From pioneer to international tool manufacturer
The success story of the Engelskirchen-based family business, which now spans more than 85 years, began in the 1930s. In 1937, brothers Edmund and Willi Lukas discovered their Bergisch pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit - using the simplest of machines, the two initially produced drills for a wide range of applications on the upper floor of their own car workshop. Word of their skill and the high quality of their products quickly spread throughout the Oberberg region. Bit by bit, the product portfolio is expanded - initially to include burrs, grinding discs and mounted points.
With lots of ideas and passion and an initially good dose of Bergisch shirt-sleeves, the brothers develop an industrial company that operates far beyond the borders of their home region. Just seven years after the company was founded, they employed 70 people.
In the boom years of the economic miracle, LUKAS is able to grow organically and acquires Rheinische Zahnbohrer- und Kleinfräserfabrik in 1964. In 1975, the companies merged to form "LUKAS-ERZETT Vereinigte Schleif- und Fräswerkzeugfabriken GmbH & Co KG".
In the 1980s, LUKAS reacts early to the increasing competitive and cost pressure in the context of globalisation with an offensive internationalisation strategy. The first step on the road to globalisation is the acquisition of a South African tool manufacturer in 1986. This was followed in 1989 by the establishment of a sales company in the Czech Republic and in 1991 by the construction of a completely new production facility at the same location.
