Our Company History in Fast Motion

In the midst of the turmoil of the Baden Revolution, the tannery Heintze & Freudenberg, which has 50 employees in Weinheim, is established by the partners Carl Johann Freudenberg (1819-1898) and Heinrich Christian Heintze (1800-1862) on February 9, 1849. The two entrepreneurs produce fine calf leather.

A lively international trade (including exports to the USA, Great Britain, France, and Turkey) flourishes from the beginning.

Between 1900 and 1904, Hermann Ernst Freudenberg develops the chrome tanning process, which is already being practiced in the US, using his own experiments. Freudenberg is therefore one of the first leather producers in Europe able to produce high quality, chrome-tanned calf leather. With the introduction of chrome tanning, Freudenberg becomes the largest leather manufacturer in Europe.

At the outbreak of the First World War, the company employs mor than 2,500 people. Due to the war-related sharp decline decline in orders and conscription for military service, the number of employees drops significantly. The women take on some of the conscripted men’s work until they return. After the war, global trade relations are re-established and expanded. These also extend to South America, Asia, and Australia.

With the revolutionary Simmerring® a new era at Freudenberg begins: sealing technology. Its name is taken from the Freudenberg developer Walther Simmer. The Simmerring®, a radial shaft sealing ring for sealing rotating shafts, replaces the felt seals previously used.

Freudenberg takes over the shoe production and commercial chain of the Jewish-owned company Conrad Tack in Burg close to Magdeburg. Between 1933 and 1936, Freudenberg assumes control of the Gustav Hoffmann children’s shoe factory in Kleve, Germany, and its elefanten® brand. Freudenberg further expands its shoe and leather activities between 1937 and 1938 via different “Aryanizations” of Jewish companies. This also includes the equine leather business of the Jewish company Sigmund Hirsch in Weinheim, with which Freudenberg has good relations.

At the time, the members of the company’s management board are civic-economic proponents of the Weimar Republic. Their outspoken criticisms of Hitler, made especially by Richard and Walter Freudenberg in 1932 and 1933, show them to have been committed democrats. In the years after the Nazis seize power, however, they increasingly come to terms with the totalitarian system, to the extent that the company continues to benefit from Nazi economic policy up to the final collapse of the regime.

Freudenberg replaces leather with rubber as a sealing material. In 1936, a sealing ring made of Perbunan/NBR is developed: it has a high temperature and swelling resistance when exposed to engine lubricating oil. The NBR Simmerring® is a quantum leap for the sealing technology.

The diversification initiated before the war means it is easier to compensate for the difficult raw materials situation than in World War I, as the company is no longer exclusively active in the leather business. During the war, Freudenberg is also a supplier to the armaments industry. The main products involved are gaskets for various military applications, in particular for vehicles, as well as shoes and artificial leather products for the Wehrmacht.

Due to the scarcities of the wartime economy, the Nazi authorities look for ways to improve the material properties of shoe components. In May 1940, the Reich Office for Economic Development therefore establishes a shoe-testing track in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. This continues to be operated by the SS as a punishment detail until the spring of 1945. Materials from at least 79 companies are tested there, one of which is Freudenberg.

Because of wartime labor shortages, Freudenberg employs forced laborers between 1940 and 1945.

At the end of the war, the nonwoven backing material is refined and so in 1948, the production of nonwoven-interlinings for the textile industry and Vileda cloths made from nonwovens begins.

Freudenberg becomes involved in vibration control technology, which complements its expertise from sealing technology. The company produces shock absorbers, antivibration mountings and ultra bushings. In the same year the product area of technical nonwovens is established with the first filters.

The first micronAir® brand car cabin air filters are introduced in 1989. Today, Freudenberg is the world market leader in car cabin air filters.

The American sealing activities by Freudenberg and its Japanese partner NOK are introduced in a Joint Venture: the Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership (FNGP).

Freudenberg Fuel Cell Components Technology is established in 2001. This new business combines the competencies that have been built up in various Freudenberg activities since the 1990s. It develops components – including seals, gas diffusion layers, filters and humidifiers – for fuel cells, a promising energy technology.

At this time, the company employs around 30,000 people.

With the acquisition of Burgmann Dichtungswerke based in Wolfratshausen near Munich, Germany, Freudenberg expands its sealing business to become a specialist in mechanical seals.

Freudenberg also buys US release agent specialists Chem-Trend to complement its chemical specialties activities.

The acquisition of the American company Jenline Industries, a manufacturer of silicone rubber products, sees Freudenberg enter the medical technology industry.

With the acquisition of SurTec in Zwingenberg, Germany, Freudenberg Chemical Specialities expands its portfolio to include a fourth pillar: surface finishing.

The Covid-19 pandemic has an impact on the Freudenberg Group’s business development. There is a short-term drop in sales.

To keep employees healthy in the workplace, the company quickly makes mouth-and-nose masks available to them. Many of them come from the company‘s own production facilities in Japan, China, Germany and the United States.

Freudenberg pursues digital product solutions, the range of such solutions is growing in all business fields. The smart seal sensors developed in 2020 for EagleBurgmann mechanical seals are an example of Freudenberg’s digital predictive maintenance solutions. T The three-in-one sensors, which measure temperature, pressure and vibration, allow the comprehensive monitoring of mechanical seals at work.