1962 Storage – once and now

What was used until the 1960s as a storage vessel for acids and alkalis (and in Germany's east still far beyond this period), serves 60 years later mainly decorative purposes in addition to the modern barrel storage facilities in the company yard: the great clay pots of the olden days.

1963 Second homecoming to the Rhineland

In January 1963, Hans Overlack returns to the family business for good. He takes over responsibility for operations, technology, finance and personnel from his father Heinrich, who is exhausted from a long and intensive working life. Senior Ludwig Overlack, whose older son Eduard is only 24 years old, continues to be responsible for sales. The sons' leeway is not too great in these times, their path is mapped out.

When the new managing director is introduced, the annual turnover of the "Overlack Brothers" is 6 million DM; this corresponds to about 14 million € today.

1964 OVERLACK makes OVERLIN

There is still a bit of a "factory" at Aachener Straße: the paint department with its house brand OVERLIN produces bright quality paints and wall paints and sells, in addition to wallpaper and brushes, all the accessories that are suitable to make a painter's heart beat faster. This niche is played until the 1990s, when competition from DIY and home improvement stores increases, making retail sales to end customers and the painting trade a less profitable business.

1965 Bye-bye pay packet!

Today, money transactions are taking place more and more digitally. And in some places, people are thinking about doing away with cash altogether; Sweden, for example, wants to have this done by 2030. What a rapid development if we look back just a few decades!

In 1965, the introduction of cashless wage payment was still considered a minor revolution that had to be well explained to employees: "In contrast to the usual payment of wages in cash, cashless wage payment provides for the transfer of wages to an account that you can dispose of by check, bank transfer or standing order. The pay envelope is eliminated and with it the worry of possible loss." If old habits that have become dear to us are to be cut off, this should be done carefully – for example, the current payday Friday remains a special working day: "On Fridays, the cash registers are open particularly late – at most institutions until 6 p.m. – so that everyone can still collect their money after the end of the working day."

1966 It also works without ladies

Three and a half years after Hans, Eduard Overlack also succeeds his father Lutz. Since April 1964, Eduard has worked in the company and assisted his father. Just like his cousin, he slips into the senior's shoes and takes over his field of activity "Sales". He is 27 years young.

The announcement of this succession on the part of "Gebr. Overlack" is addressed exclusively to the gentlemen. Even if the ladies in the sixties were allowed to do their welcome duty as secretaries, nurses and kindergarten teachers - the management level of comparable companies is still a purely male affair.

December 1966 marks the founding of PENTA Chemikaliengesellschaft, in which Fritz Hamm GmbH, Weinstock & Siebert (both Düsseldorf) and "Gebr. Overlack" from Mönchengladbach join forces for the purpose of a purchasing association. For years and decades, Hans Overlack is one of the driving forces behind this merger, of which he remains honorary managing director for the first six years.

1967 Strauss & Overlack III

After his retirement from the Overlack company, Heinrich Overlack becomes increasingly involved in the Erkelenz agricultural trade, which has borne the name "Strauss & Overlack" since 1948. He holds the young, Jewish co-owner Kurt Strauss in high esteem. In the fall of 1966, he offers him his 25 percent share in the company; Heinrich is terminally ill: "You know that only very compelling reasons have prompted me to take this step. The cooperation with you, which was essentially limited to an advisory role, was - especially in the last few years – so exemplary and borne by a mutual trust that I always enjoyed visiting you in Erkelenz." When Heinrich Overlack dies in February 1967, Kurt Strauss reacts with a touching letter of condolence. Hans Overlack, who was almost the same age, expresses his thanks: "You said that you felt like a son towards my father – especially in the last years. I believe I may say that my father felt the same way about you. Time and again he was full of praise for your exemplary management of Strauss & Overlack. The fact that he left his shareholding in this company to you confirms this."

After Kurt Strauss is also able to acquire the business shares of Lutz Overlack a few years later, the agricultural trade is once again entirely in the hands of the Strauss family. The company continues to use the name "Strauss & Overlack", which is well established in Erkelenz, until 2014, when it merges with two other family-run agricultural businesses to form Moland GmbH & Co. KG.

1968 The numbers man

That Hans Overlack is a numbers man is obvious to anyone who sits next to him in the car and listens to how he assigns the license plates of vehicles ahead or encountered to their owners. Hans memorizes all the birthdays of all his employees and usually also those of their wives and children. He prefers to indulge his passion for numbers in devotional sessions at his desk, where tables and forms are neatly filled out and allow meticulous comparisons to be made. How fortunate that Hans has only touched on the computer age: the machines would have relieved him of many of his favorite occupations.

With Kurt Weinstock, fellow Pentist and President of the Chemical Trade Association, he is thinking hard about expanding Penta into southern Germany.

1969 Early practice ...

This little fellow will appear several times in the history of the brothers, albeit at a more mature age. In any case, here we observe the still very young Peter Overlack at his first work assignment during the school vacations in the paint department. His teacher is the experienced paint mixer Erich Vilz, who is proud to gently accompany the junior's first steps.

1970 Training with distinction

In the summer of 1970, the Mönchengladbach Chamber of Industry and Commerce celebrates the 24 best apprentices who have passed their final examinations "with distinction" in a "simple ceremony" and presents the hopeful newcomers with a book gift. Among the 24 honorees is Jürgen Heijen, a young wholesale merchant who learned his trade at Overlack. The company sees the training of young people as an important task over the decades.

Only three years after its foundation, Penta grows to seven member companies: with A. & E. Fischer in Mainz, Herkommer & Bangerter in Stuttgart, Wilhelm Jäkle in Nuremberg and F. B. Silbermann in Augsburg, the purchasing association of chemical dealers is now also represented in Southern Germany. The large producers are expressly not pleased about this concentration movement of their intermediaries: "The behaviour of the industry towards Penta in its new composition must be described as wait-and-see. Turning this negative attitude around must be the endeavour of all of us," Hans Overlack wrote to his fellow traders in February.

1971 Flexitime liberates

At the end of 1970, "flexitime" is introduced in the company, allowing employees in sales, administration and the laboratory to arrange their working hours relatively freely. Six months later, the RHEINISCHE POST celebrates this innovation as groundbreaking: "Company boss Hans Overlack (who, like everyone else, puts his time key in the counter in the morning) and the employees are convinced of the advantages of flexitime. Because not only do the employees benefit from the greater independence, the company also earns from it: employees no longer drop out for small errands, peak workloads are managed better and more efficiently, and finally, morale also increases when you no longer have to fear reprimands for being late."