RETECH E&C
THE COMPANY
Since 1908 (Made in Germany)
Tradition-conscious craftsmanship that creates real value and always shows a clear will to style – that's what eggersmann has always been all about. At the same time, we are a state-of-the-art company. We manufacture high-end kitchen systems for people with high demands. Our goal is to find customer-specific solutions to meet individual requirements. This is possible because we can draw from a large and constantly growing pool of shapes, designs, materials and surfaces.
Our approximately 11,000 square meter manufactory in the center of the German kitchen furniture industry has a perfectly equipped, state-of-the-art machine park. Just over 100 employees produce around 5,000 kitchens per year, of which we deliver around 70 percent to over 40 countries worldwide.
But even our international success has not changed the fact that we are strongly rooted in the region of East Westphalia. The company has been family-owned since its inception and we feel a strong bond with our employees and their families. We value long-standing relationships and maintain them with our suppliers and sales partners. They carry this corporate philosophy out into the world by building equally good relationships with our customers.
Because we all share these values, we can reliably deliver the highest quality.
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
eggersmann IS sustainability: We rely on manufacture instead of mass production. A responsible use of materials and natural resources is a matter of course for us. In this respect, we have set standards in recent years.
For example, we were the first German manufacturer of kitchen systems to be certified according to the strict requirements of the FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL®. The FSC® is the most renowned and comprehensive certification system for responsible forestry worldwide. It prevents overexploitation at a global level, protects rare species and prevents human rights violations. It is based on the certification of forests according to globally uniform criteria. The FSC® takes into account economic, ecological and social requirements for forests as a resource in equal measure. Annual inspections of all certified companies, both in the forest and in the downstream industries, ensure a high degree of credibility and transparency.
For this reason, FSC® is the only forest certification system that is supported by environmental and social associations as well as the forestry and timber industry.
The triple-ply quality chipboard and MDF-board used for our products is certified according to the strict requirements for the emission according to TSCA Title VI / CARB2 (California Air Resources Board) and is with its formaldehyde emission of ≤ 0,05 ppm significantly below the permitted limit value of the emission class E1 (0,1 ppm).
HISTORY
In 1908, our founder did not plan to make eggersmann the epitome of high-quality unique kitchens. But even then, he worked towards sophisticated bespoke kitchen production with great persistence. The fact that, with so much East Westphalian down-to-earthness, chance had to help a little in order to achieve eggersmann's international success can also be read in our company report under Stories.
Some milestones in eggersmann’s history:
1908
FOUNDATION BY MASTER CARPENTER WILHELM EGGERSMANN
1967
FIRST EXPORTS TO THE NETHERLANDS
1998
INTRODUCTION OF A 125 MM GRID SYSTEM TO OPTIMIZE ERGONOMICS AND PLANNING CHOICE
2002
INTRODUCTION OF E:SIGN, A KITCHEN SYSTEM WITHOUT ANY HANDLES AT ALL
2003
FIRST MAJOR PROJECT ORDER FROM THE US
2004
DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERAL NEW MARKETS IN EUROPE AND OVERSEAS
2005
COMPLETION OF A NEW PRODUCTION HALL APPROX. 1500 SQM IN SIZE
2006
PRESENTATION OF UNIQUE, A KITCHEN SYSTEM IN WHICH FRONTS AND COUNTERTOPS ARE MADE OF IDENTICAL MATERIAL
OPENING OF THE FIRST SHOWROOM IN TAIPEI, ASIA
2007
REDDOT AWARD FOR THEWALL WALL SYSTEM
2008
COMPLETION OF SEVERAL MAJOR PROJECTS IN CANADA AND THE USA
2009
EQUIPPING THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE IN VANCOUVER, CANADA, WITH OVER 800 EGGERSMANN KITCHENS
Equipping the Olympic Village in Vancouver, Canada,
with over 800 eggersmann kitchens
HONG KONG FLAGSHIP STORE OPENING
2010
FIRST US FLAGSHIP STORE OPENING IN NEW YORK
THE FIRST GERMAN INDUSTRIAL KITCHEN MANUFACTURER TO GET FSC CERTIFCATION
2011
WINNER OF THE RENOWNED GOOD DESIGN AWARD FOR THE UNIQUE SILVERTOUCH KITCHEN
EQUIPPING THE “WE'VE THE ZENITH” PROJECT IN BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA WITH OVER 900 EGGERSMANN KITCHENS
2012
BEIJING FLAGSHIP STORE OPENING
2013
PRESENTATION OF THE NEW KITCHEN SYSTEM E3.0 WITH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED CABINET VOLUME AND IMPROVED CARCASS QUALITY
2014
FIRST SHOWROOM OPENING IN INDIA IN MUMBAI
2015
INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW KITCHEN SYSTEM WORK'S
– THE KITCHEN AS A WORKSHOP FOR COOKING CULTURE
2016
COMPLETION OF OUR NEW SHOWROOM IN HIDDENHAUSEN WITH AN EXTENSION OF THE EXHIBITION AREA BY APPROX. 700 SQM
AWARDS
We would like to thank the jury.
