The owners and managing directors Gerhard Schäfer and Helmut Peters jointly founded Schäfer + Peters GmbH (S+P for short) in 1982. The decision to focus on stainless steel fasteners was quickly made. The first business activities were launched in July 1982 in Uhlandstraße in Öhringen. The cornerstones for the successful business model were the many years of know-how and the common team spirit.

Due to the strong expansion of the product range, the need for further storage facilities grew. Therefore, S+P moved with 20 employees into a nearby company building in Stettiner Straße in Öhringen. As turnover grew, so did the need for qualified specialists. For this reason, S+P focused on training at an early stage in order to specifically train specialists for the challenges of the trade. To this day, the training of young professionals has a high priority in the company.

One of S+P's success factors is personal contact and professional customer care right from the start. This is why S+P exhibited for the first time at the international hardware fair in Cologne in 1989. The company quickly became one of the top addresses when it came to stainless steel fasteners. Today, S+P is still represented at the largest trade fairs in the industry.

In order to secure the growth of the company and to meet the increasing customer orders, the company steadily expanded. In 1991, the new building of Schäfer + Peters GmbH was realised. Since 1992, this has been the headquarters of what is now the world's leading wholesaler of stainless steel fasteners.

With the certification according to ISO 9001:1994, S+P proved in 1996 that the internal company procedures and processes meet the international standards for quality management. In the course of this successful implementation, S+P established a quality management process throughout the company, so that not only our products are continuously tested, but all processes and standards are continuously optimised.

Little by little, the company expanded its location. In 1997, the first extension followed with a warehouse expansion of 200%. In addition to a 14-metre high-bay warehouse, the most modern technology was implemented, which improved the process time within the logistics and ensured fast delivery for the customers.

In the course of digitalisation, S+P launched its e-business in 2001. The introduction of a web shop enabled customers from all over the world to access the wide product range 24/7. In 2004, the first electronic exchange of business documents took place via EDI, which accelerated and simplified the ordering process.

10 years after the first extension, the company building was expanded with a modern administration building and another warehouse enlargement. Further conversion measures followed in 2010 and 2017, such as the installation of a warehouse gallery and the introduction of a long goods warehouse.

Today, the S+P warehouse offers more than 60,000 pallet and bulk storage spaces on an area of approx. 12,000 sqm and is Europe's largest warehouse for stainless steel fasteners. Due to the large storage capacity and the cooperation with reliable logistics partners, the company guarantees high availability and shortest delivery times - not only within Germany, but worldwide.

S+P is known on the market for its fast product range dynamics, product variety and reliability. With the help of a state-of-the-art warehouse system, paperless order picking was implemented in 2008. In addition to an increase in productivity within logistics, the new terminals saved resources and at the same time made a contribution to the environment.

Sustainable management is one of S+P's values. Therefore, the company focused on renewable energies at an early stage and installed a self-consumption system with photovoltaics in 2014. With this green electricity, S+P can secure a large part of its energy consumption.

S+P stands for a reliable and future-oriented training company. The aim is to train young and qualified specialists in various professions and to integrate them into the company in the long term. In 2018, S+P was awarded the Dualis seal for high training quality for the first time. The successful re-audit followed in 2022.

Today, S+P has established itself as the market leader for stainless steel fasteners worldwide. In addition to the values of customer loyalty, quality, service and delivery reliability, team spirit is at the forefront at S+P. Today, the company employs over 270 people at its location in Öhringen. The long-standing know-how of the employees contributes significantly to the success of the company. With the vision and realisation of a new location, S+P still has many exciting years ahead of it and is looking positively into a rust-free future despite the current challenges.