History - Fritz Baur Holzerzeugnisse GmbH

Company history

Once a carver's family – today a medium-sized wood manufacturing company

It all started when our great-grandfather Kornel Baur made household items such as bellows, cooking spoons, mousetraps and pillboxes from wood as a sideline to agriculture. The whole family helped him do this.

Today, in the fourth generation, we manufacture wooden parts at an industrial level with our modern machinery. We have remained true to our Black Forest roots. Wooden parts from Fritz Baur are in demand for the the high-quality segment of the furniture industry, for shopfitting and interior finishing or just for individual wooden parts. And our family has grown, too – today we employ 30 people at our company in Bernau in the Black Forest.

1909

The company was founded by Kornel Baur at his home in Bernau-Kaiserhaus. Manufacturing of household appliances from domestic wood species, such as beech and maple. Already at that time there was a high export share: 70% of our products were delivered to customers in Switzerland and France.

1934

Albert Baur, son of Kornel Baur, invented the first adjustable vegetable slicer.

1960

The second generation was taking over. Albert was running things now. Already in 1939 he had passed his master's examination as a woodcarver and worked for many years in the growing family business. Thanks to his invention, foreign business was also flourishing. Vegetable slicers & co. were even exported to Australia and the USA.

1972

Fritz Baur followed the footsteps of his father Albert and successfully passed the master's examination.

1973

With the triumphal procession of plastic objects in the household, we were realigning our company: From now on we specialised in solid wood parts and addressed customers in the furniture industry. This bold reorientation has already proven its worth in subsequent years.

1978

Fritz Baur who has managed the company in third generation since 1977, expanded the core competence "solid wood" and switched from manual to industrial manufacture. In the new company headquarters with a production area of 600 sqm and 15 employees, the furniture industry became a new and important sales market for the Fritz Baur company.

1986

The first CNC milling machine strengthened the Fritz-Baur team, increased output, flexibility, quality and marked the cornerstone for the further expansion of our production capacities.

1998

Introduction of a PPS system in order to be able to optimally serve the increasing customer requirements and the variety of variants.

2002

Foundation of the brand increva for the commission-based production and distribution of a flexible shelf system made of 100% solid wood. The distribution is carried out via qualified retail trade in lot size 1 according to the special specifications of the customers.

2005

With the purchase of a surface coating machine, we have impressively underlined our coating competence. This makes our manufacturing competence interesting for other industries, such as shop and interior design and craft businesses.

2009

Just in time for the 100th company anniversary, Georg Baur joined the family business after successfully completing his studies in wood technology and now runs the business together with his father Fritz. We celebrated our 100th anniversary with a large trade show and with the participation of our employees, neighbouring companies, family and friends.

2014

The fourth generation is now finally taking the helm. From now on Georg Baur will manage the business of our medium-sized company with 30 employees and further differentiate the product structure.

2017

Digitization is advancing: we are introducing the volume-based 3D CAD software SOLIDWORKS. As proud "winners" we accept the German Design Award.

2019

We continue to invest: Since October, a modern 5-axis CNC machining centre has been operating in our production facility. Now we are able to manufacture wooden parts with high complexity very economically.

2022

The first step has been taken. The chip silo has been completed. The new heating system will follow at the end of the year. This will enable us to cover our entire heating material requirements ourselves in the future, reduce our emission values and benefit from higher efficiency.

News

News from Bernau in the Black Forest

21. December 2023