WHERE KITCHENS COME FROM
In eggersmann’s luxury kitchens, a few basic Westphalian virtues and values come together: dependable craftsmanship, diligence, a love for experimentation, and a down-to-earth attitude. These are just a few reasons why these kitchens are in demand around the world today. But for the same reasons, they barely ever left Germany’s borders in the past — the company’s success story relied on a little bit of chance.
PHOTOS: CHRISTIAN PROTTE, RALF BUSCHER | TEXT: OLIVER GEYER
For a second it looks like some kind of alien object has landed here, in the middle of this placid German countryside. A few car drivers for sure might get that impression, as they drive through the hills, meadows and fields of East Westphalia, arriving in the village of Hiddenhausen which features eggersmann’s new company building. Just a second ago, it was all countryside and villages, then suddenly there is this ”object.” A closer look shows that this is architecture at the peak of modernity. And it looks a bit like a kitchen — a kitchen by eggersmann. This, in turn, is mainly obvious for the people who have come here for this very reason: to visit the new showroom, which is located inside the iconic building. Some have come from far away.
STABILITY: IT HAS A LONG TRADITION HERE
One could almost think that the international success that the building radiates has merely gone astray in this rural area. But that is deceiving — this success story has grown here. For more than 110 years, eggersmann has stood for particularly high-standard kitchens. Here, in 1908, when Germany still had an emperor, Wilhelm Eggersmann and two of his colleagues began to carpenter high-quality buffets. Like the beech trees in the nearby Teutoburg Forest, things just grew, gradually but solidly. In the new showroom, just off the new monolithic kitchen units, visitors can still see the old kitchen cupboard that the company launched for its 40th anniversary. At that time, a few years after the end of World War II, a spirit of optimism developed there, turning the region into the Silicon Valley of kitchen production. Many renowned German kitchen brands come from here. Capable carpenters like Wilhelm Eggersmann supplied Germans with kitchen furniture as customer affluence grew in the postwar period. It was furniture that was meant to last forever. And that’s what they also expected for their own company.
Michael Brinkjost gives a tour of the production site — many distributors like to see it for themselves
The belief in the succession of generations is as firmly a part of the family business as the most stable corpus system. ”Of course, I have also completed a carpentry apprenticeship,” says Michael Wunram (55), the great-grandson of the founder and today’s CEO. The question of whether managing the company had always been his wish from a very young age, he answers, however, with a somewhat brusque and straightforward East-Westphalian „No!” As a teenager, he had no particular opinion about that. And even if he had, no one would have really cared about it. Wunram still remembers how, as a small child, his mother took him by the hand and went next door to his great-grandfather, who was already quite frail. ”My mother had to swear to him that she would give the last drop of blood for the company.” Christa Eggersmann has kept her word and made the company what it is today in the following decades.
There was no question that her son would continue the company’s work. After a while he gradually wanted to develop it. Determined to make the company prosper further, Michael Wunram later added a degree in economics to his personal portfolio. But was there a master plan to make eggersmann such an export hit? That the name would later stand for valuable and unique kitchen furniture in over 40 countries? „No, it never was like that,” Wunram admits. ”I’d say: carpe diem. We just took advantage of our opportunities.”
A PASSION AND AN INSTINCT FOR OPPORTUNITIES
The local mentality in East-Westphalia is a down-to-earth one. They do not have much time for big visions. But if something is done, then it’s done properly — consistently, purposefully and always with passion. And that also means developing an instinct for opportunities and seizing them.
Kitchen architecture: The company’s new building in Hiddenhausen is a style statement
Just like on that fateful day in 1967. True, success did’nt stray around in this rural area — but the first opportunity to export did. In the late 1960s, a Dutchman suddenly stood in the foyer, right where the entrance to the new showroom is today. The man had lost his way and was actually looking for a completely different company. So the staff at eggersmann explained how he could get there. From what started off as just a conversation, a business began to develop. It turned out that the man was a kitchen representative and incidentally already had set an eye on the show kitchens. The Netherlands became eggersmann’s first major sales market abroad.
