Knowledge and tradition cannot be bought. One has to work hard every day to obtain them.

In Coburg, at this time, efforts were intensified to make inroads into the medical engineering market, a market the company had been serving for many years. Establishment of a cleanroom became essential. A production area of 400m² was created which, shortly afterwards, was equipped with a Class 8 cleanroom, making it more than suitable for customers with very high purity and cleanliness requirements. In addition to this very important step for expanding the medical engineering business, certification in accordance with DIN ISO 13845 was attained, confirming to customers the existence of a comprehensive and mature management system.

Internationalisation proceeds: GAUDLITZ conquers Eastern Europe. After setting up a plant of our own in Wuxi, China, the next step was to serve the Eastern European market locally. In 2007, the cornerstone for this was set by establishing a joint venture with the Austrian company, INTENSA. Today, GAUDLITZ still owns 83% of the shares in this joint venture. INTENSA was a suitable partner due to its comprehensive core competencies especially in development and because of its geographical proximity to the chosen location in the Czech Republic. First of all, it was decided to house the newly founded manufacturing company in small premises in order to concentrate on the acquisition of appropriate customers and projects and to make the future enlargement of the small start-up possible.

In 2004 GAUDLITZ was ready to expand into the Asian market. This was the first step towards the company’s international expansion. The decision was taken to choose the city of Wuxi in the Greater Shanghai area as a location for the initial GGP joint venture, which was founded with the Green Point company.

Having started business in Wuxi, decisions were quickly taken in 2008, to take a 100% share in the Chinese company, thus making it a fully-fledged subsidiary, and to rebrand it Gaudlitz Precision Technology, enabling inroads to be made into the Chinese market.

Furthermore, in 2005, because quality and customer requirements were increasing all the time, we decided to undergo a thorough certification according to DIN ISO 9001.

Certification according to DIN ISO 14001 confirms that the company is maintaining an environmental management system according to globally recognised standards. One important feature of this certification is the continual improvement process, which GAUDLITZ introduced in the form of a staff suggestions scheme.

1992 was an important year for the company. GAUDLITZ GmbH, which had previously been run by its owners, became an integral part of WASAG AG. WASAG AG is based in Essen. At first the employees feared that the group possibly wanted to put an end to business activities. Luckily, this proved not to be the case as we got a parent company that believed in the competence and production expertise we possess at GAUDLITZ. In 2011, H&R WASAG AG was renamed and currently trades under the name of H & R AG.

In 1991, the largest building phase in the company‘s history took place. This consisted of many extensions and enlargements to the site on Callenberger Straße. The new hall, future home to the thermoplastics section, was built. This was an important step and a positive signal to the company's customers, employees and the region; making GAUDLITZ an even more important in the plastics processing industry and a significant employer in the Coburg region. The acquisition of a ZEISS CNC coordinate measuring machine was an important technological enhancement in this decade. This highly-advanced device then enabled us to carry out high precision measurements for our customers.

In 1986 GAUDLITZ set up a training centre, as it was known at the time. At that time company management already knew that well-trained personnel were essential if one wanted to supply top-quality, valuable products to customers and partners. In addition to a pool of well-equipped machines it is people who, due to their expertise and depth of knowledge, are in a position to convince the customer of the value of our products. So the decision was taken to set up our own internal training centre in order to train young people as specialists in many different professions. Even today the training centre is an important part of the company, because it is here that tomorrow‘s experts arise.

While the town of Coburg benefitted from the building of the B4 in 1977, radical changes took place at GAUDLITZ regarding company-internal infrastructures. The new thermoplastics department started working, an expansion that was necessary in order to be able to complete procured projects. Three years later the newly created department underwent further expansion, an expansion that saw the machine capacity rise to 5000 KN, which also meant that many interesting items could be added to our product portfolio.

In addition to the expansion of company buildings, the expansion of technical equipment and machinery stock was an important part of the company‘s further development. Consequently, the first computer-controlled wire cutting electrical discharge machine for the Tooling/Erosion division was acquired in 1975. Thanks to this new equipment it was possible for our trained specialist personnel to guarantee a high degree of accuracy in tool shape and dimensions.

As part of the continuous expansion of company activities, an extentions of the company premises became essential in 1970. In order to create more space it was decided to add a new building on to the existing plant wing. In that year the Design and Tool making departments moved into the newly-erected building. The main feature of the building, particularly at night, is the stained-glass window commissioned by Karl Gaudlitz and done with the assistance of a good friend. This stained-glass glass window, containing Mr Gaudlitz‘s initials, extends across the entire staircase.

During the further development of the company‘s technical competency, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Inspection were continuously built up from an early stage in order to set GAUDLITZ apart from the competition. Furthermore, in 1965, various powerful testing and metrological equipment was acquired, making it possible for our customers to precisely analyse their components. Even in the early years GAUDLITZ was intent on delivering flawless products to customers. This is why expansion of the Quality Assurance and Metrology has become such an important subject as the years went by.

In 1958 it was decided to include thermoplastics as well as duroplastics in the production programme. This was a further decisive step towards strengthening the company‘s well-established expertise in the area of production engineering. We could thereby extend the range of customers‘ projects utilising the essential characteristics and behaviour of thermoplastic plastic materials. In 1958, Oskar Gaudlitz oHG initiated a new era when his company began using thermoplastics, until then Gaulitz had specialised in duroplastics processing. From this moment on, thermoplastics made reliable metal/plastic joining possible, which has become increasingly important in the automotive industry. This development marked the first step towards replacing metal with plastic, which is becoming increasingly common today.

In 1955, the move to the new and current plant at No. 42 Callenberger Straße, took place. The rise in new orders made this move necessary. By this stage GAUDLITZ had acquired a name on the market and among its customers for dependability and excellence. To this day the location in Callenberger Straße has remained the headquarters of a company which has gone on to expand internationally.

The setting up of our own tool making facility was without doubt an important milestone in the history of the company. This satisfied a fundamental requirement for the technological development of the company. From then on, thanks to the newest machine tools and our excellently-trained specialist personnel, we were in a position to guarantee our customers the shortest possible production times while simultaneously achieving the highest level of precision. Over the decades, the mould making facility developed into the showpiece of our company, creating a positive image in the industry, which GAUDLITZ profits from to this day.

The Gaudlitz success story began in 1937 when Oskar Gaudlitz founded the company in Kanonenweg in Coburg. At the outset, company activities concentrated on manufacturing duroplastic moulded parts. Even then customer satisfaction was the main objective and work was carried out with great dedication and passion.

Use of a modern material

During this time, the company founder decided to use the modern material known as plastic and this decision reveals his courage and foresight. This decision proved to be a correct one as modern industrial production today is difficult to imagine without plastic, a material which can be used for many different applications.

Oskar GAUDLITZ, born in Gräfenthal, lead the company until his tragic death in 1945. Then his children, Elizabeth and Karl Gaudlitz took over the running of the company.