Rud. Kölle Maschinenfabrik, Esslingen am Neckar, was a mechanical engineering company founded by Rudolf Kölle in 1882.The first products were band saws, among these a mobile wood band saw. The motor for this was also built in-house.
In 1917, Richard Kölle took over the company from his father and expanded the production program to include vertical metal bandsawing machines.
Kölle specialized in the series production of standard joinery machines. Also a metal band saw with continuously variable transmission was available.
As of 1939, Kölle became a weapons factory, later for the V2. Because of this weapons production, Kölle was heavily bombed by the U.S. Airforce in 1945.
In 1949, Kölle Maschinenbau GmbH was reestablished as a production and sales company and produced planers, jointers and table saws. The planer HK63 became the absolute success model. The number of employees has been reduced from 350 (before the war) to 150.
In 1969, Richard Kölle passed away and his son-in-law Rolf Schmidt became Managing Director.
Around 1985, Kölle cooperated with Dornburg. Kölle standard machines were sold with a ‘Dornburg’ label.
In 2001, Kölle had to file for bankruptcy. W & S Service GmbH took over the service of Kölle machines and offered also spare parts. Since 2020, W&S Service Gmbh and the Kölle brand is part of Riston Werkzeug GmbH
Information Sources: