History

1974

Richard Herbst develops the first customer-tailored insert and take-out automation systems for injection molding and sets up a new company named HEKUMA (Herbst Kunststoff Maschinen).

1978

Development of the first high-speed robot for manufacturing audio cassettes. Number of employees rises from 2 to 11.

1984

Richard Herbst errects the first own building at the present-day location.

1990

HEKUMA introduces the first complete system for the manufacturing of CD boxes to the market. More than 600 systems have been sold worldwide to date.

1995 and 1998

Manufacturing space is doubled to meet the steadily increasing demand.

1999

Number of employees is now 128. HEKUMA holds patents for numerous improvements of injection molding processes to reduce cycle times and increase production quality.

2000

Richard Herbst sells HEKUMA to the elexis AG and retires one year later. HEKUMA is restructured from an owner-managed company to a prosperous subsidiary of a stock listed corporate group. 

2005

The most successful year in history so far. Sales volume rises to more than 40 million Euro, 150 employees are working at HEKUMA.

2006

First DIN EN ISO 9001 certification.

2007

Further expansion with establishing a second facility close to headquarter.