The Heimbach Group is a supplier of textiles for the

paper manufacturing A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

environmental technology Environmental technology (envirotech) or green technology (greentech), also known as ''clean technology'' (''cleantech''), is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic device ...

and other industries. With production sites across Europe, it produces industrial textiles and filtration materials for various applications. In addition to manufacturing products at its headquarters,

Düren Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

), it maintains paper machine textile manufacturing sites at Olten (Switzerland), Burgos (Spain),

Neu-Moresnet Neu-Moresnet is a village and sub-municipality of Kelmis in the German-speaking community of the province of Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. The village was founded as Prussian-Moresnet (German: ''Preußisch-Moresnet'') as part of the Lower Rhine Pro ...

(

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, (

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) and

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

(

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

). Manufacturer of filtration media in Düren and Boras, Sweden, the company has its technical textile division based in Neu-Moresnet, with production in

Rochdale, England Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale (landform), dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metro ...

, Merone, Italy and Lörrach, Germany. On August 31, 2023,

Albany International Albany International Corporation, originally the Albany Felt Company, is an industrial-goods company based in Rochester, New Hampshire, United States. It makes two different lines of products: machine clothing, in particular felts for use in pap ...

completed the purchase of Heimbach for €132 million, in addition to assuming another €22 million in net debt.

History

The Heimbach Group was founded in 1811 by Thomas Josef Heimbach, who was mayor of Düren (1848-1853). In 1871, they acquired a local manufacturer named Krutzmühle, and began specializing in the production of felt for paper-making machines. By 1900, they were the largest producer of such felt in Europe. Twenty years before it acquired a Swiss company, Munzinger AG, it suffered from a fire that destroyed most of its facilities in 1904, leading to a major rebuild. Although it was one of a number of German companies decimated by the effects of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Heimbach Group rebuilt itself and continued to expand. During the 1960s Heimbach made contributions to the advanced needling manufacturing technique. In 1969 Heimbach founded Heimbach Ibérica S.A. based in Spain. Just one year later, Heimbach incorporated Bruch&Cie. based in Belgium, which is today known as Heimbach Specialities AG. Following this, it founded the companies Swiss Wire Ireland Ltd. (Ireland) and the Atlanta Felt Company (USA) in 1974 and 1980 respectively. In 1991, Heimbach entered into a partnership with the Canadian JWI Group and bought the English company CH Johnson Ltd., which is today better known as Heimbach UK Ltd. In 2001, it initially divested its filtration division as a company affiliate followed to be an independent acting company in 2007 located at the company premises in Mariaweiler, Düren. Heimbach Filtration currently employs approximately 100 people and achieved and estimated turnover of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

20 million in 2012. In 2006, it founded Heimbach Asia (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based sales and marketing company serving emerging markets in Asia. Heimbach achieved the global market leadership in the field of woven press pads with application in the wood processing industry, e.g. furniture and laminate flooring, by acquiring Marathon Belting Ltd. based in Manchester, UK. In 2008, Heimbach further extended its market position in the filtration and technical textiles product segments through additional company acquisitions in South America and Europe. The following year, the company inaugurated a new manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, producing paper machine textiles for the entire Asian-Pacific market. In August 2023, the German company was acquired by Albany International.

References

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External links

Official Heimbach Group website
Companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia Manufacturing companies established in 1811 Manufacturing companies of Germany Düren (district) 2023 mergers and acquisitions