History of the company

From Spichtig & Co to Spichtig AG and styro ag

The foundations of styro ag were laid more than 65 years ago. It all started with a "baby". To be more precise, Mr Rubli from Zurich had an idea for a milk bottle stand, which he wanted to market under the name "Baby" and have produced by the company E. Huber Mythenwerk in Steinen. However, Mr Rubli did not have the financial means. He therefore asked Elise Elsener, the wife of the then owner of the Schwyz cutlery workshop, for a loan. As security, he gave the Elsener family his press moulds. When Carl Elsener died in 1950, his wife and two sons, Carl (senior) and Eduard, took over the management of Messerschmiede Schwyz, which became known worldwide under the name Victorinox.

In 1950, Huber Mythenwerk was forced to declare bankruptcy. The young Carl Elsener bought the machines and inventory of the company and put them at Mr Rubli's disposal. Thus it came about that Mr Rubli took over the management of what was then the plastic moulding plant in Steinen. At the end of November 1955, Mr Rubli died unexpectedly at the age of 49. As Mr Elsener had repeatedly supported Mr Rubli financially, he was the company's biggest financial backer. It was therefore in his interest that production continued. Mr Josef Weber, the production manager at the time, continued to run the business on an interim basis, but someone with experience was needed to sell it. Although several interested parties came forward, only Hans Spichtig was prepared to participate financially with Mr Weber.

Spichtig & Co

On 14 June 1956, Spichtig & Co was officially entered in the Commercial Register, with Hans Spichtig, Josef Weber and Carl Elsener as equal partners.

In 1957, the company was able to purchase the factory building on Mühlegasse in Steinen. However, the production facilities in the centre of the village soon became too small. It was therefore decided in 1960 to purchase a plot of land in the Frauholz area of Steinen and to build the first company building there. At the same time, the first fully automatic press was put into operation. At that time, only customer orders were produced. The first own product was the file box in 1966. As the brand name styro did not exist at that time, this is the only product that does not bear the styro name. But it was not to be the only product. Hans Spichtig wanted a shelf that would make the best use of the cabinets. To realise this idea, he turned to designer Benedikt Rohner (*1924 / †2000). He came up with an ingenious, flexible storage system.

Why styro?

All that was missing was a brand name. Ideas were thrown around and they finally settled on stiro, which is made up of s - spichtig, ti-tiroir (drawer) and ro - Rohner. However, as the spelling was not to their liking, the i was replaced by a y.

styroindividuell

In 1969, styroindividuell, the first product under the styro brand, was launched. A product that still enjoys great popularity today thanks to its individuality, flexibility and durability.

Spichtig & Co becomes Spichtig AG

In 1970, the company made its first significant profit. This was divided among the owners and used as start-up capital to transform the company into a public limited company. Spichtig & Co became Spichtig Ltd. In 1971 the company moved into an additional office building. However, the space available for the production and assembly of the products was still very limited. In the euphoria of growing sales, plans were made for a larger factory building. The building was completed in 1974. However, additional machinery was needed to run it efficiently. The new factory building and new machinery required massive financial investment in the early 1970s - then came the oil crisis! Raw material prices rose rapidly and profits turned into losses. It was only thanks to Mr Elsener's financial support that the crisis could be overcome.

Switzerland became too small

Hans Spichtig believed in the success of his products and selling them abroad from Switzerland was not promising enough for him. So in 1972 he founded Spichtig GmbH in Vienna, his first foreign subsidiary. This was followed in 1976 by the distribution of Styro products in America with Mod System. After Josef Weber's death in 1974, Hans Spichtig took over the management of the company. The Weber family remained co-owners and members of the board of directors.

Products of the 1970s

Despite the increasing sales of the company's own products, most of the turnover was still generated by customer orders. One of the best-known products manufactured by Spichtig AG for many years was the "Colorcap" product. These small coloured key caps were exported all over the world. At the same time, Victorinox was one of the largest customers for production orders. In the 1970s, new products were added to the styro range. Products such as "styrosafe" were created, which have long since disappeared from the market. In 1973, however, a product was launched that is still very popular today: styrokay. The development of styrokay focused on functionality, flexibility and quality. Although this makes the product more expensive than other drawer boxes, we can still give a 25 year guarantee on it.

A new drawer box

Shortly before the start of the new decade, Rohner was asked by Hans Spichtig to design a drawer box that could be sold as a single box through specialist dealers, as a rollboy or assembled into a complete system. Styroval was launched at the beginning of 1981. It is still one of styro's most successful products. The elegant, simple design makes styroval timeless. Its main advantage, however, is that it is the only box on the market that fits the cabinet dimensions exactly. The system was even awarded the iF Design Award in 1985.

