History of the Vollmer Company...

and a Portrait of Wolfram Vollmer

Like a lot of medium-sized companies the history of the Vollmer Company is neatly tied to the founder, Wolfram Vollmer.

He was born 1924. After School, an apprenticeship, a study as an optician and the individual planning of a young man – as so many others at that time - was interrupted by World War II.

As a soldier he was wounded and put into captivity. With his return back home, the Vollmer Company was founded with entrepreneurial courage. The young enterprise produced just those things, which were needed the most at that time, e.g. metal collar buttons.

After the currency reform, everything changed, also the demand. Plastic collar buttons were requested and so the switch to plastic injection technology was the future orientation for Vollmer.

The Entrée into model railway accessory business was made in 1948. One year later, on the Nuremberg Toy Fair Vollmer introduces a patented catenary system for model toy trains, H0 gauge. Shortly after that, the first model houses were produced.

Additional to that, industrial goods production began. Until today Vollmer is manufacturing high precision parts for all kind of industries.

The number of articles, of personnel and sales are growing, soon new buildings are necessary.

The guidelines for all these years

• products of highest quality
• customer orientation
• esteem of employees
• environmental protection

are still valid until this very day.

Timeline

• 1946 The company was found
• 1949 Visit of the first Toy Fair in Nuremberg, presentation of the patented catenary
• 1954 Production of Model Railway Accessories - 13 articles
• 1956 first IBM EDP machine; the first company building was built
• 1973 enlargement and new buildings were built
• 1980-1988 Market introduction of Patrizierhouses, romantic series, with interior decoration and lighting included; big city houses as well as the Vollmer Black Forest Hospital.
• 1992 Introduction of CAD/CAM in the construction and mould making departments
• 1995 Third price at the county contest for women and family oriented companies
• 2000 Quality Management is officially introduced: first certification after VDA 6.1; Millennium
• 2002 Introduction of the Euro
• 2004 Reorganization of office organization and EDP-System
• 2005 Presentation of Pope Benedikt XVI Birth Place
• 2006 First time in the Vollmer Company’s history, the 60th Company’s anniversary is celebrated with two open factory days
• 2008 Vollmer offers about 1000 articles for model railway

The number of articles, of personnel and sales are growing. Soon new buildings are necessary.

Today the Vollmer company is a modern and future oriented company, which produces at Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen about 1000 articles.