When the first Monte Carlo Rally took place in the Principality of Monaco in 1911, brothers Otto and Adolf Vollmann laid the foundation stone of today’s Vollmann Group 1,100 kilometres north in Gevelsberg. At the time, nobody suspected that Vollmann would now be a part of the automotive world, and that technology from North Rhine-Westphalia would be incorporated into almost every series-produced vehicle, because it all started with the manufacturing of bulb holders for Edison’s great invention 113 years later, the family business has undergone some fundamental changes. Despite setbacks, Vollmann survived two World Wars and global economic crises by having new ideas and perseverance. How did the bulb holder company become a successful automotive supplier? What distinguishes the Vollmann Group today, and where do its perspectives lie?