The company's own history becomes a lived corporate philosophy

Future-oriented technologies as a driving force

One endeavor of the owner family runs like a red thread through the more than 100-year history and also through the company philosophy of the ABEL Group: It has always been and still is important to identify forward-looking technologies and to make them available to the general public in order to significantly improve people's quality of life.

In doing so, the company has never acted as an inventor, but always as a pioneer, decisive multiplier and driver of innovation. The family business in its fourth generation has grown healthily through clever decisions, the right feeling for need and demand and future-oriented ways of thinking. Today it is impossible to imagine the business landscape of Bavaria and Germany without ABEL.

1912

Courage and the right intuition

Everything begins almost symbolically with the first village lamp in Engelsberg. Dominikus Abel founds the ABEL company in 1912 as an electrical installation firm. One of his first projects is to supply the village of Engelsberg with light and electricity. He builds an overhead line from Garching/Alz to Engelsberg and installs a battery in the Engelsberg vicarage. This supplied the vicarage and the first street lamp (in the immediate vicinity of the present company headquarters) with electrical energy. A truly shining reference that immediately underpins the credibility of the young entrepreneur. This step marks Abel's entry into the field of energy supply, in which it will play a leading role.

1927

Investment as a foundation for the future

In 1927, a decision with similar consequences follows. Dominikus Abel builds the first company building and opens an electrical shop, where he also sells and repairs radios. As it will turn out later, these first points of contact with information technology form the basis for the further development of the entrepreneurial activity.

1938

Encouraging and challenging young people

In the 1930s, Dominikus Abel begins to train his own apprentices. The oldest official apprenticeship contract dates back to 1938. The then 53-year-old company owner thus lays another foundation stone for the next generations of entrepreneurs. Under the motto "encourage and challenge", the company's own in-house apprentice training has always been an important building block for fulfilling the economic and social responsibility as an entrepreneur.

1945

One life, several lifeworks

When Dominikus Abel dies in 1944, his wife Therese Abel takes over the management of the company with an apprentice until her son Hermann Abel I. returns from the war and takes over the management in 1945. With Hermann Abel I., the radio and electrical business is expanded to include television trade which becomes another core competence of the company. As technical director of the local energy supplier, Hermann Abel I. also contributes his share to Engelsberg's independence.

1968

The Abel family and radio technology

In 1968, Hermann Abel II. takes over the electrical, radio and television company. At this time, the company has six employees and generates a turnover of 200,000 DM. The takeover marks the beginning of both a regional expansion and a significant increase in the number of employees.

Hermann Abel II. brings his brother Walter, who had trained outside the family business to become an expert in Bosch radios, back into his father's company. The two of them expand the company to include radio operations and specialize in radio solutions for authorities and industries. The new area develops rapidly and within 15 years Abel becomes one of the largest specialist radio dealers in southern Germany, whose customers include large industrial companies and public authorities as well as fire brigades. Through this step, the company also acquires key competencies in the field of radio system construction, which are to become decisive for the further development of the company.

1974

Engelsberg and the Abels

In 1974, Hermann Abel II. becomes mayor of his home village Engelsberg for 16 years in addition to his entrepreneurial activities. He continues to drive forward the optimization of the energy supply and ensures with his work that Engelsberg remains family-friendly and fit for the future. The community thus offers its employees an attractive place to live and becomes home to many colleagues and their families.

In 1979, the family-owned Babinger Hof becomes the company's current headquarters. The listed monument is a four-sided farmhouse and presents itself today with modern workplaces and meeting rooms for 150 employees.

1990

Abel and the German mobile networks

In the course of the 1980s, Abel becomes the largest radio specialist in southern Germany and now operates not only regionally. The wise decision to set up trunked radio networks in various regions of Bavaria is another key success and leads to Abel acquiring expertise in radio planning, site acquisition and the construction of mobile radio sites. In 1990, the company has 50 employees and generates a turnover of DM 9.3 million.

