A company history of a special kind, reaching back more than 100 years … It all started in 1914. At first, with trading in twine and belts… and later too
In more than 100 changeful years, Bindfadenhaus Gustav Scharnau developed from a trading company for string, butcher’s and binding twines, as well as packaging material, to an industry supplier of individually manufactured self-adhesive products.
Not only the inauguration of the Panama Canal took place in 1914, but also of Bindfadenhaus Gustav Scharnau. Berlin’s “Universum Film” studio (today UFA GmbH) was founded in 1917, Mercedes Benz twelve years later and Grundig first 26 years later.
From the very beginning, the small Bindfadenhaus company flourished. Everything depended on strong twines. And belts. Apart from binding twines, the company also traded in drive belts. Already in the 30s, the company boasted a workforce of 35 employees. World War II put an abrupt end to the aspiring company’s period of thriving economic growth.
When the GDR was founded in 1949, the stately grounds and corporate headquarters of the Schach family in the Cottastrasse 2 in Pankow were expropriated. (Note: the entrepreneur Erna Scharnau had married the shoe manufacturer Ferdinand Schach.) This meant that company had to rebuild based in three different basement rooms in Berlin’s Brunnenstraße. The site was just 200 meters to the west, of what was to become the Berlin Wall. Had it been 200 to the east, history would certainly have taken a completely different course.
The following and now third generation started up again with new ideas. In 1962, adhesive tape made its way into the Bindfadenhaus en gros assortment.
This introduction by Horst Schach forced twine more and more into the background. However, as a symbol of the business’s continuity, it was never completely lost from sight. Twine still lives on today in the company’s name – Bindfaden means binding twine.
When, in 1989, the current managing director Matthias Schach took charge of the company after successfully completing his studies, the west of Berlin had been surrounded by a wall for 28 years. As a result, the market for tape was “protectively” managed and practically cut off from the most important business relationships in the west.
However, in this epochal phase of German history, everything changed overnight. Matthias Schach used the opportunity of the enthusiastically celebrated opening of the border. Just six weeks after taking over the business, he introduced an adhesive tape production line into the company for the first time. This laid the foundation for steady growth and new fields of operation.
The move to the modern industrial district of Werneuchen in 1994 created the best conditions for carrying out production on our own machines. It was at this stage that packaging material and string finally disappeared from the range of merchandise.
The former exclusively trading enterprise had thus become a processing company.
Nothing works without adhesive tapes … In 1995, Matthias Schach decided to set up separate areas for custom-designed, individual adhesive solutions and vendor components.
The ISO 9001 QM system was certified in 2002, ISO 14001 followed in 2005. On the 100th anniversary of the company in 2014, we introduced the QM system for the automotive industry, by implementing and being certified for IATF 16949. In this way, we grow continuously in terms of quality and scope of performance and in line with the requirements of our customers.
The fourth generation of Bindfadenhaus combines Gustav Scharnau’s tradition with innovation. Inseparably. Just like the strongest adhesive tape. Just as it should be, and will remain …
Sources: Matthias Schach
