BOGEN's story - from 1951 to 1970s
The Humble Beginnings and Specializing
On October 1, 1951, the then 23-year-old owner of ELEKTROGERATEBAU WOLFGANG BOGEN was granted a business license to manufacture tape recorders. Three months later, the small start-up capital of a few DM 100 was used up.
The big plans had to be dropped and a one-man business was set up, specializing in manufacturing magnetic heads.
The first Breakthrough
The first customers were tape recorder hobbyists. At that time, the coils were still wound by hand. At the end of the first year, an employee was hired because a Berlin radio station had measured the first BOGEN magnetic heads and then ordered them.
The high quality of these magnetic heads quickly became known, so turnover and the number of employees almost doubled yearly. The initially rented basement premises were no longer sufficient. The company moved into a garage with attached offices.
The much smaller universal heads joined the first conventional studio heads in ring construction in cast resin technology for home tape recorders, initially posing many difficult manufacturing problems.
Transformation and Growth
In 1956, WOLFGANG BOGEN GMBH was formed from the existing sole proprietorship with DM 20,000 share capital, of which the company founder contributed 97.5 % of machinery and other tangible assets.
Strategic Expansion and Entering the Global Market
The growing number of magnetic heads required the introduction of the piecework system. Other production facilities were rented.
In 1958, the first construction phase of the current company headquarters with 800 m2 of production and office space and 87 employees was inaugurated. After difficult negotiations, the factory premises were extended to approx—6500 m2 in 1960 by exchanging land.
Completion of the second construction phase
Three years later, the second construction phase was completed. There were 164 employees. To master the difficult technological problems of production more easily and to be independent of suppliers, an extensive tool and fixture construction department and an in-house grinding wheel production and plastic injection molding shop were set up. At the same time, work preparation began.
In 1964, the export share rose to 60%. The punch card system with accounting in the service office was introduced for payroll and cost accounting.
Innovation
In 1964/65, sales doubled once again because many tape recorder manufacturers switched from combined 1/2-track magnetic heads for recording and playback to separate magnetic heads in stereo design.
The number of magnetic head types manufactured grew to 200 due to the wide range of possible applications, including data storage technology.
Technological Leadership and A Testament to Innovation
In 1965, a third construction phase was completed and the production and office space was increased to 2600 square meters. Furthermore, the share capital was increased to DM 200,000, the first catalog was produced in the company's print shop and universal heads with a full metal mirror were developed.
Product development
In 1966, magnetic heads for Super 8 film, cassette recorders with 3.8 mm wide tape, and magnetic image recorders were developed. The number of employees rose to 240.
By the end of 1966, DM 20,000 had been invested for each workstation. The large number of types and the associated complex cost accounting and production control led to the use of integrated electronic data processing.
In 1967, an organizational plan with function descriptions for each employee, a location cost accounting system, and hyperbolic magnetic head grinding were introduced.
In 1968, a branch plant was set up in Berlin-Neukölln and turnover increased by 50% with 350 employees.
In 1969, we were able to increase turnover by 70% and set up another branch plant on Kurfürstendamm for development and data storage head production.
Consolidation
They also began the construction of a new administration and production building with 8,500 m2 of floor space, in which we consolidated all our production facilities in 1972.
The second part of the story you can find here: bogen-magnetics.com/eng/company/BOGENs-story-from-the-70s-to-today
