WHO WE ARE
OBRA-Design was founded in 1968 by the partnership of Ing.Peter Philipp and Otto Bramerdorfer. The name OBRA derives from Otto Bramerdorfer.
In the early years of our company, we manufactured and sold garden fences and a little later on, more garden design elements would be added to our catalogue. Our company started producing play equipment in 1974 and was one of the first pioneers of play equipment manufacturing in Austria, expanding to all of Europe. Ing. Peter Philipp kept working on the further development and improvement of our playground equipment during his entire time active in the company. This also resulted in being able to actively participate in the standards committee and the approval as a court-sworn expert for playground equipment.
Since 2007 our company has been run by 2 generations of the Philipp family; Mag. Michael Philipp Dipl.Ing and (FH) Florian Philipp. Today OBRA Design is the market-leading producer of playground equipment in Austria and operates far beyond our borders. Roughly 50 employees are responsible for the development, production and sale of our products and that number continues to grow.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
As a public company, we are a part of the economic and social worlds. We have therefore drawn up guidelines for ourselves on how we would like to deal with the individual components of both of these systems.
1.1 Comprehensive competence:
The OBRA-Design team is a strong partner for all customer requirements in the area of playgrounds and cross-generational spaces. We offer a vast range of standard products (in-house and third-party production) for a wide variety of purposes. In addition, we inspire our customers with tailor-made, high-quality solutions in all of our product segments. This is reflected in our appropriately long guarantee periods.
1.2Partner relationship:
Since our products are long-lasting capital goods, buying them is a matter of trust. Due to the complexity of many products, the customers in our industry also have a vital interest in long-term, functioning business relationships. Our key to success is to prove our trustworthiness to potential customers through comprehensive support. Therefore, we stride to advise our customers fairly, only sell them what they really need and score with our generosity, for example when handling complaints.
1.3 Take as much as work as possible off the hands of our customer:
Our products are highly specialised, which is why our customers usually have little to no knowledge about them. Many of our customers also have little time to deal with the matter in depth. Therefore, we want to relieve our customers of as much work as possible: We offer them specialist advice on site through our field service consultants, we support them in the planning process and, if desired, we also install our products at site.
1.4 Service / repairs / tests:
Depending on the material used, playground equipment has varying levels of maintenance. In addition, regular checks of the associated documentation have to carried out as standard procedures. This presents a lot of effort for an operator. Therefore, together with our partners, we offer our customers comprehensive service contracts. We check the playgrounds for you, create a test report and a quotation for repairs and then, if desired, also carry out the repairs.
2.1 Reliable payment:
Our suppliers should see us as a reliable partner. We therefore set ourselves the goal of being a first-class debtor and paying promptly within the discount period.
2.2 Competent partner:
We naturally expect punctual delivery from our suppliers and compliance with our quality criteria. However, we also have to contribute something: We have to have the competence to tell our suppliers exactly what we want from them and we also have to keep our agreements. The supplier providing his service must be treated in a correct manner from us. The aim is for our suppliers to be happy working with us and see our relationship as an award of their product quality.
2.3 Long-term relationships:
Due to our strong position in the market, our suppliers can assume that they will be able to do business with us in the long term. This gives you more planning security, which makes us an interesting business partner.
3.1 Integration:
Playgrounds are places of encounter without borders in terms of country, religion or skin colour. Our products thus help future generations to approach eachother with respect and accept differences.
3.2 Health:
No matter if it is fitness equipment, cross-generational offers or play equipment - our products are designed to learn new and train existing skills. Especially with playground equipment, it is about creating opportunities in a controlled environment where children can explore their limits in order to be able to better deal with risks in everyday life. OBRA-Design products are therefore promoting child development and a healthy lifestyle.
3.3 Security:
Our products comply with the applicable standards in order to offer users a safe, state-of-the-art environment. In addition, our standardised products are certified by an independent, accredited testing institute according to the applicable standards. Thus, we can offer the users the greatest possible security so that they can enjoy carefree joie de vivre.
4.1 Happy childhood:
By producing playground equipment, we contribute to healthy child development and thus to the growing up of new generations. Our children are the skilled workers, teachers, doctors, artists and employers of tomorrow and the most important asset of our society. With our products, we want to move society through play. This mission is anchored in our company strategy and expresses what we stand for. We firmly believe that a happy childhood is the key to a meaningful life.
