Incorporation of TRUMPF Machine Tools Limited (former Hatfield Machines Limited). The company is based in St. Albans with 5 employees and Hans Stroebel as the first Managing Director. TMT achieve a turnover of £450,000 in the first year.

October 1975

The famous 6th episode of Fawlty Towers is broadcasted on BBC2. The show was written by John Cleese and his wife Connie Booth, both of whom also starred in the show. In a list drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, Fawlty Towers will be named the best British television series of all time.

January 1976

On 15 February, known as Decimal Day, the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalise their currencies from ‘pounds, shillings and pence’.

The official handover ceremony to British Airways of its first Concorde occurs on 15 January at Heathrow Airport. Scheduled flights begin on 21 January 1976 on the London–Bahrain and Paris–Rio (via Dakar) routes.

August 1979

1971

The new chairman of the Managing Board at TRUMPF, Berthold Leibinger, returns from an information gathering trip in the USA with a special piece of luggage: a 1kW CO2 laser.

Haas Laser GmbH, a company in which TRUMPF will later acquire an interest, builds its first solid-state laser.

February 1971

TRUMPF enters laser processing with the first punch laser combination machine: the TRUMATIC 180 LASERPRESS.

1979

21 February 1974

1978

TRUMPF founder Christian Trumpf leaves the company and hands the reins to the next generation: Berthold Leibinger and Hugo Schwarz become the company’s owners. The company moves it’s headquarters to Ditzingen, Germany.

1972

The production of Vauxhall Astra starts, the first British customers take delivery of their cars in February 1980.

May 1979

1974

Conservative Margaret Thatcher, party leader since 1975, becomes Britain’s first female prime minister.

A year marked by the three day week: from 1 January until 7 March commercial users of electricity are limited to three specified consecutive days’ consumption each week and prohibited from working longer hours on those days. Services deemed essential (e.g. hospitals, supermarkets and newspaper prints) are exempt. Television companies are required to cease broadcasting at 10.30 pm during the crisis to conserve electricity.

40 Years of TRUMPF in the United Kingdom

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TRUMPF introduces the TRUMATIC L 3000, a flatbed laser cutting centre with ‘flying optics’: The processing head ‘flies’ across the metal.

1987

The TRUMPF logo is changed to the current logo with the blue square.

1984

TMT achieves a turnover of £11.6 Mio. On 22 August 1989, TMT is renamed to TRUMPF Limited and the company relocates their headquarters to Luton.

1988-89

In January, Brian Lewis is appointed Managing Director of TMT.

1985

1981

1988

TRUMPF decides to develop and manufacture their own CO2 laser: the TRUMPF LASER TLF 1000. It has 1kW of beam performance and is the first compact laser resonator with RF-excitation.

The ZX81 is launched in the United Kingdom as the successor to Sinclair’s ZX80. It was hugely successful and more than 1.5 million units were sold before it was eventually discontinued.

1983

1981

TRUMPF Lasertechnik GmbH is formed with the focus on the development and manufacturing of lasers sources.

Sir Richard Noble breaks the world land speed record with his car Thrust2. The car reached a top speed of 650.88 mph.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding is watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million, making it the most popular programme ever. It was full of iconic and memorable moments, making its mark on a generation, and was one of the BBC’s biggest outside broadcasts of the decade.

Live Aid, a multi-venue rock music concert, organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for Ethiopia famine relief, is held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time with an estimated 400 million viewers, across 60 countries, watching the live broadcast.

13 July 1985

1986

July 1981

March 1989

While working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Switzerland, Tim Berners-Lee comes up with the idea of the World Wide Web, a new way of using existing internet technology to share information. He wrote the first web browser the following year, and went on to found the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1994.

The British Gas Corporation is privatised as British Gas plc by the Thatcher government as a major step in the Conservative government’s policy of privatisation. It paves the way for the privatisation of British Aerospace, Cable and Wireless, Britoil, the National Bus Company, British Airways, Rolls Royce, British Steel, British Telecom, the electricity-generating industry and the water companies.

40 Years of TRUMPF in the United Kingdom

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1992

TRUMPF introduces bending machines to the portfolio.

TRUMPF celebrates its 75th anniversary and expands it’s production capacity with a new laser factory at the company’s headquarters in Ditzingen, Germany.

1998

TRUMPF Limited achieves a turnover of £14.5 Mio.

The TUBEMATIC laser tube cutting machine is added to the portfolio.

