BURG F.W. Lüling KG

Snapping into place: in the beginning, there was the padlock.

When the company BURG was founded in the year 1890, the focus was on security for the house and home. In this era, the legendary "Volmarstein" padlock was born, which quickly made BURG a well-known brand.

For 80 years, the family business adhered to this end-consumer-oriented product policy, and made a good name for itself on the international arena with padlocks, latches, hasps and other high quality security articles.

After his training, there developed within him an ever-growing wish to manufacture locks himself. After preparatory work with a paternal friend from 1 July to 31 August 1890, Friedrich-Wilhelm Lüling set up a small lock smithy in the cellar rooms of his flat "Am Repland" in the district of Volmarstein-Grundschöttel in Wetter, Germany.

The early years were hard. Long arduous journeys were necessary in order to bring the manufactured goods to the traders and exporters. Despite some disappointments, the number of employees had increased to 11 by the year 1897. The small "Am Repland" smithy was no longer big enough. So, in that year, Friedrich-Wilhelm Lüling bought a residential house with an outbuilding, on Hegestrasse in Volmarstein.

In the year 1898, operations were shifted to a dedicated building. Extensions followed in the years 1900, 1904, 1922 and 1924. Thus, from the most humble of beginnings, by means of dogged industriousness, a factory arose, which was to become world famous for its manufacture of locks.

In the years 1944 to 1957, sons Paul, Werner and Arthur Lüling joined the company as partners and general managers. Over several decades, they have a decisive influence on the development of the company "Burg".
 After surmounting all the difficulties of the war and post-war years, it was primarily in the years following 1950 in which further products were developed, of a quality as yet unseen on the market: BURG armoured hasps with hardened lugs and joints, theft-proof shackleless padlocks, and particularly robust bolt locks with covered screw holes.

In the year 1969, Edgar and Manfred Lüling, grandsons of the founder, and sons of the previous general managers Werner and Arthur Lüling, took over the management of the company. The ever-increasing pressure of competition, primarily from countries in the Far East, was to entail completely new considerations and sales strategies. Thus, the previous security range was firstly streamlined, modernised, and extended with high quality products such as door locks and window locks.

Another decision made at that point, namely to manufacture diecast articles in addition to the metal die cutting products, had a very positive effect on the further development of the company Burg. Initially, after the first used diecasting machine was acquired in 1969, articles for internal use were produced. Then, in 1972, after many negotiations, the first industrial order came in, and initiated a development, which to this day has expanded considerably, but which also made many carefully considered investments necessary.

With the takeover of what was previously the Gustav Dannert lock factory in nearby Ennepetal-Voerde, it became possible to install additional diecasting machines, and to increase production of diecast articles for industry, as well as for internal use.

As the Voerde factory was situated near to an expanding residential area, it unfortunately became no longer possible to enlarge the machinery outfit. For this reason, it became necessary to acquire new operational premises.

In 1980, the warehouse, and thus the dispatch of all BURG products, was relocated from Hegestrasse to Nieland. The slope of the winding Hegestrasse had often caused loading problems and considerable time losses when dispatching goods to domestic and international customers, whereas at the Nieland site, it was possible to solve the dispatching problem optimally.

In recent years, the number of industrial customers for our diecast products continued to increase. This made it possible to take on additional staff. In order to respond to the pressure of European competition with regard to our cylinder manufacture, this new branch of production had to be streamlined by implementing modern machines and work stations. Therefore, in 1987 it was necessary to extend the Nieland production facilities. A new two-storey hall was built for the diecast division and further processing, and was ready for occupancy as soon as spring 1988. In addition, the manufacture of lock cylinders was completely relocated from the Hegestrasse factory to the upper storey of the newly built Nieland hall.

On 1 July 1990, the company F. W. Lüling KG celebrated its centenary; cause for joy and a great deal of gratitude to God, who has kept providing us with strength and success throughout the course of many decades. If, thanks to the grace of God, we can look upon a healthy and world-renowned company, it is easy to forget the pioneering work which was necessary in order to lead the company from the most humble of beginnings to the significance that it has today.

New friendly rooms were set up for the technical management, purchasing, the personnel office, and the dispatch department, in order to make it possible to carry out the manifold tasks necessary for complete satisfaction of our customers and staff in the shortest possible time.

Old systems were replaced by state-of-the-art EDP systems. It was also decided to install a CAD system in order to cope with the huge increase in construction tasks.

 In 1994, Burg achieves compliance with the "DIN ISO 9001" norm as evidence of a high standard in quality assurance.
 
 Burg decides to build a subsidiary manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic. In 1996, some real estate is purchased in Tisa.

In the year 2001, the fourth generation of management begins, as Achim Lüling takes office. After 33 years as general manager, Edgar Lüling enters into a well-deserved retirement.

BURG begins activities in the new segment "BURG electronic • controls". In addition to traditional mechanical lock systems, comes the implementation of state-of-the-art IT and electronic technologies in intelligent and networked lock system applications.