4.2 Safe workplace:
As a company, we have a great responsibility for our employees. Wrong decisions endanger the existence of the company and in the long run also our employee’s jobs. We therefore want to make our decisions on the one hand, with the necessary commercial caution and prudence, but on the other hand always strive for innovations so that we can be successful in the long term.
4.3 Family-like working atmosphere:
Our company is family owned and run in the 2nd generation. We want to share the feeling of working as one big family with our employees. A sense of togetherness is important to us so that everyone pulls together, working in the best interests of our customers. We want to cultivate a culture in which everyone can contribute while keeping an open mind for new things and approaches.
COMPANY HISTORY
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1972Start of construction at the current site in Satteltal 2, 4872 Neukirchen ad Vöckla
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1974
We were looking for a second foothold in the sector and found it within the production of wooden child’s play equipment. A PR article in the magazine “Architektur Aktuell" (Current Architecture) about the topic “pressure impregnated wood for the private construction of child’s play equipment” was published. Due to this article, architect Wocelka from Mödling contacted us and presented his child’s play equipment programme “out of the drawer”. We first exhibited our OBRA play equipment at the “Viennese international garden show” in Wien-Oberlaa in 1974. In the following years, we were able to present even bigger, more interesting playground systems.
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1978The Danish Queen visits Austria and in her wake, a business delegation with Mogens Frederiksen, the commercial director of KOMPAN. OBRA takes over the general agency for Kompan play equipment for Austria and still sells play equipment to this day.
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1975The company's first expansion through the construction of a suction based wood chipper and a brick silo. Additionally, a vacuum pressure impregnation system was built in a hall that was extended.
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1977Construction of a second company building including a joinery hall for play equipment and a warehouse.
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1979Expansion of the joinery hall for greater efficiency, turning the old warehouse into a new production hall and a new connecting warehouse was built.
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1986Construction of the third company building housing a 14 m long vacuum pressure impregnation system.
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1988Reconstruction of production hall 15 and the roof over the office building after a fire on May the 1th. Expansion of the office and break room.
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1993Construction of the first loading and dispatch hall.
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1996Construction of the company's largest warehouse to date, with a total roof area of 70 mx 30 m, shelved storage reaching 6 m high and the establishment of a new dispatch centre.
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1997Construction of a new office building and modernization of the old building.
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1998After 30 years, OBRA opened one of our most ambitious model playgrounds for the company, which was ceremonially handed over to the children of Neukirchen. Free for all that visit, the company playground has become; especially for Summer, a top excursion idea for young and old alike.
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1999The second warehouse was converted into a company building. Acquisition of a robot for greater production of playground equipment.
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2000Introduction of the computer standard software "Navision" and was gradually applied in all areas of the company.
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2002Introduction and certification of a quality management system according to ISO 9001: 2000
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200430 years building OBRA playground equipment.
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2007Generational handover of management. Ing.Peter Philipp hands over the management of the company to Mag. Michael and DI (FH) Florian Philipp.
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2008Construction of a distribution/logistics centre and a dyeing hall. OBRA's 40th anniversary.
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2009Commissioning of a new CNC joinery centre and conversion to CAD / CAM production.
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2010Opening of the new exhibition area with an amusement park - the OBRA Kinderland.
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2017Development of a new company strategy "OBRA 2022"
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201850 years of OBRA-Design: The anniversary will be celebrated with a large party including all employees, sellers and trading partners as well as various guests of honour.
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2021
Replacement of the CNC joinery center including new hall construction and new disposal
A quick look at the future
OBRA-Design is the market leader of today when it comes to customized playground equipment. It doesn't matter what the budget, because we adapt all systems to the conditions on site and the wishes of our customers. Thanks to our modular programs and powerful production, we can implement individual systems quickly and with ease. Additionally, we plan and implement extraordinary and unique play facilities that have already been able to demonstrate great competence many times over. You can find an extract from these extraordinary ventures in our large-scale projects folder or in the OBRA-Lookbook.
The next few years would be shaped by the implementation of a company strategy developed in 2017, where an export offensive was defined as the focus. The aim is to build up sale structures across the board in the European core markets and to gradually find local partners in further European markets. At the same time, the internal processes are continuously being modernized and professionalized. The aim is to achieve organic growth in order to secure our position in the long run. A lot will change in the coming 50 years, however; what will remain consistent at OBRA-Design is our philosophy and our roots. That's why we strive to get a little better every day and to put a smile on the faces of all that use our play equipment.
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