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Tuesday, 18 January 2022 12:10

Wintersteiger acquires German machine builder HEMA

Ried i.I./Frickenhausen. Wintersteiger AG is taking over the majority of Heermann Maschinenbau GmbH, in Frickenhausen near Stuttgart, Germany, with effect from January 1, 2022.

HEMA has around 50 employees and develops, produces, and sells band saws for almost all materials and applications. Their portfolio also specializes in solutions for cutting lightweight materials and insulating materials. The products are shipped worldwide from their headquarters in Swabia, with an export ratio of around 90% depending on the particular business year. In 2020, turnover amounted to approximately 8.5 million euros. Like Wintersteiger, HEMA is also a specialist and a technology and quality leader in a niche sector.

The technically sophisticated solutions from HEMA enhance the Wintersteiger product portfolio in the Woodtech Division (thin-cutting saw machines, saw blades, mobile and stationary sawmills, automation solutions, and timber repair systems). HEMA will significantly expand the Division in regard to skills and applications – other materials, besides timber, will now come to the fore for Wintersteiger. Lightweight foam, aramid honeycomb, construction and insulating materials, and technical plastics are particularly important in this regard.

“With this acquisition, Wintersteiger is pursuing further growth. Firstly, there is opportunity for growth for the HEMA products in markets where Wintersteiger has a mature sales structure – such as geographically in the USA as well as regionally with automation projects. Secondly, Wintersteiger can benefit from HEMA’s sophisticated technology for its own products. Wintersteiger will retain the Frickenhausen site and the strong HEMA brand,” explains Dr. Florestan von Boxberg, CEO of Wintersteiger AG.

Markus Bleher and Christoph Heermann, Managing Partners of HEMA, will also remain involved in the 100-year-old company. Christoph Heermann commented on the reason for selling the shares: “Wintersteiger and HEMA have been partners in regard to our saw bands for many years. The time has now come, for us as a family, to drive forward our global expansion more quickly and aggressively. Having Wintersteiger on board puts us in a better position to focus on our specializations and to become part of an existing structure. In addition to the complementary nature of each firm's products, we both share a similar corporate philosophy. Mr. Bleher and I will continue to remain on the Management Board.”


Facts and figures – Wintersteiger AG
Founded: 1953
Headquarters: Dimmelstrasse 9, 4910 Ried im Innkreis, Austria
Number of employees
in the Group: approx. 1100
Group turnover 2021: approx. 160 million euros
Export ratio: 90%
Website: www.wintersteiger.com 

Facts and figures – Heermann Maschinenbau GmbH
Founded: 1920
Headquarters: Steinbeisstrasse 8, D-72636 Frickenhausen, Germany
Number of employees: 50
Turnover 2020: 8.5 million euros
Export ratio: 90%
Website: www.hema-saegen.de