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Paul Schwarzkopf is a successful manufacturer in Berlin, although high energy prices in the German capital put pressure on the young company. Schwarzkopf is therefore looking for a site with cheap energy, which he finds in Reutte. There, the water rights of lake Plansee are up for sale. The hydroelectric power plant at Plansee is not only indispensable for electricity supply, but also gives its name to the new company, which is founded in 1921. 

The first production buildings and a small office building are built within a year and, on November 16, 1922, production starts at the metal works in Breitenwang/Reutte, Tyrol with 15 employees. 

From day one, the company undergoes successful economic growth. In 1929, Paul Schwarzkopf makes a breakthrough in the development of carbides with a high carbide/solid solution content, such as titanium, vanadium or tantalum. Schwarzkopf files several patents and starts series production of carbide.  

Politically, times are becoming difficult: In Germany, the National Socialists come to power. Paul Schwarzkopf decides to go to the USA. Shortly thereafter, the factory is expropriated and converted into an armaments plant. In 1947, Schwarzkopf returns and wants to reclaim "his" factory. The path is rocky, but the returnee succeeds, and from 1954 he is once again the owner of the Plansee metal works in Reutte.

Paul Schwarzkopf stands up for what matters to him. And so, during the "recapture" of his metal works, he pursues something that has been close to his heart since the start of his entrepreneurial journey: the promotion and exchange of information between scientists.

The holder of a doctorate himself, the now 66-year-old invites scientists to Reutte for the Plansee Seminar for metal physics and powder metallurgy for the first time in 1952. To Schwarzkopf, who has always considered himself a researcher and developer, networking and cooperation are more important than competition.

And so it comes to be that over 200 renowned scientists and technicians from around the globe gather at the first Plansee Seminar in Reutte, Tirol – a global event in the small and tranquil region. The Plansee Seminar has since become a tradition: In 2022 it took place for the 20th time.  

In den 1950er und 1960er Jahren ist vieles, was heute automatisiert vonstattengeht, bei Plansee noch Handarbeit. Das Werk ist zur Zeit des großen Aufschwungs nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg noch mehr Manufaktur als Industriebetrieb. Jedoch sorgen das Wissen, Können und die Einsatzbereitschaft der Mitarbeiter in Verbindung mit dem Geschick und Knowhow des Unternehmensgründers dafür, dass Plansee schon damals als weltweit führender Spezialist für die Verarbeitung von Molybdän und Wolfram bekannt ist.

Durch das Zwangsexil in den USA während des zweiten Weltkriegs ist Paul Schwarzkopf auch in Übersee bestens vernetzt und fördert das Wachstum seines Unternehmens. Neben Amerika und dem Benelux-Raum expandiert Plansee in den 1960er Jahren weiter in Europa, aber auch nach Japan und Indien. 

Following the death of his father, Walter Schwarzkopf takes over the management of the company. He sets standards in employee development, establishes a new corporate culture, and develops the company from a family business into a professionally managed private company.

Following the untimely death of Walter Schwarzkopf in 1978, his wife Hilde represents the interests of the owning family on the Supervisory Board. She entrusts a management team led by Rudolf Machenschalk with the management and further development of the company. 

To this day, "the fire" marks the history of Plansee in Reutte. In 1996, a devastating fire destroys the entire sintering plant as well as the neighboring carbide production building. 

Hundreds of employees fear for their livelihoods, but owner Hilde Schwarzkopf is undeterred. While the firefighters are putting out the last flames, she stands in front of the gathered workforce and declares: "We will rebuild!"  And rebuild she does, together with the employees. The undertaking costs a great deal of time, energy, and money. But even now, the people in Außerfern associate passionate commitment to the company, employees, and the region with the Grande Dame of Tirolean industry. 

In 2002, Plansee Tizit and the Luxembourg company Céramétal merge to form the new carbide specialist Ceratizit. Today, the company with headquarters in Luxembourg is one of the world's leading companies specializing in cutting tools and hard material solutions. 

Since 1996, Michael Schwarzkopf, grandson of the company founder, has been driving forward global expansion as Chairman of the Executive Board of the Plansee Group. In 2008, the Plansee Group acquires the American company Global Tungsten & Powders in order to safeguard the raw material supply of tungsten. From 2011, there is gradual investment in the Chilean company Molymet with a view to strategically safeguarding the supply of molybdenum. 

In 2021, the Plansee Group celebrates its 100th anniversary.