100 years of Marbach (Part 6) The anniversaries.

On the 16th July, 1923, Karl Marbach Senior founded the Marbach company together with two partners. 100 years later, that small company has become a globally successful corporate group with over 1,600 employees. This represents 100 years of innovations, performance and tooling technology par excellence. But of course, this is not the company's first anniversary...

July 1948: 25 years of Marbach
The difficult founding years had been weathered, as well as the Second World War and the subsequent reconstruction of the company. In July 1948, people crowded into the living room of the Marbach family. Because here, the company celebrated its 25th anniversary. Each of the 8 employees received a red travel suitcase made of cardboard as an anniversary present from Karl Marbach Senior. 

July 1973: 50 years of Marbach
25 years later, by far not all of the meanwhile 145 employees could fit into the family's living room, so the celebration needed to be much bigger. With a ceremony in the "Haus des Handwerks" (“House of Crafts”) in Heilbronn, the Marbach company celebrated its 50th anniversary. Since 1955, the company had been in the hands of Karl Marbach Junior, who was the second generation of the Marbach family. 

July 1998: 75 years of Marbach
The festivities for the 75th anniversary of the Marbach Group in July 1998 were even greater: the celebration with several hundred people took place in the "Harmonie" civic hall in Heilbronn. 

The journalist G.W. Brucker wrote about the Marbach anniversary: "... In these days, another Swabian inventor's workshop, namely the Marbach company, a manufacturer of cutting-dies, which is known far beyond the borders of Baden-Württemberg, has celebrated its 75th anniversary. A typical medium-sized company in the best sense of the word, which from very small beginnings has now become the European market leader in its field. This success has many parents, in this case to be mentioned: motivated employees, high own apprenticeship rates, tendency to perfectionism, politically stable general conditions, but also and especially, the constant innovative spirit of the owners." 

In the meantime, these owners were not only Karl Marbach Junior, but also his son Peter Marbach, who had joined his parents' company in 1988. 

July 2023: 100 years of Marbach
Now the company has already been in existence for almost 100 years. Peter Marbach, managing partner of the Marbach Group: "We are very happy to celebrate our 100th anniversary. Within the scope of a grand employee celebration, we will express our thanks to those who are the foundation of the long and successful company history of the Marbach Group: our employees. For surprise effect, we still want to keep the details of this employee celebration to ourselves, but this much can be said: it will be worthy of a 100th anniversary."

And since, as is well known, after the anniversary will be before the next anniversary, so the next goal has already been set: in July 2048, 125 years of Marbach will then be celebrated. How many locations Marbach will have by then remains an exciting guess. Because the company has continuously invested over the last 100 years – and in new branches around the globe as well. Read more about the topic in part seven of this series: "100 years of Marbach. More space and modern working: the new buildings."