Driven by the permanent claim to create innovative system technology, we have been writing success stories since 1892. With this claim, we will continue to set national and international milestones in the rubber and raw materials industry.
Founded in Hanover
Employees worldwide
Mill. EUR Turnover in 2022
We operate in over 40 countries. With their wealth of ideas and expertise, around 650 employees in development, sales, engineering, production and administration ensure our quality standards every day.
COO
Managing Partner
CEO
We employ state-of-the-art production processes for the manufacturing of cables, tires, profiles, hoses, seals and conveyor belts.
We feel committed to the growing demands for quality, economy and environmental compatibility. We constantly superseed to the latest standards and requirements: For us, this means progress by tradition.
The history of TROESTER represents a success story. In 2022 the manufacturers of specialized machinery, based in Hannover-Wülfel, celebrated their 130th year of existence. Those responsible have always mastered the challenges of the times with flying colours; today the company is well-established.
From the company founder who gave his name to the company, Paul Troester, via Carl Bredemeyer, Hans-Ulrich Bredemeyer and Karl-Heinz Schmidt, right up to Peter Schmidt: every era faced its own economic and political tasks which these company controllers and their staff always knew how to cope with.
TROESTER is a family-run company with medium-sized business characteristics, active on an international level right up until today. In the beginning was the idea: Paul Troester wanted to produce machines for the local rubber-processing industry – where his potential customers would need them. This location was Hannover at the end of the nineteenth century, which had become a centre for the growing rubber industry.
Values characterise the company
Companies that remain successful over many years are characterized by their own DNA; that something which makes them special and superior to other companies. At TROESTER, this DNA has been moulded through the company values: independence, courage, motivation to perform, readiness for innovation, trust, loyalty, sustainability, family and vision have made the company and its employees into what they are today. Our values shape the company and provide stability, not least in these times of new challenges.
Consistent values provide stability when they are acted upon. At TROESTER, these values are palpable. Troester is a family; the strong spirit behind this family forms the foundations on which economic success can flourish. The values represent a guarantee for retention of the company’s innate DNA, ensuring that the company can continue to prosper.
TROESTER is a success story, but none of the generations ever rested their laurels on the success of their predecessors. Troester is the result of hard work, of entrepreneurial spirit, and the readiness to strike off on new paths. The result is true excellence in what we do.
Those wishing to realise an innovative idea must amongst other things tread new paths – and this was also the case for the engineer Paul Troester in the year 1892. At this point in time, the region around Hannover was in the process of developing into a focus location for the national rubber industry – triggered by the rapidly increasing demands for rubber goods and rubber tires for vehicles of all kinds. In contrast to his Executive Board colleagues at his previous field of action, the Eisenwerk Wülfel, Paul Troester recognised the potential of this material, which was highly innovative at the time. At Eisenwerk Wülfel, his idea to integrate the production of machines especially for the processing of rubber into the company’s portfolio fell on deaf ears.
”Rolling mills, calenders and spraying machines, etc., etc.“
TROESTER’s hour of birth was on 4th July 1892. Thereafter, in Hannover-Wülfel, machines were built for rubber processing. In addition, steam engines were produced during the start-up period of the company – on the one hand to ensure continuous exploitation of the plant production, and on the other hand to act as drives for the new rubber machines. The delivery program in the Promoterism period included ball presses for the manufacture of rubber balls, multi-level vulcanisation presses for the production of rubber plates, and circular cutting machines for coupon rings. One customer already important to the firm at this time was the largest company at the time in Hannover, the ”Continental-Caoutchouc- und Gutta-Percha Compagnie“ – today the Continental AG.
By the time the company founder died in 1912, TROESTER was well-established in economic terms. And yet there was no successor in the family to take TROESTER’s place. The production of steam engines had already been discontinued prior to the First World War – and electric machines were increasingly taking over their tasks. TROESTER changed substantially over this period to become a specialist in the construction and sale of machinery for the rubber-processing industry.
War places strain on the company
The First World War hit the company hard. The supply of rubber from overseas was interrupted, and TROESTER proved unable to concentrate successfully on the processing of replacement materials as ordered by the state. Moreover, TROESTER lost the essential contact with their long standing customers whilst being forced to manufacture products which had nothing to do with their former range, such as powder mills or grenade shells, due to further stipulations imposed by the Kriegswirtschaftsbehörde (wartime economy authority).
A few months prior to the death of Paul Troester, Carl Emil Buchholz, silent partner since 1903, took over the plant, but sold it only a few years later to the former authorized company signatory, Julius Ehrenfeuchter. However, Ehrenfeuchter was less pro ficient in the management of the company, and ultimately failed with his attempt to intro duce new production lines following the end of the war. The increasing inflation in the early 1920’s also made matters difficult for the company, and its continued existence was seriously endangered. The company only began its steady ascent after the takeover of the Executive Board by Carl Bredemeyer.
