NEWS
With 40 years’ experience Volker Teske aims to be experts in the selling and servicing of industrial woodworking
manufacturing equipment.
Forty years in –
and ready for more
Reaching a milestone in the woodworking industry is worth praise; as
Volker Teske (Pty) Ltd celebrates 40 years it shares how it has stood
the test of time.
By Ntsako Khosa
I
ndustrial equipment supplier, Volker Teske, is a family
business, started by husband and wife team Volker and
Helga Teske in the 1970s.
“My husband and I arrived in South Africa in 1974. He
was on a three-year contract with a company from
Germany. After the contract ended he started on his own
company with one employee. We serviced woodworking
machines. He was a mechanical engineer and I am a
qualified Master Carpenter. I thought it was a good idea to
go into woodworking machines and the company was
founded on 23 February 1978,” she recalls.
Since then the company has grown and has its own
factory where machinery is manufactured, sold and
serviced. “We service machines in-house or on site,
depending on the size and scope of work. The kinds of
machines we manufacture range from among others rotary
lamination presses, carcass presses, clamping tables, loose
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slash clamps, A-frame presses and so on,” says Ingo Teske,
son of Helga and Volker Teske.
He currently runs the company and aims to take it to
new heights by enhancing the standard and quality of its
product offerings. “Maintaining the status quo is not an
option in today’s economy. We therefore concentrate on
and strive to constantly upskill our employees.” Ingo’s
view is that the country needs more tradespeople.
The company supply their products and services to
several industries and across the border. “Eighty percent of
our clients are in the woodworking industry; we also
supply plastic manufacturing companies, recycling
companies, aluminium businesses and coffin
manufacturers,” says Helga Teske.
Ingo Teske states that the company has been blessed to
not only survive all these years but has survived relatively
well. The company has grown despite economic