1992

1994

1999

TRUMPF’s activities in the solid-state laser sector begin with its participation in the company Haas Laser GmbH in Schramberg which is now solely owned by the TRUMPF Group.

December 1999

Linford Christie wins the Olympic 100m in Barcelona. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games 1992, the World Championships 1993, the European Championships 86,90,94 and the Commonwealth Games in 90, 94.

1992

40 Years of TRUMPF in the United Kingdom

Mini wins the award for “Car of the Century” by the British Autocar magazine.

1995

10th UEFA European Football Championship in England Alan Shearer is crowned as the top scorer with 5 goals.

1999

Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope; STS-31

1996

April 1990

Inauguration of the London Eye. The opening to the public followed in March 2000.

January

Europe’s single currency is introduced. The British Government decided not to be part of the first wave of countries joining the European Monetary Union, exercising an ‘opt out’ from the 1992 Maastricht Treaty that required all members to adopt the Euro.

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Hartmut Pannen is appointed Managing Director of TRUMPF Ltd.

2007

After 40 years leading the company, Professor Berthold Leibinger resigns from his position as president of the TRUMPF Group. He takes the role of Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Dr. Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller becomes new Chairwoman of the Managing Board of the Group.

2005

Introduction of the TruLaser 3030 (L20) at Euroblech exhibition in Hanover. The machine will become the flagship in the TRUMPF portfolio.

2008 As the product range grew over the years, so did the number of product names. For that reason, TRUMPF introduces a new name concept in 2006. The new names are derived from a very simple formula: The first part is the prefix “Tru” for TRUMPF, next follows the English designation of the technology, such as “Punch”, then a four-digit number, which reflects the performance of the machine or the laser.

2006

2004

TRUMPF Limited achieves a turnover of £25.7 Mio.

The Showroom in Luton is refurbished and is now known as the TRUMPF Technology Centre.

2007

January 2000

Britain celebrates the new millennium. Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair joined a party at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, east London.

March 2007

Queen Elizabeth II opens the Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift in Scotland.

May 2002

February 2002

The new Wembley Stadium is completed. With 90,000 seats it is the second largest stadium in Europe. It was built on the site of the earlier Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, which was demolished in 2003.

Great Britain celebrates the Queen’s Golden Crown Jubilee.

2005

The Licensing Act 2003 comes into force, allowing pubs and other establishments in England and Wales a 24-hour opening and to serve alcohol aftyer 23:00.

2008

Presidential candidate Barack Obama visits 10 Downing Street as part of his election campaign. He is elected the 44th president of the United States in November.

40 Years of TRUMPF in the United Kingdom

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October 2010

Introduction of the first “fiber” machine at Euroblech exhibtion in Hannover: The TruLaser 5030 fiber with TruDisk solid-state laser.

Scott Simpson is appointed Managing Director of TRUMPF Ltd.

2011

TRUMPF revolutionises 2D laser cutting with the introduction of BrightLine fiber. TRUMPF Limited are well on the way for another record year with an estimated turnover of £45 Mio, which is an increase of 100% compared to 1974, when TRUMPF Machine Tools started the business in St. Albans.

2014

2012

TRUMPF Limited celebrates a record year with a turnover of £43.3 Mio.

Professor Leibinger retires as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the TRUMPF Group. Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, former Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the BASF SE, is elected his successor.

2010

The offices in Luton are refurbished with the aim to improve communication between the different departments.

Andy Murray wins Wimbledon becoming the first British man to do so since Fred Perry, 77 years previously.

2013

May 2010 July-August 2012

2011

Team GB, the Olympic Team of Great Britain and Northern Ireland score 29 gold medals, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals at the Olympic Games in London. Greg Rutherford who has collected his gold medal for an 8.35metre long jump visits TRUMPF in November 2013.

October

Following their wedding in April 2011, Kensington Palace became the home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Two years later, their first son Prince George of Cambridge is born in St Mary’s Hospital in London.

40 Years of TRUMPF in the United Kingdom

February 2013

The Shard, an 87-storey skyscraper that forms part of the London Bridge Quarter development is inaugurated. Standing approximately 306 metres (1,004 ft) high, the Shard is currently the tallest building in the European Union.

The Office for National Statistics (ONBS) announces that the UK economy grew by 1.9% in 2013. “There’s plenty more to do but we’re heading in the right direction,” Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC.

2014

David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, is appointed Prime Minister by the Queen.

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