Ölflex cable from Lapp is a success story that has spanned more the 50 years. Since its invention in 1959, it has been synonymous with quality, reliability and speed. To celebrate this, the Lapp Group is holding the Ölflex World Tour – an Ölflex cable drum visiting various Lapp sites around the globe. At each location a variety of events are held based on the themes of the Ölflex products and the Lapp Group in general. The highlight is the performances of the Lapp Artists, who will be wowing audiences wherever they appear.
Since the beginning of the campaign in Stuttgart, the Ölflex tour made its first stop at the French Lapp offices in Forbach. The drum then moved to Spain, next it will be in South Africa, and it will also visit India, China, Japan, Chile, the USA, Sweden and the Netherlands. It will finally return to Stuttgart in July 2011 and employees, customers and friends of the Lapp Group can look forward to the celebration of its homecoming.
The Lapp Group is providing comprehensive online coverage of the tour. An online newsroom has been set up at www.oelflex50.com where visitors can find reports, pictures and videos. Attendees of the events can also use the social networks Facebook, youtube and flickr to share experiences and discuss other topics related to the company.
What is actually being celebrated?
The celebration is the invention of the first industrially manufactured connection and control cable in the world. The first Ölflex cable was produced more than 50 years ago, since then approximately 2 700 000 kilometres has been manufactured – enough to span the world seven times. The product remains the cornerstone of a globally successful company.
The brand encompasses a total of about 25 000 different items and 400 variants. Managing director Mark Dilchert explains: “Ölflex has conquered the world. Our connection and control cables stand for outstanding quality, absolute reliability and unbelievable speed. This is what our customers rely on.”
How it all began
The Ölflex success story began at the end of the 1950s. Oskar Lapp (1921-1987) was a genius fascinated by innovation and invention. He discovered that electrical engineers struggled to match the corresponding cable ends when connecting cables. Identifying the ends involved a time consuming process – continuity testing. To make things worse, all the cables were either grey or black, had very large cross-sections and were rather rigid. In response to this problem, Lapp invented colour coded cables with significantly smaller diameters. A cable manufacturer based in the German city of Wuppertal took his designs and used them to produce the first prototypes. The industrially manufactured connection and control cable was born.
Oskar and his wife Ida wanted to give the invention a brand name that would describe the characteristics of the product. Because the cable was designed for particularly high oil-resistance and flexibility, the couple named the invention Ölflex and set quality standards that are still applicable in the field of cable production today.
U.I. Lapp KG was founded in 1959. It all started in the couple’s garage in the Vaihingen region of Stuttgart. Oskar took care of the field work and visited clients whilst Ursula Ida wrote advertising letters and took care of the bookkeeping. There was a massive demand for the control cable with coloured individual cables and a PVC outer sheath, and soon the company took on its first employee.
The innovation continued
In 1963, the couple set up their first factory to manufacture the cables in-house. Two years later, in 1965, the company moved to Schulze-Delitzsch-Straβe in the Vaihingen area of Stuttgart, where the headquarters of the group remained to this day.
New variants were continually being brought to market. “Due to the proximity to his customers, Oskar Lapp always knew precisely what the market’s requirements were,” explains Dilchert. The start of the 1970s saw the introduction of the first Ölflex numbered cables. Lapp manufactured cable looms with up to 130 coloured cables, which quickly made colour alone insufficient as a differentiator. In 1972 Lapp brought out the first cable with tin-plated copper braid to protect against electromagnetic influences. In 1977, the first elevator control cable was introduced, complete with a supporting unit made of hemp for improved strain relief and a long service life.
Three new developments dominated the 1980s: In 1980, the Ölflex Servo was introduced as the first universal cable for power transmission and temperature monitoring of servo motors. Three years later came the Ölflex FD for use in energy supply chains or mobile machine parts. Today, the FD cables are designed for five million alternating bending cycles. Halogen-free cables were premièred in 1984 – a flame-retardant cable giving off no toxic gases and thus well-suited to locations where personnel had to be protected.
Further specialisation followed in the 1990s: In 1992 the Ölflex Robot was developed for the robotics industry. These cables are particularly resistant to abrasion, hydrolysis, oil and flames and feature an adhesion-free surface. A year later came the Ölflex Quattro, a multistandard cable for international use. Ölflex Classic, a highlight of the family, was introduced in 1998. Characterised by a relatively thin outer sheath and core insulation, it fulfils the requirements where flexibility and electric strength are required.
In 1994 Lapp Kabel opened its doors in South Africa.
Environmental issues dominated cable production in the new millennium. 2002 saw the launch of the cable range for the photovoltaics industry with the Ölflex Solar. The all-weather Ölflex Robust was introduced in 2004 for use in biogas plants. 2007 saw the special Ölflex Wind cables designed to withstand the high forces in wind turbines.
Lapp around the world
Today, Ölflex connection and control cables are used around the world. They are present in paper manufacturing machines from Voith, and the industrial robots of Dürr AG. In Bad Münstereifel in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, Ölflex cables ensure the Effelsberg radio telescope is correctly positioned and in Singapore, halogen-free cables ensure that the 178 metre-high Singapore Flyer observation wheel keeps on turning.
Ölflex Heat cables powered the generators of a Polish expedition to the Himalayas, whilst they also ensure that many attractions such as the Euro-Mir roller-coaster or the Super Splash water slide at the Europapark are powered reliably. A highly flexible UV-resistant version guarantees the power supply for the New Year’s Eve Ball in Times Square and the lights on the Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul are kept burning by Ölflex Classic.
34 000 kilometres were ordered for the new underground metro system in New Delhi, while in Egypt the pyramids are lit and ventilated using Ölflex cables. The Lapp Group is also a strong player in ‘new age’ environmentally friendly applications. It is a principal supplier to Indian wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon, and recently, 20 km of Ölflex Solar were installed in a solar park in Spain.
The 50-year celebration began on November 12 in South Africa, when the cable drum received a celebrity welcome at an employee’s party. The drum started touring the country visiting Lapp clients before being sent off on 23 November. A gala dinner will be held to wish the cable drum goodbye, to look back at the 50 years of success, and to celebrate the years to come.
For more information contact Grant Joyce, Lapp Kabel, +27 (0)11 201 3200, [email protected], www.lappkabel.co.za
| Tel: | +27 11 201 3200 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.lappgroup.co.za |
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