Herlitz
| Aktiengesellschaft | |
| Traded as | : HEZ |
| Industry | paper |
| Founded | 1904 |
| Founder | , Günter Herlitz |
| Headquarters | Berlin, Germany |
|
Key people
|
Hooi Keat Loo (CEO), Thomas Radke |
| Products | office supplies and Stationery |
| Revenue | € 197.1 million (2012) |
|
Number of employees
|
1,335 (FTE, 2012) |
| Website | pelikan-ag.com |
Pelikan AG (until 2015 Herlitz AG) is a producer of paper, office supplies and stationery articles in Europe. Pelikan AG's international headquarters is located in Berlin, Germany. It is a subsidiary of Pelikan.
The company was founded in Berlin by bookseller in September 1904 as a stationery wholesaler. He ran the small firm for 31 years before stepping down in 1935 for health reasons. Herlitz expanded its distribution after the company was taken over by the son, Günter Herlitz. The company had six employees at that time.
After Günter Herlitz was conscripted for military service, his mother Berta Herlitz temporarily took over managing the company and maintained customer relations. In November 1943, the business premises in Berlin were completely destroyed two times by the effects of the war; business activity ground to a halt.
Günter Herlitz resumed business operations as early as the summer of 1945 (in a basement, at first), initially dealing in bargains of all kinds. At that time, it was still possible to supply customers in East Germany.
During the Berlin Blockade (1948–49), the company Herlitz was the only of around 20 Berlin wholesalers to succeed in securing a minimal amount of goods shipped by air from West Germany to Berlin. The product range was expanded considerably once the blockade had ended.
Turnover doubled every four years from 1949 to 1994. In 1960, Herlitz established its own distribution organisation for West Germany. The breakthrough on the German market was made with illustrated notebooks and exercise books (animal motifs and athletic imagery). Rapid development followed. Up to 150 tonnes of paper were processed each month.
The expansion in the 1970s was reflected in the company’s change in legal form as well as its international activity. Herlitz was transformed into a joint stock company in 1972. Its first high bay warehouse, with 6,000 pallet slots for finished goods, went into operation in 1974. It employed a staff of 504 on the annual average.
1974 marked the establishment of Herlitz Consult GmbH, which was commissioned in 1975 to construct a turnkey factory for exercise books in Baghdad. Together with a bridge as well as a small mosque, which were also built, this was the largest single contract in the history of Herlitz (order volume: 38 million Deutsche mark).
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Wikipedia