"We have rarely seen such a capacity for change and adaptation": A book to mark KUKA's 125th birthday.

KUKA is celebrating its anniversary this year. KUKA has cast the company's exciting and eventful history in an entertaining book. The two historians and experts on corporate history, Dr. Ingo Stader and Dr. Max Schlenker of H&C Stader are the authors. In an interview, they tell us why it is important to deal with one's own corporate identity - and why working on the KUKA history was something special, even after many years of experience.

Teresa Scheunert

20 September 2023

Society

Reading Time: 6 min.

Why is it important for a company to deal with its own history at all?

Looking back into history pays off in many ways that are highly relevant for a company today: It shows how a company has become what it is today, it creates identity, it is an important sign of appreciation for the company and the employees themselves, and it is simply a form of transparency and documentation.

Various stakeholder groups are interested in the historical genesis of a company and especially in how it deals with the "dark" years. So, it's always important to know what was. And last but not least, looking back also provides answers to current questions: It is proof that a company is well equipped for current and future challenges.

The foundation with a small sawmill in the 19th century, long-forgotten products from the water cannon to the self-propelled howitzer, or anecdotes about the beginnings of robotics: countless facts and figures were collected for the KUKA anniversary book. How do you get all this information?

The basis is scientifically sound research. In the case of KUKA, this was to a large extent real basic research, since not much has been published up to now. We researched in the KUKA company archives, but also in countless public archives, such as the Bavarian Economic Archives in Munich, the state archives in Munich and Augsburg or the Augsburg City Archives. All in all, we went to around 10 German public archives and pored over several thousand pages of files. The big challenge is to filter out the relevant information in this jungle of information, weight it accordingly and develop an exciting story. And we have - hopefully - succeeded in doing that.

You have taken a very close look at 125 years of KUKA history: What did you find particularly exciting about the company?

We've covered a lot of company histories, but we've rarely experienced such a capacity for change and adaptation at a company like KUKA, both in terms of technology and company history: between the beginnings in Lechbruck with acetylene lighting to the robots of today, it's been a long and not always straight path - just as it has been from the founders Keller and Knappich to the latest developments at the top management of the company. What was equally impressive about KUKA: In the course of our research, we conducted eyewitness interviews with more than 20 long-time and former KUKA companions. And no matter what story brought each of them together with the company, their connection with KUKA is still strong today.

Curious? By the way, the anniversary book 125 Years of KUKA with numerous historical illustrations is available for purchase at this link.

A short trip through KUKA history in pictures:

iiQKA in use: Easy-to-use software enables even more industries and user groups to work with robotic automation.

The first years of the company mean absolute pioneering work. With demonstrations of acetylene lighting, the two founders try to establish confidence in the new lighting method. Here: the principle of acetylene lighting using a table lamp.

Presentation of the KUKA "Sprengwagen" for "washing asphalt roads" in front of the plant entrance in Augsburg-Oberhausen, around 1922.

The company founders at the height of their creative powers, 1910: Jakob Knappich and Johann Josef "Hans" Keller.

From welding guns to plant engineering: the spot welding machine.

Based on the know-how from industrial welding and cutting, Keller and Knappich set up their own department for boiler and tank construction in the early 1920s.

KUKA has launched countless inventions. The Augsburg company becomes internationally known with the sale of refuse drums and boilers on Mercedes-Benz chassis. As early as the 1930s, the "M.B. KUKA garbage trucks" are represented in London, Buenos Aires, Paris, Budapest and Rome.

The company site where it all began in 1898 with the "Acetylenwerk Augsburg-Oberhausen, Keller & Knappich" was destroyed in 1945.

Insight at KUKA into typewriter production in the 1950s.

A table spot welding machine in 1948.

The first automatic welding line built in Europe: floor panel, engine compartment group and various individual parts are fed independently (around 1960).