PM&M [Germany / Bavaria / Rehau (03)]

The factory was founded in 1906 by the industrial Jacob together with his financial partner Schödl and its product range during the first years included giftware items, vases, storage canisters as well as tea and coffee sets; around 1908 the first full dinner sets were produced. After the initial success Schödl more and more retired from business leaving Jacob in charge who soon started looking for a more reliable partner as he could not organize and go through with the planned modernization and expansion of the factory next to dealing with the normal daily business. Jacob found this better partner in Mr. Hertel who instantly agreed to take over part of the work load; each of the two then had their own areas of specialization and the business was restructured and renamed, resulting in the company that later became famous.

[2] Porzellfabrik Hertel, Jacob & Co. GmbH (1913 until 1979)

As the moderization and expansion had already started around 1910, it had already lead to smaller results; one of them was that the company by 1913 already employed 250 workers. After the second step however, and during the following partial automation process, the number of employees dropped to 200 around the year 1930 even if the number of items made for export had constantly increased. The factory remained relatively unharmed during WWII and in the year 1949 it already employed 175 workers that mainly produced tea and coffee sets as well as complete dinner sets, even if the decorations themselves did not reach their pre-war standard.

Even if the following years at first seemed successful, the company relied too much on its conservative designs and fell behind other companies that early enough invested in new molds and decorations. In 1968 the factory was taken over by the Melitta company, a business that was based around the invention of paper filters for brewing coffee and which also produced porcelain filter cones. What at first seemed a good idea soon lead to complications in the Melitta group; the new era of coffee machines and the resulting change in demand saw factory decline rapidly; it was therefore decided that the core company of Melitta should concentrate on filter production.

As Melitta itself still needed filter cones and branded coffee/tea sets, these were at first still made in the former porcelain factory, but more and more orders went to other companies that not only were able to produce the items cheaper but also employed their own modern designers. Shortly before 1980 the former factory of Hertel, Jacob & Co. was finally closed.

Marks