In 1924, at the eve of the economic depression of those times, Albrecht Schnizler, a baker's son, and his business partner Julius Closs co-founded Schnizler GmbH. They wanted to manufacture tools that would meet the higher demands of an increasingly engineered world better than most of the tools that existed at that time.

In 1928 Metabo started with the production of their first bench drilling machines, hand sanders, braces, and the first universal drill, sanding and polishing machines equipped with circular saws. In 1934 followed their first electric hand drill and in 1936 their first geared chucks. They produced their first hammer drill in 1957 and the first hammer drill with electronic speed regulation in 1969. The first 1000 watt hammer drill with electronic speed stabilisation followed in 1981. In 1982 Metabo built a plant for the production of grinding disks . Several new developments came about in the following years : the winding protection grid (1987), the Metabo Quick System for angle grinders (1988), impulse technology (for precise drilling) (1996) and a fast paint stripper (1997).

Through takeovers, the Metabo Group has become in 1999 the number 1 in the market for woodworking machines in Europe and number 2 worldwide.

Metabo now sells their electric power tools in more than 100 countries