When, at the beginning of the 1990s, Telekom builds up its D-network and Mannesmann Mobilfunk and e-Plus also start building up the network, the company succeeds in establishing itself as an expert for the construction of mobile radio sites through the greatest entrepreneurial skill and the previously acquired competencies. The company is able to more than double its turnover to DM 19 million by 1993.

1995

The fourth generation - The Abel Group

1995 Hermann Abel II. hands over the company to his sons Hermann III. and Herbert.

2002

Training base of the ABEL Group

In 2002, ABEL Elektrotechnik GmbH & Co KG is founded and continues as an independent company. As a training company in the field of electrical engineering, the company is the central training facility of the ABEL Group. A large number of the ABEL Group's current managers completed their training at ABEL Elektrotechnik.

2004

Market leader in network expansion in 15 years

In 2004, ABEL Mobilfunk GmbH & Co KG is founded and managed as an independent company. All the major players in the European telecommunications industry are acquired as customers.

In 2005, due to the company's success and the ever-growing demand for mobile network locations, the largest regional expansion step to date took place with the founding of the ABEL Mobilfunk Rhein-Main branch in Rödermark, Hessen, near Frankfurt am Main.

2008

Following in big footsteps with regenerative technology

As regenerative technologies such as biogas and photovoltaics become increasingly important in Bavaria, Hermann Abel III also demonstrates the family flair for future-oriented technologies. The Abel company quickly builds up concentrated expertise in the field of control technology for biogas plants. As early as 2002, ABEL Elektrotechnik began to plan PV systems and was able to implement them technically thanks to decades of expertise in electrical engineering and energy supply. From 2006, the company uses its expertise in the field of mobile communications to acquire sites for biogas plants.

Finally, in 2008, all activities in the field of regenerative technology are bundled in the new company ABEL ReTec GmbH & Co KG. The specialist for renewable energies starts its activities with eight employees.

Today's ABEL Group, consisting of ABEL ReTec, ABEL Elektrotechnik and ABEL Mobilfunk, is formed.

2010

Sustainable and modern

In 2010, ABEL Energiepark GmbH is founded. ABEL plans, sizes, finances and builds three of its own biogas plants in Feichten a.d. Alz, Lauterhofen and Mammendorf, as well as two photovoltaic plants in Oberneukirchen and Mammendorf.

With a total output of 46.14 million kWh per year, the Abel Group generates more than three times as much energy from renewable sources as it consumes itself in the areas of electricity, heat and fuels. ABEL thus actively contributes an overproportionate share to the energy transition in Germany.

2012

100 years of ABEL, the ABEL Group

In 2012, the company proudly celebrated its 100th anniversary with a large company party. From this time on, the ABEL Group began to be referred to not only internally, but also in public relations, and a strong sense of togetherness began to develop. At this time, the ABEL Group has a turnover of around 80 million Euros and employs more than 560 internal and external workers in its three companies.

2019

ABEL ReTec

Since its foundation in 2008, over 7,000 PV systems with an output of over 61,500 kWp have been installed. The company now employs around 90 people.

In 2019 the specialist for regenerative energies will use existing infrastructure and synergies of the ABEL Group and also establishes a branch office in Rödermark to install photovoltaic systems and electricity storage in the Rhine-Main region.

2023

Present and future plans

The constant endeavour of the current management is to remain fit for the future, to assess trends and demand in a qualified manner and to continue to serve the company's mission statement. Thus, as at all times, ABEL has great plans for the future.

A company campus with modern workplaces, a research laboratory and a training academy is planned at the company site in Engelsberg/Wiesmühl.

In addition, the topic of sustainability is becoming more and more central. This is because environmentally friendly and sustainable decisions, processes and measures shape the company's values and are also to be established in the future via a sustainability code.

2024

Neuer ABEL Campus

Die ABEL Gruppe beschäftigt mittlerweile über 900 interne und externe Mitarbeiter. Der Firmenstandort in Engelsberg/Wiesmühl wächst zum ABEL Campus heran. Neben dem Neubau mit modernen Arbeitsplätzen findet man dort auch die ABEL Bildungsakademie.