1992 Handing over the baton

The year 1992 goes down in the company history for two reasons: The newly built, large warehouse building is inaugurated in November, but even more important is the handover of the baton from father to son, which already takes place in the summer. From now on, Hans Overlack leaves the management of the business entirely to his son Peter, who has already been working in the company for four years and has thoroughly prepared himself for his future tasks.

PENTA, the purchasing association of chemical distributors in Germany, celebrates its 25th birthday. In the meantime, there are 16 shareholders, who together achieve an annual turnover of 800 million DM and employ 1100 people. Overlack is still part of it as an important partner.

Founding of the company in the Czech Republic Conlac Bohemia, 1992
today: OQEMA, Czech Republic

1993 Art project: The colorful ceilings

The young chemical trader, who would also have liked to become an architect or artist, first makes sure that his desk is in inspiring surroundings. He asks the artist Horst Lerche to come up with a color concept for the ceiling on the second floor of the Overlack building. Over a period of several days, the support material is installed in a joint effort, and then the artist lends a hand. To this day, the brightly colored ceilings ensure a creative working atmosphere in the Inorganics Team.

1994 Vision I

"Who does not create, loses" Peter Overlack is convinced with Edzard Reuter. Right at the beginning of his activity as responsible managing director, he engages the decision-makers of his company with the crucial question of the future. The result of these considerations is published in an appealing brochure.

At this time, "Gebr. Overlack", with its headquarters in Mönchengladbach and the very successful Cologne branch Arnsperger, as well as three branches under the name Conlac in Holland, Leipzig and Pilsen, is at the beginning of a dynamic growth. The company is perky and self-confident in any case: "We are facing up to the demands of the market. We are aggressive and dynamic. We are not afraid of making mistakes. We have the courage to take risks, are open to new things. We like to take risks." From here, it's just a small step to the desired external perception: "We are appreciated, revered and feared."

Peter Overlack (painting his children Fanny, Till and Nele): Waiting. Oil on canvas, 2000

1995 Fathers and sons

Fathers do not have it easy with their sons. Sons do not have it easy with their fathers. That is normal. It is necessary to balance self-perception and the perception of others, to look respectfully into the past and at the same time courageously into the future. No small matter.

In a letter accompanying the minutes of an advisory board meeting, presumably never sent, the son writes his frustration off his chest in March 1995:

"I do not want to leave any doubt that the personal focus of the former senior management, over decades, was the financial and tax optimization of the company. I also want to leave no doubt that even our auditor occasionally said that we could learn from Hans Overlack.

However, I also want to leave no doubt that, from today's corporate policy perspective, I consider this focus to be secondary, have discovered that completely different goals for action and deployment have priority for me, and believe that I will only serve our company in a suboptimal way if I become an expert in accounting – and spend correspondingly less time on other issues.

I firmly believe that my knowledge of finance is not perfect, but sufficient – just as my knowledge of hazardous materials law is limited, but sufficient for my task; just as my knowledge of details of the sales business, personnel management, EDP, etc. is always inferior to the knowledge of the employees I assign to these tasks.

In these approaches, modern, high quality leadership is expressed: being able to accept that various subject areas in one's own company can be better handled by employees than by the boss himself; procuring and assigning the appropriate employees for and to these task areas; coping with the upcoming daily problems together with the department managers as a team.

The described basic structures of my form of management are elementarily linked to my personal basic structures. So I neither recognize a factual compulsion to change this way of doing things, nor do I see a personal possibility to change these things with me."

1996 Memento Mori

"Stagnation is regression: a fundamental phenomenon!" knows Junior, who writes a letter to the designer of the image brochure: "Businesses in a growing economy that do not grow themselves, i.e. remain at the same level, change downward in size relative to their competitors; they shrink. This is particularly true of the chemical trade. The industry is undergoing a process of concentration that is long overdue and has already been carried out to a much greater extent in other countries. The companies that are buying up, i.e. growing in size as a result, are always the same ones: Brenntag, Biesterfeld, Klöckner. The companies that are selling and thus ending their market existence are also always the same: companies like Overlack.

It would be foolish to believe that it is possible to resist the laws of the market without fundamentally changing one's own structure. If Overlack remains as it is, the end of the individuality of this company will be completed in the course of the next 10–30 years. Whenever exactly, to whomever, by whomever."

