FROM 1949 TO TODAY:
WE CELEBRATE 75 YEARS HOLAC
It all started with 2 wheels and we owe the fact that our machines now stand on 4 legs to our founder Ernst Holz Senior. Today, we can proudly look back on 75 years of company history and more than 60 years of expertise in the field of machines for slicing and dicing food. Our heartfelt thanks for what we have achieved go to our customers, dealers and employees. We look forward to continuing our work together and are intrigued to see what the future requirements of food producers might look like.
Our History
Immerse yourself in our founding years, our time of expansion and our years of innovation.
Product innovations
From motorbike to cutting machine – an insight into our diverse product development over the years.
Interviews & Pictures
Our contemporary witnesses and our picture gallery tell the story of holac’s eventful past.
The Founding Years
From retailer and repair shop for sewing machines, bicycles and mopeds to the first patented holac cutting machine
When Ernst Holz senior opened his retail and repair business for bicycles, mopeds and sewing machines in Heidenheim-Schnaitheim in 1949, this was just the first step on the road for the Swabian inventor and handyman to becoming a manufacturer in his own right. From the very beginning, his ambition was to ultimately design and build his own machines. In 1957, he took on his first employees and branched out into the construction and fitting of metal railings and shop windows. With the building of two workshops in Würzburger Strasse, the foundations were laid for the company’s own mechanical engineering business. It was here that Ernst Holz senior designed the first cutting machine for a butcher friend, an invention that he subsequently patented in 1965.
The master mechanical engineer Ernst Holz senior founds a repair and trading business for bicycles, sewing machines and mopeds.
The first employee is hired: Matthias Seidl begins his apprenticeship as a machine fitter. He remains loyal to the company for over 65 years.
Ernst Holz senior acquires a plot of land an Würzburger Straße in Schnaitheim. The first two production halls of the growing company are built here.
With around ten emloyees, Ernst Holz senior works in the areas of building metalwork and mechanical engineering. Daughter-in-law Hannelore Holz becomes the first office employee.
Employee Matthias Seidl (left side) with a colleague
Thanks to a butcher friend, Ernst Holz senior hast he briliant idea: he constructs a slicing machine, the bacon „slicer“
Ernst Holz senior is a proud grandfather. The company name holac is derived from the name of his grandson Achim Holz.
Patent application 1965: The first holac cutting machine.
The expansion years
holac cutting machines become known worldwide
The response to holac products was equally positive at the second trade show in 1968. The trade visitors at the International Meat Industry Exhibition (IFFA) were voluble in their praise. The contacts made with representatives on that occasion are still an essential component of holac Maschinenbau GmbH’s international distributionnetwork today. When Ernst Holz junior took over the company in 1974, sales of cutting machines had already reached 60 per annum, most of them going to customers abroad. Sales figures continued to rise, obliging holac Maschinenbau GmbH and its 80 employeesin Schnaitheim to move to larger premises at Nattheimer Strasse 104 in 1986.
The fully automatic VA120 goes into production. Unlike ots predecessor models, this machine no longer needs to be operated manually.
Demand for the cutting machine is high: the first foreign agencies are established in Finland, Italy and USA.
The second generation takes the helm: Ernst Holz junior and his wife Hannelore Holz are now at the helm of holac Maschinenbau GmbH.
The company has 50 employees. They work together on the development and construction of over 20 different types of cutting machines
The product portfolio is growing: holac launches the sectomat slicer on the market.
Proud presentation: Managing Director Ernst Holz junior in 1983
Space is getting tight: holac moves with all parts of the company to the new company location at Nattheimer Straße 104.
Spatial expansion: The company premises in Nattheimer Straße
The innovation years
Always one cut ahead
After years of uninterrupted growth, holac was confronted with a major crisis at the end of the 1990s, namely the emergence of BSE. The new Managing Director Achim Holz met the challenge with innovative ingenuity by expanding into the cheese sector. Today, the company is broadly positioned in all areas of sliceable foods, from meat, cheese and fish to plant-based meat substitutes. It is always the customers’ requirements for cutting machines that provides the impetus for new developments. Since 2015, holac machines have been demonstrated in the customer reception area ofthe newly constructed company building in Nattheim.
With a display and programme background: The first computer-controlled cutting machine come onto the market.
Achim Holz becomes Managing DIrector. Under his leadership, the product range is expanded and the company opens up new sales markets.
In contact with customers and dealers: holac at IFFA 1998.
Out of the crisis with innovative strength: Managing Director Achim Holz 1999
The company becomes part of the Reiser family: George and Roger Reiser join the company as partners.
holac moves into new pemises in Nattheim. The modern new building with spacious premisers offers optimum conditions for around 80 employees.
Market with a future: holac is focussing on the plant-based sector. The machines in the HMT series are specially optimised for slicing meat substitude products.
holac celebrates ist 75th anniversary- and is well equipped for the future
Product innovations
Interviews
Employees and Managers are talking about their personal holac experiences.
Hannelore Holz
Tells about the time after Ernst Holz Junior and she took over the company in the 80s.
Manfred Daniel
Cutting tool specialist, the most experienced employee when it comes to building cutting tools.
Achim Holz
Managing Director of holac Maschinenbau GmbH, talks about significant Milestones and events.
