The article presents the first European associations that provided an answer to the poor quality of products made during the emergence of industrialized production. The article also touches upon the time marked by the introduction of machinery into wood works establishments and the first occurrences of specialized division of work to enhance its effectiveness. The beginnings of industrialized joinery in Maribor date back to 1864, when Johann Theodor Lacher founded a factory of massive bentwood products. With his Steam Joinery Works, founded in 1900, Ferdinand Potočnik was the last wood factory owner in Maribor. His enterprise was the oldest among numerous woodwork establishments in the area of present-day Styria, which were merged by a political decree of 1960 into the wood construction company Marles.