AP&T’s legacy

AP&T’s history goes back to the early 1960s.

At that time the Swedish sheet-metal forming industry was dominated by mechanical presses, and there were at least 7 – 8 manufacturers in Sweden.

Bertil Åberg was thus a pioneer when, in 1964, he began making hydraulic presses in his newly founded company, Lagan Press. Åberg, a true entrepreneur, had previously imported spare parts and styling components for American cars. However, the American manufacturers were taking too long to send the ordered parts. Åberg looked into the possibility of making them himself in 1963, and soon determined that mechanical presses would make the parts far too expensive, given the short runs in question. The development of hydraulic presses had progressed farther in Germany than in Sweden, and Bertil Åberg made several trips to Germany to look into the possibilities. He found, however, that the German presses were too expensive and complicated, so he simply decided to make the presses himself.

His design was so successful that he was soon able to sell a press to an outside customer. Tool manufacturer LUNA became interested in the solution, and took over the sales in Sweden.

At the same time and in the same spirit, Stig Gunnarson & Janne Merlander had started up a small tool-making business in Blidsberg. Their first products were bar-cutting machines and press tools for other industries. The business, which started out in an old henhouse (!), would later become an increasingly successful tool-making operation under the name VIBAB (”Verktygstillverkaren i Blidsberg AB”)

In Tranemo, Håkan Sallander & Bertil Jonsson had some ideas about more stable hydraulic presses that could perform multiple operations on the same bolster. However, Bertil Åberg at Lagan Press did not listen to their ideas, and instead saw a fierce competitor founded in 1970: Tranemo Hydraulmaskiner.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the three companies became important firms in the Swedish sheet-metal forming market, and in time they all developed more and more automation products as well.

In the early 1980s Bertil Åberg sold Lagan Press, which became part of ASEA (now ABB) after a few more years. Toward the end of the 1980s, Lagan Press, Tranemo Hydraulmaskiner and VIBAB were all still primarily Swedish companies. A desire to tackle the export market jointly and to be able to offer total solutions to customers were decisive factors in motivating the companies’ owners to begin discussing a merger in 1989, a move which would be come a reality in the last quarter of that year.

Sales tripled during the 1990s. Separate sales and service companies were started up in Germany, Denmark and the USA. The Italian firm Norda was acquired in 1991, and the Swedish firm Talent AB was added in 1994. Separate sales and service companies were launched in Great Britain and Japan in 2001. In addition, AP&T has been represented by its own sales and service company in Poland since 2007. AP&T’s presence in Asia was strengthened in 2009 when the company opened its own sales and service company in Shanghai, China.

Today, some 40 years after Bertil Åberg first began making hydraulic presses, AP&T’s products are found installed on every continent.