KUM® — More than 80 Years of Manufacturing in Germany
Our company is located in the university city of Erlangen, Germany, about 20 km. from Nürnberg. Our plant and our offices are located in the buildings that you see in the middle of picture below, a manufacturing complex that has expanded step-by-step over the past decades and now employs more than 110 people. 
KUM® stands for „Kunststoff & Metal“ in German —plastic and metal, and that is exactly what a pencil sharpener is made of: a metal blade, a metal or plastic body, and a plastic waste container. Our machines use both those types of materials, at very exacting standards. Very fine tolerances are a necessity because it is difficult to shave graphite and wood off a pencil smoothly: graphite is very hard, and slight variations in the cutting angle of the blade can render a sharpener useless. 
The range of products has also expanded step-by-step over the years. It now comprises more than a hundred different models of sharpeners for normal pencils, as well as specialised sharpeners for odd-sizes. Our precision technology is put to further good use in the production of our three full ranges of rulers, set squares, protractors, and other drafting tools. Our most challenging task is in the manufacture of sharpeners for cosmetics pencils, since our Stikfor®mers do manage to shape even the most delicate cosmetics formulas into a beautiful rounded pencil tip. 
KUM® has become a synonym for high quality products, the state-of-the-art industry standard in many ways. They are shipped to more than 60 countries every year. Our products address three distinct industries: stationery, cosmetics —and merchandising as well, since a KUM® sharpener makes a useful and long-lasting advertising gift. 
Our company has grown for half-a-century under the steady hand of Dr. Werner Luettgens, known personally to many in the stationery industry. His son, Dr. Fritz Lüettgens, is now furthering our development into the 3rd Millennium, aided by his two sisters, Anneliese Luettgens and Barbara Voss, who are keeping to the traditional, conservative management.