Oskar Lapp develops the world's first

industrially produced control line: ÖLFLEX®.

Oskar Lapp discovered that customers have difficulty pulling cores into hoses. All components - both the hoses and the cores - were black at that time. Cable production was still in its infancy. Locating the matching ends of the cable was a complex and often time-consuming process - so-called "ringing through". Oskar Lapp developed an idea that was to prevail the world over: the colour code for cables. A practical further development for the recognition of the matching core ends.

In the early days the family-owned company U.I. Lapp is borne completely by Mr. and Mrs. Lapp themselves. While Oskar Lapp is responsible for the sale of ÖLFLEX®, his wife sees to bookkeeping, logistics, purchasing and shipping.
New on the cable market in the early 60's was also the idea of giving the products true brand names so that they could be named better and distinguished from the competition more easily. Once again Oskar Lapp was among the pioneers and was one of the first suppliers to create catchy brands that gave customers a major reference point for product quality and use. These brand names have been retained at Lapp until today. ÖLFLEX® has gone down in industry history as the best-known brand.

In 1963 Oskar Lapp founds Lapp Kabelwerk GmbH in Galileistraße in Stuttgart, Germany. In a rented building cables and lines are produced on customer request. To manufacture 90° elbow connectors, Oskar Lapp also founds the company Contact GmbH in Stuttgart in 1963. By 1965 Oskar Lapp already employs 30 employees. The company headquarters is moved from a residential house to Schulze-Delitzsch-Straße in Stuttgart-Vaihingen. The business with ÖLFLEX® cables grew rapidly. In the course of business expansion, the drawing of copper wire, the subsequent processing to litz wires and cores, and the sheathing and laying around of protective braiding became part of the complete range of services offered by Lapp. Soon Oskar Lapp had over 6,000 individual ÖLFLEX® products in his assortment, kept them in stock and offered them in individual cut-to-order lengths or lot sizes according to customer requirements.