Why styroval pro?

It soon became apparent that although styroval fitted perfectly into the cabinets, it was a few millimetres too wide for the USM furniture that was already popular at the time. In cooperation with USM, a 3 mm narrower styroval (243 mm) was launched. This collaboration with USM lasted until the mid-90s. However, we still offer the narrower format today under the name styroval pro.

Our locations in Europe

The subsidiary in Austria, founded in 1972, was never able to operate profitably until the early 1980s. In 1981, Spichtig GmbH Wien got into increasing difficulties. The board of Spichtig AG decided to look for a partner. Hans Spichtig bought Gustaf Dietrich GmbH and integrated Spichtig GmbH into the company. In 1983, Hans Spichtig founded styro GmbH in Kierspe, North Rhine-Westphalia, together with Mr Poppe, in order to make styro products even better known in Germany. In Vienna, Spichtig GmbH Wien, despite being integrated into Gustaf Dietrich GmbH, was unable to stop the downward trend and had to file for bankruptcy. This was a heavy financial burden for Spichtig AG. Once again, Mr Elsener supported Spichtig AG by providing the financial means for a capital increase. Victorinox thus became the main shareholder in Spichtig AG. At the same time, the Weber family withdrew from the company.

styromega - Nothing better on the market!

The last ingenious styro product developed by Mr Rohner was styromega, launched in 1989. Another office organisation system, it was subsequently marketed mainly as an internal mail distribution system in conjunction with swisspost. But that doesn't do styromega justice. The sturdy construction, the various sizes of drawers, trays, pull-out shelves and lockable compartments make styromega a universal, flexible filing system that can be used in the office, at home or in the workshop. Wherever there is a need for a high quality, durable product. As one of our American customers points out: There is nothing better on the market! In 1989 Stefan Spichtig, Hans Spichtig's son, joined Spichtig AG as Export Manager and Head of Internal Sales.

Change in Germany

At the same time as Mr Poppe left the company as co-owner and managing director in the early 1990s, styro GmbH was taken over 100% by Spichtig AG and the head office was moved from Kierspe (NRW) to Schillingsfürst (BY).

styrotop

In 1992 another ingenious styro product was launched: styrotop. A drawer box in which the two drawer sizes can be interchanged at will. In addition, the large drawer can be turned 180° from a closed drawer to an open drawer box.

Environmental pioneer

The 90s saw a growing awareness of environmental issues. People began to realise that raw material resources would eventually be exhausted. Environmental protection has always been important to Spichtig AG. As early as the 1970s, the factory was built with environmental considerations in mind. So it was only natural that Spichtig AG was also one of the first suppliers of recycled plastic products.

styrotrend

In 1994, styrotrend was launched in line with the new environmental concept. A collection container for paper, so that it did not end up in the rubbish. Other products of the 1990s were the styrowelle (1995), now known as styrowave, and the styro-CD (1996), which, like the CD, disappeared from the market.

Change of management at styro

With the loss of major customers, styro AG suffered a massive drop in sales in the early 1990s. The 1996 accounts showed a loss carried forward, so that another capital increase had to be considered.  Instead of another capital increase, however, Mr Elsener decided to subject the company to a massive restructuring. Throughout the entire period of cooperation between Mr. Elsener and Hans Spichtig, Mr. Elsener had ensured that Spichtig AG's external debt was almost exclusively owed to Victorinox. In 1997, he waived half of this loan. However, Hans Spichtig had to transfer his shares to Victorinox as a restructuring contribution. Spichtig AG thus became a wholly owned subsidiary of Victorinox. At the same time, Elsener appointed Stefan Spichtig as the new Managing Director of the Spichtig Group. Hans Spichtig remained Chairman of the Board of Directors.

styrodoc

Under Stefan Spichtig's management, styrodoc, probably one of our best-known pull-out filing systems, was launched at the end of the 1990s alongside styrofile.

Looking for a second mainstay

Stefan Spichtig soon realised that it was becoming increasingly difficult to drive the company forward by selling styro products alone. By the end of the 1990s, he was therefore looking for ways to build up a second mainstay for the company. As early as the 1970s, part of the company's turnover was generated by buying in trade products. It therefore made sense to develop its own private label.

The millennium change at styro ag

As early as the 90s, a change began that was unstoppable and changed many things. At the turn of the century, the world became smaller and faster. Computers made faster communication possible and air travel became affordable for everyone.

As a result, more and more products from Asian countries found their way to Europe. Solid, durable and therefore environmentally friendly products were increasingly replaced by cheap ones. Competitive products flooded the market. Quality suffered more and more from this price pressure, as lower prices were possible mainly through material savings. Humanity became a throwaway society.

