HOSTO – your expert partner since 1957.
1957
Eberhard Stolz founded a company for wire handles in Neunkirchen, Germany. While producing wheelbarrow handles, pan handles and wooden rollers for pail handles on a woodworking machine in his father's company in the 1930s, Friedhold Stolz had observed just how labour-intensive the whole pail handle manufacturing process was.
To meet the challenge, he developed an efficient production solution to the problem, founded the wire processing company for the packaging industry we see today and started to produce both wire handles and pail handles.
Even then, reliability, diligence, love of innovation and focus on quality were at the heart of the company and these values have remained a key focus to this very day.
1960s, 1970s and 1980s
Eberhard Stolz kept a close eye on market developments and expanded HOSTO into an all-round provider for the packaging industry.
The product range was expanded beyond wire handles and pail handles to include pail ears, fold-down handles, clips, clamping rings and L-rings. This was a period of intense innovation during which a large number of patents and utility models were registered.
The product range was expanded beyond wire to include tape and the company also began producing bended wire and punched parts according to diagram or sample for use in all industrial sectors.
1990s
The hand-over to the next generation is put in hand. Friedhold's grandson, Alexander Stolz, joined the company and worked successfully on expanding the export business.
HOSTO continued to focus on innovation. A number of new developments were launched on the market, particularly in the field of accessory parts for the transport of dangerous goods.
On 1st March 1996, the company was officially handed over to the next generation: Alexander Stolz is made principal shareholder. In 1998, the company was certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9001.
2000 to present day
In 2001, HOSTO was certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9001:2000. Backed by on-going customer and quality focus we succeeded in growing turnover in the packaging industry despite a downturn in the market as a whole.
The company made major investments in the field of automotive parts to grow this business sector which now contributes 15 percent to total turnover.
Today, 80 employees process around 4,000 tonnes of wire and tape each year to make 165 million individual parts.