1997 Farewell

For several years now, the company has been earning more badly than good. In his reports during the annual shareholders' meetings, the young managing director does not mince his words: "The stagnant process in which we have found ourselves for the last 10–15 years has become even worse. New companies with significant consumption of chemicals are no longer being established in our region on a regular basis. Instead, there is an exodus of production companies that are part of our customer structure (migration to other European countries), as well as the not to be underestimated effects of bankruptcies, which often also affect customer companies. This fundamental trend is of a long-term nature and will accompany us into the future, only partially overshadowed by economic fair or bad weather effects." Once again, he makes clear how important it is to him to improve the capitalization of his own company so that "we can compensate for the growth effects that can no longer be achieved in our home region through acquisition and exterritorial start-ups." The shareholders should make their contribution to the growth and prosperity of the company by accepting a restrained distribution policy.

Did he frighten his Aunt Ursula with these remarks? In any case, Eduard Overlack's widow decides to part with her remaining 26 percent share in the company at the end of 1997. She turns to the family of Hans Overlack, who has tirelessly bought up shares from cousins over the decades. This time, Peter takes over (and finances) the lion's share of the share purchase. The purchase price clearly exceeds the provisions of the partnership agreement.

This means that only one of the three founding families still has a stake in the company. It is good that senior Lutz no longer has to witness this ...

Foundation of the company in Poland
today: OQEMA, Poland
Foundation of the company in the Netherlands
today: OQEMA, NL (Eindhoven)

1998 Poor results

Even though annual sales now stand at DM 120 million, profits are unsatisfactory: there are yield gaps, contribution margin shortfalls and cost overruns. Things should not, must not go on like this! The consulting firm Roland Berger is on site with two teams and is working on strategic issues. In fact, this also involves the fundamental question of whether the company should be put on the market and a potent buyer should be sought. It is the time when Brenntag is buying up many medium-sized chemical distributors and incorporating them into its own group. The employees are nervous; how safe is their job anymore?

The managing director is particularly annoyed by an aggressive competitor: "The activities of our competitor H. from O., controlled by Dr. M., whose actions are primarily characterized by feelings of revenge, inferiority complexes, immoderate ambition, unfortunately pronounced trader sentiment with, however, low business knowledge, continue and have cost our company about DM 750,000 in the 1998 financial year."

1999 Art

In the meantime, art has become an unmistakable constant at the "brothers". Of course, one can be divided when looking at the individual works of art, even the managing director agrees, but the response is nevertheless "consistently positive. We are aware that with the existing entrance and meeting situation we have created circumstances that make our visitors think. Not everyone finds everything they see spontaneously and personally great or inspiring. On the other hand, no one leaves the room without thinking: interesting – they've done something completely new - I've never seen anything like this before – ... with corresponding conclusions about the work and organizational behavior and the appearance of our company in the market. Exactly these circumstances were intended and are still considered important by the management." Thus recorded in a discussion note on the advisory board meeting of December 1995.

2000 Growth II

Under the title "Signs point to expansion", the trade journal "Chemiehandel und Logistik" devotes a background report to the Overlack Group. Its annual sales now amount to DM 150 million, and after a difficult phase of consolidation, the company is once again looking to the future. The structure of chemical distribution in Germany is set to change foreseeably and fundamentally, the number of competitors will become smaller and the remaining units larger. The Overlack team has been thinking hard about its future: it wants to be at the forefront, eating rather than being eaten.

Since 1999, sales professional Uwe Stahmann has strengthened the management team with his constant good humor and winning nature. Hans Peter Eßer, an authorized financial officer, has been watching the numbers since mid-1998. Both will remain with the company until their retirement age – and beyond. What a win!

Purchase Hanf & Nelles, Düsseldorf
today: part of OQEMA GmbH, Germany

2001 The Brenntag war

Even if the dust is slowly settling and increasingly better results are being achieved within the company ... – one aggressive competitor is enough to undermine the cooperation between the various chemical distributors, which has been balanced out over the course of decades, and their respectful treatment of each other within a very short period of time.

Brenntag AG from Mülheim an der Ruhr (still the world's No. 1 in chemical distribution) dreams of a market shakeout and first takes on the nearby chemical distributor from Mönchengladbach. It begins a persistent undercutting competition in the field of inorganics, to which the Gladbach-based company responds not in a frightened but in a combative manner. Their motto is "tit for tat", and now prices in the organics sector are also plummeting. Within a few weeks, all the chemical distributors in the region are caught up in this downward spiral – deep red figures everywhere!

Good for the customers – bad for the dealers! This dispute drags on into 2003, before it finally ends like many a play: Much ado about nothing. Overlack remains on the market and is determined to stay there.