oskar Lapp
ing club performed the operetta “Walzermädel von
Wien”. The female lead was Ursula Ida Emmelmann. In the meantime, Oskar had begun to e nergetically
Her singing captivated Oskar Lapp. In turn, he scored build up their new existence. For a few years he
points with Ursula Ida as a capable dancer. represented a manufacturing company in North
Rhine-Westphalia for the whole of southern Germany.
Award of the Federal
Shortly after his wedding in May 1951, Oskar Lapp His approach to customers, his strong communication Cross of Merit on Ribbon
started as an engineer in the research and develop- skills and warm personality made him a born sales- by Stuttgart’s Head Mayor
Inauguration of ment department at VEB Fahrzeug- und Gerätewerk man. As a good observer, he recognised the custom- Manfred Rommel in 1981
LAPP Kabelwerke
Simson in Suhl. However, the political and economic ers’ problems. His first invention was the rectangular
GmbH in with
Stuttgart’s Head developments in the GDR caused him a great deal of connector for industrial use. Additionally, he saw how
Mayor Manfred concern. Oskar Lapp wanted to think and live freely time-consuming and laborious it was to manually in-
Rommel (centre) and decided to leave East Germany permanently. The sert the cores and switching strands into conduits. For Oskar Lapp, growth also meant internationali- tion of the family brunch: with its crowning glory the 25. April 1987
Oskar Lapp once again asked himself, “How can this sation. In 1976 he founded the first international delicious homemade cake baked by Ursula Ida. Oskar Lapp
be optimised?” He worked fervently on a solution that subsidiary in the USA. When selecting future part- died as a result
of a heart attack
would make history. In 1957, he developed ÖLFLEX®, ners, he always relied on friendly relationships. He Oskar Lapp also worked extensively for the common
at the age of
the first industrially manufactured, flexible and and Ursula Ida kept an “open house”. The first sales good, e.g. in the German-South African Society, the just 66.
oil-resistant control cable with colour coding. “Now partners from Switzerland, Israel and Austria were Stuttgart Monument Foundation and the Stuttgart
we are trying to bring this to the people,” was Oskar’s frequent guests at their home. Oskar and Ursula Ida Old Opera House Patrons’ Association. In 1981 he was
slogan. He and his wife founded their own company Lapp soon discovered the Asian market on a trip to honoured with the Cross of the Order of Merit of the
and created the market for control cables. India in 1981. Siegbert Lapp remembers the first Federal Republic of Germany.
phases of internationalisation with a “very familiar 1981
The company was up and running. It ran so well that atmosphere.” He connected devices and systems with his inventions, Oskar was
they had to find reinforcements. Oskar Lapp was con- and people with his cordiality. When Oskar Lapp sud- honoured with
vinced: “Whether we achieve our goals or not will His family was the most important thing in Oskar’s denly died of a heart attack in 1987, he left behind a the Cross of the
Order of Merit.
depend on whether we manage to attract the right life. “He was a father who always took time for us, group of world-renowned companies with freedom for
employees.” And they succeeded. In 1965, 30 employ- with dinners, weekends, picnics and trips – despite courage, energy and innovation. And a corporate cul-
1981
ees worked at LAPP already. “His extensive human all the work,” recalls Andreas Lapp. Oskar told his ture characterised by cordiality and openness. He also The expansion in
knowledge contributed significantly to managing sons thrilling stories about pirates and adventures. left the message: take advantage of the opportunities, Asia began with
this rapid growth,” says Ursula Ida in a review. And Oskar Lapp loved traditions, like the introduc- understand the customer and improve things! a trip to India.
1963
1957 1957 1959 LAPP Kabelwerke 1965
Oskar Lapp made Oskar Lapp invented Ursula Ida and Oskar Lapp GmbH was founded. New construction
6th March 1956 a name for himself ÖLFLEX®, the first 1958 founded U.I. Lapp KG in Protected by a timely of the company 1976
The family was with the invention industrially manufac- The first advertising Stuttgart-Vaihingen. The 5th March 1962 patent application, headquarters and Oskar Lapp
happy about of the world’s tured connection and brochure was printed. ground floor of the new Ursula Ida and the company began relocation to opened the com-
another son – first rectangular control cable – the In the same year, the home was to become the Oskar celebrated to manufacture Schultze-Delitzsch- pany’s first for-
Andreas was connector. basis of the compa- family bought a house company headquarters. the birth of their ÖLFLEX® in Stuttgart- Straße in Stuttgart- eign subsidiary in
born. ny’s success. in Stuttgart-Vaihingen. third son Volker. Vaihingen. Vaihingen with the United States
30 employees. of America.
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THE INVENTOR
IT DOESN’T EXIST?
THEN HE WILL INVENT IT!
The name Oskar Lapp is inextricably linked with the invention of the ingenious ÖLFLEX® control
cable with colour-coded cores. But this is just one of many examples of his inventiveness.
