A special farewell honour

Bernd Köberl was a SCHLEGEL representative in the Offenbach area for 36 years

Kurt Köberl took over the SCHLEGEL agency in the Offenbach area 50 years ago. His son Bernd Köberl joined the company 36 years ago and became Managing Director in 1995. At the end of the year, this era came to an end and Bernd Köberl retired. Even though he already has many plans for the future, "there is a bit of melancholy".

For more than three decades, Köberl was the face of SCHLEGEL for companies in the Offenbach region. He has received feedback on the products in many meetings. Köberl reports that his customers greatly appreciate the modularity of the SCHLEGEL range, as well as the focus on design. What has changed in the 36 years? The product portfolio, of course, which has been expanded more and more. Low mounting depths are becoming increasingly important, electronics are playing an ever greater role and the trend towards offering ready-made solutions instead of individual components is growing. SCHLEGEL has always taken up and pushed these trends with new products.

It was always an option that he would one day join his father's office. Bernd Köberl himself would never have imagined that this would happen back in 1987. As a mechanical engineer, he initially worked in a design office in Frankfurt before moving to a Swiss company that sold wastewater treatment plants. In an office in Darmstadt, he helped to build up sales in Germany. And he actually wanted to gain a few more years of experience in sales.

But a phone call in a phone booth while on vacation on Lake Zurich threw a spanner in the works. An employee had resigned, his father told him on the phone. "Either you come or I'll find someone else." Bernd Köberl asked for a night to think about it - and then said yes the next morning.

Responsible for SCHLEGEL right from the start

After joining his father's company, he was responsible for sales for SCHLEGEL right from the start. He says that he always enjoyed working as a self-employed person and the variety of office and field work. He also speaks positive about working with SCHLEGEL: "It was a good working relationship, a very loyal relationship. You had the feeling that you were being listened to." A good basis of trust developed, especially through the representatives' meetings, where they also got to know other SCHLEGEL representatives.

Bernd Köberl worked for SCHLEGEL for 36 years. The engineering office "Kurt Köberl" distributed our products for 50 years. Our management honoured Bernd Köberl for this during his visit, presented him with a certificate for this jubilee and thanked him for the many years of trusting cooperation.

Ehrlich GmbH new Partner
But now the baton is being passed on. Ehrlich GmbH & Co. KG from Hochrhein am Main will in future distribute the products of the specialist for pushbuttons and switches in the Offenbach area as a SCHLEGEL representative.