Celebrating 90 years of STOBER

Martin Preece, head of the UK subsidiary, says: The fact that STOBER is 90 years old this year bears testament to its unrelenting focus on researching and developing world-class innovations that actually solve problems for our clients and actively support their own business growth and development.

By continuously developing and expanding its range of products and services, STOBER has become a successful system provider and experienced global partner offering bespoke, single-source drive and automation solutions. Over the years, the increasing demand and growing importance of drive technology in many markets has been followed investment in new manufacturing capacities, modernised buildings and production facilities, and our global network.

Not many companies have such a long and illustrious history with so many outstanding achievements to their name and thats really worth celebrating.

History of STOBER

1934: Paul and Wilhelm Stber founded a mechanics workshop, driven by the desire to implement their own ideas and optimise things they thought could be improved. This spirit still defines the company today.

1943: STOBER launches the self-engineered variable-speed drive and revolutionises manufacturing operations.

1982: The second generation. The management of the company passed to the second generation with Siegfried Thiel, Ursula Thiel, and Bernd Stber. As technical managing director, Bernd recognised that electric speed control was becoming increasingly important in drive technology. For the first time, STOBER distributed frequency inverters, servo drives and the corresponding software. The matching MGS gear motor system impressed customers with its modularity and unsurpassed quality.

1991: Opening a subsidiary with assembly in Maysville, Kentucky was a major step for STOBER towards becoming a globally active company.

1993: Further product developments. STOBER became the first supplier worldwide to succeed in directly mating high-precision planetary gear units with dynamic synchronous servo motors.

2000: STOBER Drives Limited is launched to build on the expanding STOBER presence across the UK.

2003: The third generation. From 2003 to 2023, the company was managed by the third generation of Patrick Stber and Andreas Thiel.

2019: Looking ahead to the future, STOBER is rising to the challenges of digitalisation and investing in holistic solutions and a strong global presence in production, sales and service. In this year, a ninth subsidiary is established dedicated to this purpose, STOBER Drives Systems Technology in Taicang, China.

2023: Rainer Wegener takes over management of the company. Patrick Stber and Andreas Thiel have been using their strategic skills as shareholders of the company ever since. As in the generations that came before, Mr Stber and Mr Thiel both place great importance on keeping STOBER a family business. Mr Wegener has worked as Head of Sales and a member of the management board since 2001 and will carry on the STOBER values in the spirit of the family without fail.