The company was founded in January 1904 by the Düsseldorf entrepreneur Heinrich de Fries as a GmbH. Initially, the company de Fries + Co. Hebezeugfabrik was the sole distributor for the then well-known Stella hoists.

With a high level of reliability and quality awareness, the company quickly earned the excellent reputation it has maintained to this day as a manufacturer and sales partner. When the company founder died five years later, his closest colleague and confidante, Wilhelm Pützer, took over the company and successfully guided it through the economic turmoil of the time.