Our History
It was the idea of producing utility items made of aluminum to make everyday life easier that prompted Walther Zarges to found the ZARGES Company in 1933. He saw that aluminum also held enormous potential outside the field of aircraft construction. And the foundation of the company in Stuttgart was the beginning of a changeful success story; in the course of which what was originally a small workshop became a global industrial enterprise. Ladders and cases made of aluminum, still the company’s core products today, always played a central role, as did challenging large-scale projects. A tiny company with just two employees at the time of its foundation, it went on to become a medium-sized establishment which experienced a major boom, especially in the years following World War Two.
Walther Zarges had an unerring instinct for the market and ideas for the development of corresponding products. High quality and continuous innovation were and still are the hallmarks of ZARGES. However, at the end of the 1960s, it became more and more difficult to sustain production in the tradition of hand-made craftsmanship, with cost pressure becoming increasingly keen. Production had to adapt to meet industrial standards so a 75% stake in the company was sold to VAW to allow production capacity to be expanded. The family-owned company ZARGES became part of a large industrial group. However, this did not slow the upward trend for the company. On the contrary: ZARGES were market leaders in the cases sector and in the sector of large-scale custom-made constructions, while development in the ladder and ladder equipment sector was increasingly promising. ZARGES thus had three solid sectors of activity, which enabled the company to weather even the toughest economic climate without faltering.
The company entered new markets – especially within Europe – and the takeover of the Tubesca Company in France and the establishment of a new plant in Hungary were the next steps on its path to becoming an international industrial enterprise. A strategy that was crowned with success: For many years now, ZARGES has been the unchallenged market leader in Europe for access technology and one of the leading companies worldwide in the field of logistics. Subsidiary ZAS has a high degree of competence in the field of custom-made construction and has become a market leader specializing in fittings for wind power systems.
Today, ZARGES is single-mindedly pursuing its objective of internationalization. The establishment of new subsidiaries and targeted acquisitions strengthen its position on the national and international markets. ZARGES can already claim that the sun never sets on its “empire” – the tiny former workshop has become a Global Player. But one thing has never changed: consistently high quality, constant innovation and close contact with the customer. These have been the hallmarks of ZARGES for 75 years.
