100 years in motion

Creating added value for customers through innovations - that was the driving force behind the family business from the very beginning and is still Festo's guarantee of success today. With its constant drive to make people's work easier and thereby increase efficiency, Festo has shaped an entire era of industrial production. Today, the company is a global player and driving force in automation technology, as well as a global leader in technical training and further education. Festo's anniversary is being celebrated all year round with employees, customers and partners around the world.

From the very beginning, Festo has stood for innovation, responsibility and the future. It is the people who make the decisive difference. "Festo is the work of many hands" - this sentence from the company founder Gottlieb Stoll still shapes management and employees worldwide today. In 1925, he founded the woodworking machine company "Fezer & Stoll" together with Albert Fezer in Esslingen am Neckar. Albert Fezer left after a short time, and Gottlieb Stoll continued to run the company alone.

The second generation of shareholders laid the foundation for today's company. In 1950, Dr. h. c. Kurt Stoll brought the idea of ​​pneumatics from the USA and developed it further as a pioneer in his father's company. This marked the start of pneumatics at Festo and laid the foundation for its use in factory automation.

Internationalization played a central role in the further development of Festo. Dr. Wilfried Stoll placed a focus on developing international markets and establishing national companies.

In 2000, the owner family separated the power tools division as a unit from the Festo company and continued it as an independent company under the name Festool GmbH.

Education as a central pillar - internally and for the market

Lifelong learning is also firmly anchored in Festo's corporate culture. Successful companies need people who can understand, develop and use technologies. Qualification and skills development are therefore elementary factors for the successful development of skilled workers. The independent Didactic division was established worldwide as early as 1965.

The inventive spirit of Dr. Wilfried Stoll and Dr. h. c. Kurt Stoll, their holistic thinking and actions as well as their pronounced customer focus have had a lasting impact on the company. Today, Festo is one of the leading automation companies in the world and, with Festo Didactic, the world market leader in technical training and further education.

Festo says "thank you"

Thomas Böck, CEO of Festo: "In 2025, we will say thank you and would like to celebrate an unforgettable anniversary with customers, partners and our employees." The anniversary activities will take place all year round, both at the German locations and worldwide in the more than 60 Festo companies - with thank-you parties for employees, school days for the young talents of tomorrow, customer events and press events. The world's leading trade fair for industry, the Hannover Messe, will have a special highlight in store for press representatives and technology-loving visitors: "The project is still a secret. It shows our diverse skills, our broad expertise, our enthusiasm for innovation, our ambition to make the impossible possible," says Thomas Böck.
Anniversary as a strong impulse for the future

The Hannover Messe will be a strong start, the impulse of which will continue throughout the year: For example, with worldwide "Innovation Days", at which Festo will address future trends, technologies and innovations with customers and partners in a new format. "In the anniversary year, we are primarily looking to the future and see it as our responsibility to use our innovations in automation and technical education to help solve the most urgent challenges facing business and society and to significantly advance industrial transformation as a solution provider," says Thomas Böck. In the future, topics such as digitization, artificial intelligence, biologization and the circular economy will provide new impetus for automation and beyond that for future generations - Festo will significantly drive these developments forward.

2025 – a guiding principle is continued: responsibility

The anniversary also serves as the start of an ongoing company-wide initiative to further strengthen Festo's guiding principle of social responsibility for sustainable development: "Our Corporate Citizenship program underlines our conviction that companies should not only pursue economic goals, but also play an important role in society," says Thomas Böck. As part of the program, all 20,000 employees worldwide can spend a day at work a non-profit initiative.

Thomas Böck: “This anniversary is not only an occasion to celebrate, but also a reminder of what is possible through solidarity, trust, passion, quality and innovative strength. Together we look forward to a promising future with confidence.”