Since the turn of the millennium, MBA Ulrike Haake, née Schramm, has been an active member of the management as a fourth generation descendant of Hermann Francksen.
To date, this period has seen the expansion of the production facilities in Bremen-Burg, providing space for increased production, R&D and internationalization. Thus continues the over 100 year old tradition and family brand TIGER, a synonym for quality – made in Germany.
With their son, the engineer Hartmut Schramm, a new era began in 1964, which saw a consistent modernization of the production process together with further developments of sliding doors, gate fittings and multi-lane railways. These lone-rail systems can still be found today as semi or fully automated variants in many production facilities, such as painting lines in window and door construction.
Together with his wife Ursel, Hartmut Schramm successfully navigated the company through the turbulent 80s, when “presumed dead” sliding door fittings experienced a true renaissance. Product quality was significantly improved by the introduction of deep groove ball bearings and many other inventions.
This consistent commitment to improvement along with inventive solutions, brought the Hermann Francksen company fame and recognition, well beyond the borders of Germany.
In 1936 Hermann Francksen retired. The factory was taken over by his eldest daughter Erna. With her husband, the chemist Dr. Hugo Schramm, new sliding doors systems were developed and introduced to the market.
Dr. Schramm later turned away from the then current differential systems and patented a new sliding door fitting as an ‘endless system’ under the name TIGER. In addition to his sliding door innovations, Dr. Schramm produced infusion ceiling rails for hospitals, which became a new and successful product line in the 1960s.
It all started with a small hardware store in the city center of Bremen, where the businessman, Hermann Francksen and his partner H. Kröger founded the trading company Kröger und Francksen in 1900.
In 1908 the first patent for the production of sliding door fittings by the inventor Paul Schriever was purchased and the first sliding doors sold.
On the 4th of January 1915 the company Hermann Francksen Baubeschläge was founded. Initially, Hermann Francksen only dealt in the sale of fittings but this subsequently expanded into their own manufacturing and production under the trademark – Fortuna.
In the 1920’s, as the company grew, their premises in the center of Bremen became too small and so, in 1928, the decision was made to relocate to Bremen-Burg, which remains the home of the company to this day. In Bremen-Burg, preexisting factory buildings facilitated the expansion of production. It was not long after this that the company first started exhibiting at trade fairs like the Leipziger Mustermesse in 1929.