The new "styro"

This development also challenged styro ag. At the beginning of the new millennium, it launched a whole range of new products: styrofolder, styropen, styroclic, styrobox, styrorac, styropost (now styrobig) and styrodisplay. Styrobox, in particular, was able to withstand price pressure from competitors and was launched as a low-cost product.

Hansa - the world of lighting

In 2001, Stefan Spichtig acquired the first part of the shares in Spichtig AG from Victorinox, thus laying the foundation for the later takeover of the company. In search of a second mainstay, Stefan Spichtig finally found what he was looking for and decided to take over the German trading company Hansa Technik GmbH in 2003. At the time, the company offered a wide range of office products, which made it a perfect match for styro products. We still carry some products today, such as footrests, desk dispensers, cutting mats, glass erasers, desk pads and clipboards. However, the main focus is now on the lamp range.

Takeover of Spichtig AG by Stefan Spichtig

In 2007, Stefan Spichtig was able to take over the remaining shares in Spichtig AG from Victorinox as part of a debt restructuring, thus becoming the sole owner of the Spichtig Group. In 2008, he decided to sell the American subsidiary, as it had never been able to operate profitably over the years. Just before the real estate bubble burst in America, he was able to sell it to its largest customer. This customer specialised in building post offices, and styromega is still used in America today by large companies such as Microsoft and Amazon. According to our customer, styromega is still the best on the market in this field.

dufco - quality office products

In 2009, Stefan Spichtig also took over the dufco brand, adding a wide range of picture frames, adhesive foils, soft plastic articles and much more to our commercial products.

The big celebration...

At the beginning of July 2011, a big celebration was announced at Spichtig AG: 80 years of Hans Spichtig, 50 years of Stefan Spichtig and 55 years of Spichtig AG. But only two months later, suddenly nothing was the same.

... and suddenly everything was different

On 10 September 2011, Stefan Spichtig died unexpectedly of heart failure. For his wife, Annemarie Spichtig, it was clear that the company had to continue in order to preserve jobs in the region. Although she had had nothing to do with the company, she was aware that jobs were always lost when companies were taken over. She wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

The new management

Annemarie Spichtig was lucky that her sister's brother-in-law, Stephan Baer, an experienced businessman, agreed to support the company. Just a week after her husband's death, she was able to introduce him to the staff as ad interim managing director. He also supported her on the board for five years. During this time, she was able to gain an overview of the group. In April 2012, Marcel Zosso took over for three years. At the beginning of 2015, he decided to leave the company to pursue a new direction. This change prompted Annemarie Spichtig to take over the management of the company herself. Thanks to the support of her long-serving and experienced employees, she was able to get up to speed quickly. The repeated changes in management were not easy for the company. After years of hesitating to take on new projects, it was high time to launch new products.

A drawer for styrodoc

The desire for a drawer to complement our styrodoc system was expressed again and again. But if a drawer is going to be used, it should add value. So in 2018 we launched a styrodoc drawer that can be subdivided and is available in many new colours.

A new name for the future

In 2019, Stefan Spichtig finally did what he had always wanted to do, but always lacked the courage to do. Spichtig AG became styro ag. With this change, the company now also identifies itself externally with its largest and oldest own brand "styro", which is not only "swissmade" thanks to production in Steinen, but also bears the crossbow logo.

styrodoc uno - another styrodoc product

Drawer box or open filing system? In 2020 the styrodoc family will be joined by styrodoc uno, a filing system that can be combined with the styrodoc drawer to create a drawer box. Another highlight is that styrodoc uno can be combined with styrodoc trio to form a modular system.

New ways thanks to the crisis

In March 2021, the world was gripped by the Corona crisis. Not an easy time for styro ag either. Work stoppages, home offices, travel restrictions, supply bottlenecks and price explosions took us all by surprise. But crises are there to make us rethink existing structures. And to implement new ideas! So in 2021 we opened our own online shop. Thanks to our local production, we are able to offer products that are only available from us. Because fulfilling individual customer wishes has always been one of our strengths!

styro gets colourful!

With the "colourflow" line, we have already set colourful accents for styroval pro in 2020. And from 2022 you will be able to create your own styroval drawer box from a wide range of colours in our online shop, in addition to other customisable products. The styroswing box will also be available in cool new colours from 2022. On 25 June 2022 we will have our open day again, which we had to postpone because of the corona. The company celebrates its 66th anniversary. In 2023 the styroval pro "Feelings" drawer boxes are added. In 2024, the styroval pro "Magic Monets" line followed with twelve drawer boxes that accompany the user to the wonders of nature, as well as a styroval pro country box collection to mark the European Football Championship.