abas celebrates 40th anniversary

On June 19th, 1980, the students Peter Forscht and Werner Strub, together with three fellow students, founded Abakus GmbH in Karlsruhe, Germany. The company was renamed "abas" shortly thereafter. What began as a company for data processing systems developed into a leading ERP provider for manufacturing-related midmarket companies. Having remained loyal to their roots in Karlsruhe, abas currently employs around 430 people at its headquarters and at seven other locations throughout Germany. Additional offices are located in the USA, China, India and Poland. Furthermore, an international partner network takes care of local sales and support. There are currently more than 120,000 abas ERP users - and counting. After 40 years, the objective for the abas ERP product remains unchanged - increase process reliability while maintaining maximum flexibility and supporting a high degree of customization.

Some milestones in the company's history that have paved the way for today's success: In 1996, ABAS Software GmbH merged with the development company SYSTEM III to form ABAS Software AG. The first software partners in non-German-speaking countries were founded in 1998, followed by the constant expansion of the international abas partner network. In 2005, abas was represented by partners in 25 countries. Other key moments include the merger with ABAS Projektierung Holding GmbH in 2013 and the generational change in corporate management in 2018.

 

One of the most important turning points for abas was in the year 2019: Forterro took the lead as a new investor and established the conditions for expanding abas's future market position with a holistic solution portfolio and a high level of customer orientation. "abas will remain a leading, future-oriented product in the ERP market, which we will continue to develop," says Richard Furby, who has been the new managing director of abas Software GmbH since 2019. As part of the realignment, the merger with the sales company abas GmbH & Co. KG was recently concluded.

The continuous development of the ERP solution abas ERP as well as the company organization are elementary building blocks of the company's success. The principle on which Werner Strub and Peter Forscht founded abas remains current and more important than ever: The company's most valuable capital is in the minds of its employees - then as now.