Vetter Foerdertechnik is the archetypal German Mittelstand – long established, relatively small, family-owned industrial enterprise. Vetter was founded as a smithy for the mining industry in 1869 but by the early 1960s mining was in decline. Young managing director Klaus Vetter, who took over in 1962, decided to restructure the company and build column- and wall-mounted slewing jib cranes as well as forks for lift trucks.
Forty-four years later Klaus Vetter is still managing director and has grown the company to an annual turnover of more than €30m and a world leader in jib cranes, producing more than 3,000 slewing cranes a year. Vetter also produces Rotomax load turning devices and has an active crane service division.
One of Klaus Vetter’s greatest contributions to the industry in Germany, however, was the establishment of the Guetegemeinschaft Kranservice (GKS), a trade association for crane service companies that has set standards to which member companies commit themselves. In this way Vetter has helped raise standards and drive out rogue elements from crane servicing.