“Ring through.” Nowadays this means
just as much as “Call if you’re in the vicinity”. Until
60 years ago, electricians understood something dif-
ferent. As the cores all had the same colour, i.e. grey
or black, the installer must apply voltage to each
wire in turn and listen for a bell ringing at the other
The first adver-
end. It’s not known how often defects occurred due
tising brochure
to mix-ups. We can only surmise that many electri- in 1958 focuses
cians despaired because they had to pull each core on customer
individually through a narrow tube or rigid pipe. benefits
That was how it was until 1957. Back then, Oskar
Lapp still worked for a connector manufacturer and
witnessed every day how installers had to struggle with his invention, paid off. At the time of the Ger-
man economic miracle, numerous industries were
investing in electrification and starting to automate
“One must be flexible their systems. They literally tore the practical cables
like our cables. from the young entrepreneur’s hands.
Life demands it.” With the ÖLFLEX®, Oskar Lapp made a name as an
Ursula Ida Lapp inventor with a strong intuition for the customers’
needs. This focus on customer benefits was to shape
With its own
cable plant, the LAPP’s success story. In 1963 he developed a rect-
with pulling the cores into hoses and correctly as- logistics concept angular connector that was later marketed as EPIC®
signing the cores to connector pins and soldering is also in place – building on the world’s first rectangular connector
lugs. How much easier would it be for installers if all THE MACHINE OF IDEAS that he had developed back in 1957 for his then em-
the cores had already been incorporated and could ployer. There were no limits to his inventiveness –
be easily identified by a colour code. It would also be Oskar Lapp’s inventiveness is legendary – and is still a commitment tective contact, the blue and black core into the other more developments followed.
easier if the material was thin and flexible and could today. His first invention was the rectangular connector, followed two connections. The company offered ready-made
be cut from the roller to the desired length. But that shortly afterwards by ÖLFLEX®. Without this first industrially manu- cable harnesses with up to 130 coloured cores at an In 1978, the 57-year old registered the SKINTOP® ca-
wasn’t the case. That’s why Oskar Lapp made the ef- factured power and control cable, automation would be unthinkable early stage. ble glands, which was also a bestseller. Oskar Lapp
fort to invent it. in industry. “With the invention of the ÖLFLEX®, my father Oskar patented numerous inventions. For example, the plug-
Lapp laid the foundation for our globally successful company more What’s taken for granted now was a revolution at the in multi-pole adapter for control cabinets, a device for
The principle of the coloured cores, which was pa than 60 years ago,” says Andreas Lapp. His brother Siegbert adds: time – as well as the decision to name its control ca- earthing wires and pipes or a mechanism that blocks
tented immediately by Oskar Lapp, was brilliantly “Who would have thought that our branded products would keep bles under the brand name ÖLFLEX®, creating the cable rolls from being unwound by chance. He lived
simple. Every layperson could successfully connect the whole world moving today.” first branded product in the industry. Oskar Lapp’s up to his motto: “If something needs inventing, that
a lamp with it: the yellow/green core went to the pro- plan to find a solution to his customers’ challenges could help make people’s lives easier, I’ll invent it.”
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THE BRAND PIONEER
REVOLUTION IN The company‘s head-
quarters from 1965 in
Schultze-Delitzsch-Straße,
ORANGE
Stuttgart-Vaihingen
An industrial product as a branded item?
That was u nusual – until Oskar Lapp came
along. In 1959 the v isionary b usinessman
and his wife Ursula Ida founded their
own company and created with ÖLFLEX®
a brand that is known worldwide today.
A Kleenex for the nose, Scotch tape for pa-
per: only a few brands manage to become synonymous
with an entire product category. This is also true in
the world of cables: anyone who wants an ÖLFLEX®
always gets a robust control cable. The name is inge- preconditions: they wanted to present themselves as
nious as it combines the two most important proper- a family company and the name should also sound
ties of all cables in the ÖLFLEX® brand: they’re resis- good. And since Oskar Lapp was still working for
tant to chemicals and oil, and are flexible and thus a nother company, the company had to be owned by
versatile. Anyone who says ÖLFLEX® automatically Ursula Ida Lapp, and her husband was officially an
refers to the LAPP product – many brand manufac- employed engineer in the company. For Ursula Ida
turers, whose product has become synonymous but is Lapp, this was just a formality, as the couple viewed
no longer identified with the manufacturer, can only the company as their shared project. With a bank
dream of this. loan of 50,000 marks as start-up capital, in Novem-
ber 1959 she registered the company U.I. Lapp KG
Did Oskar and Ursula Ida Lapp predict this success with the Stuttgart District Court. There she didn’t let
when they were working on the brand name for the soon be available in all colours, the ÖLFLEX® cables herself be shaken even by critical enquiries. “I don’t
first industrially manufactured control cable in their would now also shine in orange from the outside on Countless inno- properly speak the Swabian language, but I can cer-
house on Vaihinger Rosentalstraße in 1959? It was cable drums in factories and on building sites. vations create an tainly work like the Swabians.”
