Metabo

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Metabowerke GmbH

Type	GmbH
Founded	1924
Headquarters	Nürtingen, Germany
Key people	Dr. Johannes Haupt
Products	Professional power tools
Employees	2.400

Metabowerke GmbH is a manufacturer of a sizeable range of professional power tools.

Product catalogue from the 1930s

The company was founded in 1924 by Albrecht Schnizler, Julius Closs and Walter Rauch (originally under the name Schnizler GmbH but renamed in 1932) and is based in Nürtingen, Germany. In 2005 Metabo had 2,400 employees, of which 1460 were employed in Nürtingen. The turnover of the company in 2006 was 392 million euros. ^[1] More than 500 patents and utility models (Gebrauchsmuster) have been registered^{[citation needed]}.

In 1928 Metabo started with the production of their first bench drilling machines, hand sanders, braces, and the first universal drill, sanding and polishing machines equipped with circular saws. In 1934 followed their first electric hand drill and in 1936 their first geared chucks. They produced their first hammer drill in 1957 and the first hammer drill with electronic speed regulation in 1969. The first 1000 watt hammer drill with electronic speed stabilisation followed in 1981. In 1982 Metabo built a plant for the production of grinding disks in West Chester, Pennsylvania (USA ). Several new developments came about in the following years : the winding protection grid (1987), the Metabo Quick System for angle grinders (1988), impulse technology (for precise drilling) (1996) and a fast paint stripper (1997).

Through takeovers, the Metabo Group has become in 1999 the number 1 in the market for woodworking machines in Europe and number 2 worldwide. ^[2]

Metabo now sells their electric power tools in more than 100 countries and some of their machines are being used in the most extreme conditions.