LACH DIAMANT 90th Anniversary
Ceremony at Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus
On September 13th the founder of the company, Jakob Lach would have been 118 years old. This day was selected by the company to celebrate 90 years of LACH DIAMANT in the dignified setting of the Deutsche Goldschmiedehaus in the presence of representatives from politics and commerce.
After the welcoming speech and congratulations by the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Nobert Reichhold, City Councilor Heinz Münch, representing Mayor Kaminsky, and Dr. Wolfgang Sengebusch of VDMA, Mr Horst Lach, Chief Executive Officer, introduced the speaker Mr. Hartwig Rohde, President of Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e.V.
In a captivating dissertation Mr.Rohde talked about the time before and after World War I and the ups and downs of the gold and silver smiths and the diamond cutting enterprises.
Several large concerns from Hanau, such as W.C, Heraeus, Degussa, Vakuum-schmelze and LACH DIAMANT, the traditional diamond enterprise have developed from this era.
Horst Lach talked about his father Jakob and his beginning and difficulties at the founding in times of high unemployment in the year 1922.
Up to the start of World War II the company employed 600 diamond cutters, 300 of them in their own operations in Hanau and Langendiebach/Erlensee.
In the mid fifties the change from jewelry diamonds to industrial diamonds took place and culminated in the present manufacturing of diamond tools for the automobile and aircraft industries, wind power plants and more.
LACH DIAMANT with production plants in Hanau and Lichtenau near Chemnitz and the associated company LACH DIAMOND INC. in Grand Rapids Michigan USA presently employs 160 persons.
Dipl.-Ing. Robert Lach, representing the 3rd generation of the family enterprise, gave a presentation with exciting examples and photos under the theme: What can be accomplished today with diamonds and how we constantly encounter diamonds indirectly in our daily life.
Without the first man-made diamonds by the manufacturer General Electric in 1957 the achievements of the present industry would not have been feasible.The thesis proposed by LACH DIAMANT, to equate this development to a second industrial revolution, should in no way sound impudent.
