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The following is excerpted from a post about Link Engineering by Lauren Owings on the DTE Energy website.
PLYMOUTH, Mich. — From Germany to Detroit
It all started in a basement.
The year was 1935, and Herbert Link was selling tools and odds and ends out of his own home. He had arrived in the United States from Germany about a decade before, not planning on staying for more than a few years. He started off in St. Louis playing professional soccer, but when he broke his leg a year in, his soccer career abruptly ended.
Herbert then decided to move to Detroit and turn his focus to the car industry, working for several car manufacturers before eventually establishing Link Engineering Company in his basement. He soon got into equipment testing and bought a patent on a spring tester. Herbert moved the company to a Detroit storefront, where it thrived building brake testing systems amidst the growing automotive industry.
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“He loved a good challenge and seemed to be able to fix any item that was brought to him,” said Matthew Link, Herbert’s grandson and current president and co-owner of Link Group, Inc. (LINK), now the parent company of Link Engineering Company. “He was always thinking three steps ahead. He could troubleshoot anything, and with his great mind, he established the company’s legacy of being a high-precision custom solution provider.”
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In 1970, Herbert’s son, Roy Link, began working full-time for the company. Roy was willing to take even greater risks, and soon took the company to the next level. Roy spearheaded the founding of Link Testing Laboratories, Inc., a means to offer independent testing services at the automotive component level. He also took the company globally, acquiring businesses along the way and expanding LINK’s offerings. Today, the company has facilities and support teams around the world.
A Clean Future
As a family-owned company, LINK is continuously working to do their part for their employees and the communities they serve. They have many team members who have been with the company for decades, and even employees who are from different generations of the same family.
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