An overview of the chronology of Schnellecke

Albert Schnellecke 560x560 560x560

01 June 1939 
Freight forwarder Albert Schnellecke founds a freight forwarding company in the new City of the KdF Car as an official railway carter and furniture transporter.

01 September 1939
Start of World War II. Vehicles are confiscated for the German Armed Forces. Business is done with tractors, horses, and horse and cart teams. His wife Margarete helps out in the company. Their daughter Annegret is born in 1942 and their son Rolf in 1944.

May 1945
By the end of the war the company has been looted and the storage shed on the Fallersleber Road has been set on fire. The city is renamed Wolfsburg after the name of the local castle.



 

 

 

Bahnmöbelwagen 560x560 560x560

28 December 1949
Albert Schnellecke dies from the effects of pneumonia at the age of 47.

1949/50
Margarete Schnellecke continues the small freight forwarding company under extremely adverse circumstances and at great personal sacrifice. Her son Rolf grows into his role in the company while still in school. The company continues to concentrate on railway carter forwarding and furniture transporting in the fast growing city of Wolfsburg.


 

 

 

 

 

 

Güterbahnhof 560x560 560x560

1965 
Start of regional transports for Volkswagen. 

1967 
The first freight forwarding building "Am Güterbahnhof" is built. At 22, Rolf Schnellecke joins his mother’s short-haulage company as a limited partner and founds the Rolf Schnellecke Company on May 1, 1968 after successfully completing the necessary exams for long haulage. The company is later expanded to a group of companies, and then converted to the Schnellecke Group AG & Co. KG in 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atomium Brüssel 560x560 560x560

1970 
The first international transports are carried out with Rolf Schnellecke himself behind the wheel. Through a series of takeovers of companies with long-distance haulage licenses, national and international routes are established – with regular transports to Belgium, Yugoslavia, and Spain among others. After studying law and economics and passing the second state exam, Rolf Schnellecke takes on tasks in public administration and supports the strategic further development of the company. Margarete Schnellecke remains the soul of the company. The operative businesses in these second founding years are successfully led and expanded for many years by the managing directors Bernhard Pieninck, Gerhard Polomski and Jürgen Knoblau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hauptsitz Sandkamp 560x560 560x560

1985
Opening of the new freight forwarding center in Wolfsburg-Sandkamp as the company headquarters. Start of logistics services for the automotive industry with pilot projects in picking, pre-assemblies and sequencing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sachsentrans LKW 560x560 560x560

Since 1990
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Transport Division takes over the former Sachsenring factory in Zwickau and the Barkas factory in Chemnitz, Germany. A freight forwarding network is set up in Saxony. Building of logistics supply centers in Glauchau and Zwickau. Additional branches are founded in the new German federal states.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KWD Radeberg 560x560 560x560 (1)

1994
The Karosseriewerke Dresden (KWD) is taken over and a new pressing plant is built in Radeberg. In the following years further subsidiaries are founded in Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland and China for the manufacturing of car body parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brasilien 560x560 560x560

Since 1995
Founding of overseas company sites in South Africa, Mexico and Brazil. At the same time, building up of new core competences of CKD and (pre-) assembly processes, and establishing of logistics branches in Western and Eastern Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margarete Schnellecke 560x560 560x560

2000
On the occasion of Margarete Schnellecke’s 95th birthday, the Margarete Schnellecke Foundation is established with the goal of helping the elderly and those in need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSC09775

2002
With Nikolaus Külps as son-in-law and Dr. Tim Kannewurf as nephew of Rolf Schnellecke, the third generation takes over responsibility in the family business. In the same year, Schnellecke China was founded in Dalian.

2005 
Founding of Schnellecke Russia

Margarete Schnellecke dies at the age of 100 in December 2005. She headed the company for 56 years. 

2007 
The group of companies with the legal form of AG & Co. KG has been led by Nikolaus Külps as the CEO since 01 January 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rolf Schnellecke 560x560 560x560

Since 2007 
The Lehman crisis also hits the company hard; however, it has been growing again since 2010. Since finishing his term as Lord Mayor of Wolfsburg at the end of 2011, Rolf Schnellecke has been supporting the work of the company as the chairperson of the Supervisory Board and Advisory Board.

2009
Founding of Schnellecke USA

2010
Founding of Schnellecke India

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schnellecke Logistics Dinner 560x560 560x560

2013 
Prof. Rolf Schnellecke transfers shares of the family company to the third generation. His children Carolin Külps, Dr. Christian Schnellecke, Lena Heimann and Ludwig Büttenbender, as well as Nikolaus Külps and Dr. Tim Kannewurf join the company as joint shareholders.

2014 
Two anniversaries are celebrated in this year. Schnellecke was founded 75 years ago, and the Karosseriewerke Dresden (KWD) has been in existence for 150 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

01 Mexikoflagge 560x560

2017 
To benefit from the strategic advantage of a global brand, Seglo is integrated into the Schnellecke Logistics umbrella brand. For 19 years, Schnellecke has not only been the largest regional employer within the Schnellecke Group in Mexico under the Seglo brand with around 7,000 employees, it is also the only company that has not yet appeared in its market under the Schnellecke brand.

In September, Schnellecke founds the joint venture CDC Schnellecke Logistics Company, Ltd. based in Shanghai with the local logistics company CDC Logistics. Both companies hold 50% of the joint venture. The joint venture provides logistics services for OEMs and tier 1 suppliers in China.

 

 

03 AGV DSC00846 560x560

2018 
Schnellecke accelerates the strategic development of the use of automated and autonomously controlled transport systems by founding GS Fleetcontrol, a 50/50 joint venture with Götting KG. The aim of the cooperation is the joint development, marketing and licensing of a control station software TransportControl as well as consulting services within the scope of the professional introduction and process integration of driverless transport systems.

Together with Ubimax, the specialist for wearable computing and augmented reality solutions, Schnellecke won the Automotive Logistics Award Europe 2018 in the Cooperation category. With their jointly developed X-Pick solution, Schnellecke and Ubimax have improved logistics in the areas of performance, costs and efficiency and thus convinced the jury.

 

 

05 RS 560x560

On the occasion of the annual gala reception, Rolf Schnellecke was ceremoniously admitted to the Logistics Hall of Fame® on 05 December. As an outsourcing clock generator and innovator in automotive logistics, he was honored with standing ovations from over 250 guests. In his speech, Rolf Schnellecke thanked his employees, without whom the company would not be so successful today.

The Logistics Hall of Fame® honors international personalities who have rendered outstanding services to the further development of logistics and supply chain management. In addition, it pursues the purpose of documenting outstanding achievements in logistics and initiating innovations.

 

 

06 Award 560x560

2019
Among the record number of 233 submitted innovations from 37 countries and 25 industries, Schnellecke wins this year’s SAP Innovation Award in the category Process Innovator for Smart IoT Container Tracking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJI 0697

2020
Completion of the new logistics center in Wolfsburg-Warmenau in accordance with the latest sustainability criteria.