Wintersteiger has announced that they are taking over the majority of Heermann Maschinenbau (HEMA), in the town of Frickenhausen near Stuttgart, Germany, with effect from 1 Jan 2022.
HEMA has around 50 employees and develops, produces, and sells band saws for almost all materials and applications. Their portfolio also specialises in solutions for cutting lightweight materials and insulating materials. The products are shipped worldwide from their headquarters in Swabia, Germany, with an export ratio of around 90% depending on the particular business year. In 2020, turnover amounted to approximately €8.5 million.
The technical solutions from HEMA enhance the Wintersteiger product portfolio in the Woodtech Division, such as thin-cutting saw machines, saw blades, mobile and stationary sawmills, automation solutions, and timber repair systems. HEMA will 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 US 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,” explained Florestan von Boxberg, CEO of Wintersteiger.
Markus Bleher and Christoph Heermann, managing partners of HEMA, will continue being involved in the 100-year-old company. 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 specialisations 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.”
Founded in 1953 and headquartered in Austria, Wintersteiger is an international machinery and plant engineering group. Their group turnover is approximately €160m in 2021.