But most of all Andreas Schewe (61) is a real supporting pillar for the company. He has been working there for over 30 years and has built the eggersmann of today along with Wunram’s mother. Schewe cultivates excellent, long-established contacts in the European network of distribution partners — even his father worked for the company. Everything is rather close and friendly here at eggersmann, which is in many ways a family business. In general, it is all about ”personality.”
An innovation that has encouraged many customers to express special wishes. Brinkjost, for example, recalls a US customer who wanted his kitchen made of the same stone that made up his floor. But this particular stone was only available in America. So eggersmann had the material shipped to Germany to send it back over the Atlantic again as a kitchen a few weeks later. It is individual, tailor-made production in a time of globalization. ”As long as the effort is justifiable, we’ll make it possible,” says Brinkjost. And if not, no problem. Then the customer and the sales partner just have to live with a straightforward East-Westphalian ”No” — but customers can still choose from a rich range of materials.
GROWTH HAS ALWAYS HAPPENED ON A SMALL
SCALE TO BE ABLE TO STAY TRUE TO
THE PRINCIPLES OF CRAFTSMANSHIP AND CUSTOMIZED PRODUCTION
Sure, there were moments in the distant past when they were flirting with the idea of switching to mass production, Wunram admits honestly. After all, some companies here in the ”Chipboard Valley” went down this path quite successfully — but others have failed along the way. For eggersmann, that was never an option, really. The local conditions also weren’t really made for it. There, in the middle of the village, wasn’t room for large-scale production. But it was possible to expand bit by bit and to invest in the most modern production technologies. With a touch of self-irony, Wunram calls the assembly of halls and workshops that has grown over time ”our sheds and shacks combine.” In fact, this is eggersmann’s great strength: The company has grown only on a very small scale and has remained faithful to the principles of craftmanship and customized production. To date, just over 100 people work there, and the finishing touches are still man-made.
The final touches are done by hand just like over 100 years ago
They kept on course out of a sheer lack of space. There had for a long time been something of a gap between the brand’s charisma in the big wide kitchen world and the image it offered visitors here on the spot at the company’s HQ. On the one hand, the latest in design (and sometimes already a bit ahead of current tastes) — and on the other, that East-Westphalian understatement: the foyer, a very small kitchen exhibition, behind it the ”sheds and shacks combine.” Wunram still remembers the day when he realized that this was not the way to continue. A wealthy customer arrived from Russia and couldn’t believe after finishing the short tour of the place that this was all there was. You can’t be serious! ”This shows you how conservative we are when it comes to ourselves,” says Wunram. But after the Russian’s visit he was determined that a completely new showroom had to be built.
"THIS SHOWS YOU HOW CONSERVATIVE WE ARE WHEN IT COMES TO OURSELVES"
This new showroom was finished in 2016 and has already proven to be a very important sales factor. Partners and customers come here and find exactly the eggersmann aura that suits the brand: at the front, radiant modern kitchen design and behind it solid craftsmanship and the staff, for whom reliability means everything.
Respectability and exclusivity all in one: Michael Wunram ensures the smooth running of the place
However, there is still no master plan that sets out how to develop further markets, says Wunram. The maxim mentioned earlier still applies: carpe diem. And he couldn’t always tell Mr. Brinkjost to take some catalogs, fly to Tokyo and do cold calling. Finding a strong sales personality, building a good relationship — that is something that has to happen at the right time, it has to grow. Perhaps a Japanese representative might stray into the foyer by chance, but it is rather unlikely. Here at eggersmann, people are quite realistic, but who knows.
Taking advantage of opportunities, building personal connections and then reliably delivering quality. The entire model of success over the coming years was enshrined in this early scene. To this day, it is good relationships with local partners that count. ”It is important to have a strong representation in the respective country through a strong personality,” emphasizes Michael Brinkjost, the other Michael, with whom Wunram manages international sales.
WHEN SOMETHING IS TACKLED HERE IT’S TACKLED PROPERLY – CONSISTENTLY, PURPOSEFULLY AND WITH PASSION
The kitchens themselves show personality — their own and that of the customer. This is mainly done through the special surface chosen by the customer, which gives the kitchen a personal look. eggersmann’s joy in experimentation has been expressed in recent years, especially in the variety of materials that are quite novel for kitchen furniture. The idea of something unique, of bringing the countertop material onto the front surfaces has been a total success: in addition to all imaginable veneers, stainless steel and stone are part of the range with their own unique grain, texture and feel. In doing so, eggersmann has turned kitchen furniture into a medium through which people can express themselves individually.
No matter how big the appetite for innovation — good carpentry is at the foundation and core of The business
