Dr. -Ing. E. H. Bernhard Kapp, a passionate entrepenuer and founder of the Kapp Group, passed away on July 13, 2014 at the age of 93. His inventiveness and leadership spanned 50 years in the machine tool industry.
Following five years in the military and completing his studies, Dr. Kapp started his professional life at the firm Waldrich in Coburg as a design engineer. He became a shareholder and general manager of the company at the age of 29. He successfully led this company for 27 years with his brother-in-law Otto Waldrich.
In 1953 he founded his own company, KAPP & CO in Coburg, motivated by the urge to create something of his own, and to generate jobs. Today, the KAPP Group is among the world’s leading manufacturers of machine tools for hard and soft finishing of gears and profiles with 850 employees worldwide and facilities in Germany, USA, Brazil, Japan, and China.
Dr. Kapp firmly believed qualified educational support and technical training is the most important investment for the future. With this philosophy, he started an apprenticeship workshop within his manufacturing facility in Coburg. Dr. Kapp’s expertise and leadership was also in demand by other companies. Numerous national and international companies and institutions have named him to their management and supervisory boards — the German Trade Fair and Exhibition AG, Gildemeister, Fiat, Krupp Hoesch, Iveco, Internazionale Holding Fiat, Werner & Pfleiderer, Trumpf, the Ifo Institute, the Fraunhofer Society, and the University of Coburg.
Dr. Kapp’s ideals continue to flourish today, with the success of the Kapp Group under the leadership of his son, Martin Kapp. The machine tool and gear industries have lost a revered man, and true pioneer with the passing of Dr. Bernhard Kapp.
