COMPANY HISTORY

Gedore was founded in 1919 by the three Dowidat brothers who started the manufacture of hand tools from their family home in Remscheid, Germany.

This formed the basis of the Gedore brand identity “Gebrüder Dowidat Remscheid”.

From these humble beginnings the company has grown into a multinational organization which has manufacturing operations in Germany, Austria, United Kingdom, Turkey, Brazil and South Africa. The company remains a family business and is represented and sold on every continent in the world.

Gedore Tools SA (Pty) Ltd was established in New Germany, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 1965 by two shareholders Omnitool GmbH and HW Schmidt Industrials (Pty) Ltd.

Initially forgings were imported from Germany and machined and plated locally. Later, drop forging hammers were installed which allowed the company to increase its percentage of value added by manufacturing products from locally procured steel.

This strategy, together with the quest for supplying superior product quality, gave the company a sustainable competitive advantage which has allowed it to become South Africa’s leading supplier of quality tools to the industrial, automotive, DIY and mining sectors. The association with the holding company in Germany has allowed Gedore Tools SA to benchmark its quality, products and processes with international standards and today the brand name Gedore is synonymous with superior quality and technology