clear to both of them that the introduction of brands immense variety
in industry was a revolution. Because that had never Oskar Lapp pioneered the idea of offering an indus- of products in the
sector of cables
existed before. trial product as a branded article. It was a model for
and connections
success and a blueprint for other brands. Eight such The eight LAPP brands
But a branded product doesn’t just need a catchy brands exist today: ÖLFLEX® was followed by the
name, it also has to meet customer needs and should EPIC® industrial connector, first made of metal, lat-
be recognisable. But how? The technology set limits er of plastic. This is how Oskar Lapp paved the way
at that time and Oskar Lapp wasn’t able to print a for assemblies and system solutions, for example
different colour on the cable sheath. He therefore de- ÖLFLEX® CONNECT. In 1977, the SKINTOP® cable
cided to equip the inside of the ÖLFLEX® cables with gland followed as the next brand. It wasn’t just the
ÖLFLEX® UNITRONIC® ETHERLINE® HITRONIC® EPIC® SKINTOP® SILVYN® FLEXIMARK®
an orange marking thread on the protective conduc- ÖLFLEX® brand that was born at the kitchen table
Power and Data communi- Data communi- Optical Industrial Cable Protective cable Marking
tor. When the installer cut the cable, he saw the yarn in Rosentalstraße in 1959. That’s also where Oskar control cables cation systems cation systems transmission connectors glands conduit systems systems
even under poor lighting conditions and knew that and Ursula Ida Lapp decided that their joint company for Ethernet systems and cable
it was a real ÖLFLEX® from LAPP. As plastics would should be called U.I. Lapp KG. The name met three technology carrier systems
12 | 100 YEARS OSKAR LAPP | MARCH 2021 100 YEARS OSKAR LAPP | MARCH 2021 | 13
T H E S T R AT E G I S T
also saw the disadvantages: to be able to provide a and Indonesia since 1980. Wherever Oskar Lapp went,
comprehensive service to customers, they needed to he built partnerships and found friends for life.
set up their own production and logistics site. In 1963
they opened their first factory. In doing so, the two To keep pace with the expansion and be able to of-
laid the foundation for the strategy that still applies at fer the same services on all continents, the compa-
LAPP today: 360° customer focus and everything from ny opened more sales sites and production facilities.
a single source with manufacturer expertise. Today, the network comprises more than 100 foreign
representatives, 43 of its own sales companies and
The product range was growing rapidly. No year 20 production sites with state-of-the-art warehouses.
went by without small and large innovations and It ensures that customers in Africa or Australia can
variants of existing products. It wasn’t just about order all LAPP products and get them delivered to a
the quantity, but always about what was in it for building site in no time – in some cases, even within
the customer. They got everything from LAPP from 24 hours or just-in-time.
a single source, saving them time and space in the With subsidiaries
warehouse and reducing the complexity of ordering Oskar Lapp would be delighted. “Our father led our around the globe
and managing. And for the customers, it is guaran- company to success with hard work, ambition and and a “cable shop
teed that all components would fit together and meet a clear vision of what’s essential. He demonstrat- on wheels” that
travels directly to
the highest quality criteria. ed perseverance, pioneering spirit and innovative
the customer, the
Oskar Lapp (2nd from strength – and this is still the LAPP DNA,” says LAPP Group be-
left) with the Governor And that they can get them anywhere. The young Siegbert Lapp, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at comes the global
of New Jersey company expanded abroad long before other entrepre- Lapp Holding AG. market leader
neurs. Oskar Lapp found his first distribution part-
ners in Switzerland and Israel in 1960. He founded the
company’s first international subsidiary in the USA in
EVERYTHING FROM
1976 when most German entrepreneurs didn’t dare to
take the leap across the Atlantic. In 1981, Oskar and
Ursula Ida Lapp discovered their love for India on a
combined business and vacation trip. On the subconti-
A SINGLE SOURCE
nent, LAPP is nowadays a well-known brand, with the
orange logo on the rear of rickshaws in New Delhi. The
company has also been selling its products through a
distribution partner in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand
Full-blooded entrepreneur Oskar Lapp would be delighted: his company is developing in
great strides from a manufacturer to a solution provider. At LAPP, customers get everything
related to connection solutions – from cable ties to a global logistics concept.
What does the customer want? Every on. This remained the case until he died far too soon:
entrepreneur asks this question, some sooner and the customer was his focus.
some later, some even too late. What made Oskar
Lapp particularly special in addition to his technical The Lapps went to considerable efforts to achieve this.
understanding is his sense for what really helps his Ursula Ida Lapp tells how, at the beginning, she cut
customers. The best example is ÖLFLEX®: at the end the cables that had just been delivered by the manu-
of the 1950s, nobody asked for a control cable with facturer to the ordered lengths at the railway station in
colour-coded cores in the PVC sheath that could be an unheated waiting room. Packed in bags, the cables
cut to the desired length. But Oskar Lapp realised the were sent off to the customers immediately on the next
One of LAPP’s need for a product that didn’t exist yet. This entailed train. As a thank you, she brought coffee and cake to
first price lists a certain risk, but the young entrepreneur was spot the station employees. The two young entrepreneurs
14 | 100 YEARS OSKAR LAPP | MARCH 2021
100 YEARS OSKAR LAPP –
PIONEER FOR THE FUTURE
“Cables connect
the present
and the future.”
Oskar Lapp, 1921-1987
99092802
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