In 1873, the first German nation-state was just two years old, Levi Strauss patented his jeans and Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I opened the World's Fair in Vienna. That same year, 26-year-old Jakob Dieffenbacher founded in Eppingen a small locksmith's shop for cash registers, which later specialized in hydraulic presses for processing fruit, wine and cooking oil.
Today, his great-great-grandson Christian Dieffenbacher runs the globally active family business with 1,700 employees and more than EUR 400 million in sales. The primary mission these days: develop, plan and manufacture complete production systems, including digitalization solutions for controlling processes.
Much has changed, and yet through 150 years, various threads run through the company's history. One of those threads is transformation. DIEFFENBACHER presses transform a wide variety of materials into useful products, while DIEFFENBACHER the company has permanently transformed itself to help industry and society address increasingly complex challenges. Among those challenges is the careful use of the earth's valuable resources. As early as 2014, DIEFFENBACHER began to develop solutions that use alternative raw materials and waste materials to manufacture new products and to increase the energy and material efficiency of plants through digital solutions.
With DIEFFENBACHER, it is - and always has been - about the next step, about progress in the interest of businesses and their customers. Yet knowing when and what not to change remains fundamental. Since 1873, the DIEFFENBACHER family has continuously emphasized reliability, placed high value on the quality of relationships with customers and fostered partnership-based cooperation. These are the pillars of a family business now in its fifth generation.
All this is condensed into an anniversary motto that captures a century and a half of corporate development:
"DIEFFENBACHER: 150 years of transformation on solid ground."
