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Company history

Our path
From drill pioneer to complete supplier

Gühring is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of precision rotary tools for metal machining. With over 7,000 employees worldwide, including more than 3,500 in Germany, the company develops, manufactures and distributes innovative cutting tools at over 70 production sites in 48 countries. Gühring is present in all major markets: customers from the automotive industry, aerospace, and mechanical engineering rely on its leading-edge tool, which is manufactured worldwide to the highest quality standards.

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The management of Gühring KG
Owner-managed in fourth generation

Gühring has been owner-managed for four generations. Four generations in which the course has not been determined by changing management, but rather by Gühring operating close to the market and its customers. Four generations in which the family business has grown into a global player on its own. Dr. Jörg Gühring led the company into globalisation in the 1970s. Oliver Gühring joined the family business in 2000 and is responsible for the strategic development of sales, marketing and digitalisation. He has been Chairman of the Management Board since 2021.

Portrait of Oliver Gühring, the owner of Gühring KG

Oliver Gühring

Chairman of the Management Board

Director Sales and Marketing
Portrait of Bernd Schwanz, responsible for finances and logistics

Bernd Schwanz

Director Finance, Logistics and Administration
Portrait of Jochen Bitzer, responsible for technology and production

Jochen Bitzer

Director R&D, Technology and Production

Gühring – The Tool Company
The Gühring story

Travel through our company history and discover how we became who we are today.

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Milestones in the company’s history

Founded as a hardware store, four generations of the Gühring family have led the company from Albstadt into the globalised world of machining. A journey through time in pictures.

1898
Founded by Gottlieb Gühring

In this year, Gottlieb Gühring founds the company. Two years later, he opens his first own factory building at the headquarters in Albstadt-Ebingen, to which Gühring remains loyal to this day.

1921
Oskar Gühring takes over

In 1921, his son Oskar Gühring takes over the management of the company. Gühring grows rapidly: In 1940, the company already employs 680 employees. 50 different types of twist drills are already being manufactured at that time.

1948
Reconstruction in the 1950s

In 1948, after the complete dismantling of the production facilities, reconstruction begins. In the 1950s, Gühring once again employs over 100 employees, who resume the production of twist drills.

1964
Introduction of Dr. Jörg Gühring

Dr. Jörg Gühring, grandson of company founder Gottlieb Gühring, joins the company in 1964. In 1985, he took over the management of the company, which he held until his death in 2021.

1964
Introduction of Dr Jörg Gühring

Dr Jörg Gühring, grandson of company founder Gottlieb Gühring, joins the company in 1964. In 1985, he took over the management of the company, which he held until his death in 2021.

1973
Expansion & new business areas

The international development of Gühring KG begins in 1973, the year in which the company opens its first foreign subsidiary in England. Also in this year, the first carbide tools are manufactured. These tools quickly become the standard for demanding machining tasks. Thanks to the tool material carbide and a special tool geometry, they have a high level of performance and ensure above-average drilling accuracy.

1978
Internationalisation across all continents

Gühring takes its first step overseas in 1978 with the founding of a national subsidiary in the USA. As a result, the company offers a global service presence early on to maximise customer satisfaction. In the early 1980s, subsidiaries followed in Canada, Singapore and Japan.

1981
Gühring introduces the “gold drill”

In 1981, Gühring develops the first TiN-coated twist drill – a milestone in machining technology. Initially ridiculed as a marketing tool, these tools were to become the benchmark for the entire industry in the following years.

1986
Innovation driver in lightweight construction

In addition, Gühring enters promising technologies such as the lightweight construction at an early stage. The company started with the manufacturing of PCD and CBN-tipped tools back in 1986. In times of constantly changing technologies and new materials, Gühring remains future-proof with a broad industry presence and its own R&D.

1988
Production of carbide

With the start of its own carbide production, Guehring gains further competitive advantages and is already able to take the specific requirements of its customers into account when designing the cutting material.

2016
Gühring is making an impact

With its new grooving systems, Gühring is expanding its product portfolio to include stationary tools for turning operations. In addition to the world’s most comprehensive programme of rotary cutting tools, Gühring is thus more than ever living up to its claim of being a complete supplier.

2017
Gühring top-selling tool manufacturer

Within a century, Gühring has grown from a family business to a global player. With branches on all continents and products in the leading industries of our time, the company achieved a total turnover of 1,040 million euros and a domestic turnover of 415 million euros in 2017. With growth of almost ten per cent, Gühring is therefore well above the German industry average.

2021
Oliver Gühring takes over the Chairman of the Board of Management

With Oliver Gühring as owner and responsible Director for Sales and Marketing, the Gühring company becomes owner-managed in the fourth generation and stands for customer proximity and long-term value creation.

2024
Management team reorganises

At the beginning of 2024, Jochen Bitzer as Director for Technology and Production and Bernd Schwanz as Director for Finance and Logistics, both long-standing executives from the Gühring cosmos, replace Dietmar Pfränger and Bernd Schatz.

We are certified

Whether quality, environment or energy: solutions from Gühring are always about reducing demand and increasing performance at the same time. The prerequisite for this success is the high value that Gühring places on the quality of its products and services. This is why Gühring has various certificates.

The image shows a quality certificate symbol floating on a transparent digital interface above a laptop.

Certifications

ISO 9001 Quality management system
VDA 6.4 Quality management automotive industry
ISO 1001 Environmental management system
ISO 50001 Energy management system
AEO certificate Authorised Economic Operator

In addition, we are successfully audited according to: VDA 6.1; TS 16949; EFQM; Aviation

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