Carl Bredemeyer: New beginnings and reconstruction
Carl Bredemeyer finally took over the company completely in 1929, after having initially only leased it from 1924. And he was to significantly shape the destiny of TROESTER for the next three decades. In 1916, the trained smith and graduate mechanical engineer had already taken over management of the mechanical engineering business Jünke & Lapp in Limmer. Amongst other things, this company also manufactured machines for rubber processing. Bredemeyer invested in modern machinery for the benefit of an efficient and optimized production.
In the 1930’s, TROESTER experienced an economic boom, particularly regarding the BUNA range. The company benefited from the development of synthetic rubber and thermoplastic resins. The mechanical engineering specialist conquered new business fields, such as the manufacture of extruders for PVC processing.
Unfortunately, the Second World War interrupted these positive developments. In 1943, the plant in Wülfel was severely damaged during an air attack, and a further attack in March 1945 almost completely destroyed the factory. The British military government seized the plant following the end of the war.
And yet a series of fortunate circumstances occurred: The British decided to complete the systems started prior to the war, and to deliver supplies to Great Britain. Therefore, the production could be recommenced earlier than expected.
The currency reform, the revocation of the seizure and the Marshall Plan subsequently ensured that conditions normalized and that reconstruction of the destroyed systems could begin. TROESTER presented themselves for the first time in public again in 1947 at the ”Export-Messe Hannover“ (Hannover Export Trade Fair) organised on British orders; the predecessor to the later ”Hannover Messe“ (Hannover Trade Fair).
On 1st May 1950, a new plant hall was inaugurated, and a short time later a modern administration building. Carl Bredemeyer continued to remain the unremitting driving force, also at the cost of his health. In 1952, he became so ill that he had to give up all further strenuous activity. The management of TROESTER now lay in the hands of his son Hans-Ulrich, Managing Director since 1951, and Karl Vögler and Werner Diekmann, who had already been appointed as Directors in 1949.
Hans-Ulrich Bredemeyer: International Expansion
At the end of the decade, many extensive new constructions followed which permanently altered the appearance of the plant. The entire production process was subjected to extensive concentration. Modern technical developments, extruders, calenders and rolling mills became the focus of attention. The fact that Carl Bredemeyer had used the years in which the plant came to a standstill for complete re-construction of the systems now paid off. At the beginning of 1960’s, TROESTER was the first company worldwide to introduce a rubber vacuum extruder onto the market.
At TROESTER, entrepreneurial practical vision formed an outstanding symbiosis with academic expertise: this is demonstrated for example by the construction of QSM pin-type extruders, which TROESTER developed in cooperation with the Institut für Kunststoffverarbeitung (IKV) (Institute of Plastics Processing) at the RWTH Aachen University. Cold extrusion in the tire industry only became possible through this machine, which therefore presented manufacturers with new stimuli to make further developments in modern tires.
At the right time with new systems in global markets
The company expanded and became international: In 1968, the first international subsidiary was founded as TROESTER America Inc. in Akron, Ohio. A year later, a German subsidiary company was set up in Sontra, Hesse, which remained in existence until the 1990’s. Amongst other things, Sontra produced screw-type extruders and complete calenders. Simultaneously, the company concluded license agreements with foreign companies worldwide.
Between 1968 and 1971, the specialist mechanical engineering company significantly expanded their production location in Hannover. In 1974, when Germany had just become football world champions, TROESTER finally acquired the complete production range from the bankruptcy estate of the Bremen company Christoffers. From this time onward, TROESTER possessed the expertise to build production lines for the cable industry and offered a further pillar of business as providers for complete cable systems.
Karl-Heinz Schmidt: Growth and technical market leadership
Entrepreneurial vision and specialist know-how
Over the years, TROESTER had continuously developed from being a classic mechanical engineering company to become a system provider, which, besides production, was also responsible for comprehensive control units and the electronics in highly modern systems. Not least because of the intensive research and development work conducted, this was and has been afforded the highest priority in the company ever since. Besides the development of customer projects, TROESTER experts also conduct independent research. The company spends around two percent of its turnover annually for this purpose and this commitment is reflected in their numerous patents.The company maintains contacts with various universities through out Germany, and with institutions such as the Deutsche Kautschuk Institut (German Institute of Rubber Technology) in Hannover.
By this time, quality German workmanship from Wülfel was in demand worldwide: prior to the turn of the millennium, TROESTER delivered more than 70 percent of their pro ducts overseas. In 1995, the US American subsidiary company TROESTER Machinery, Ltd. was founded in Akron, Ohio. In the same year, the mechanical engineering company open ed representative offices in Hong Kong and Moscow
Dr. Peter Schmidt: Key technologies and new business divisions
At this time TROESTER earns more than 90 percent of their turnover through exports. China, North America, Europe, India, South East Asia, the Arabian Peninsula and Russia: Today TROESTER customers can be found across the globe.
Beyond national borders: With subsidiaries in Germany, China, India, Mexico, the USA and Switzerland, we operate worldwide and push cutting-edge innovations further on a national and international level.
“Made in Germany” is a symbol for reliable and durable investment solutions. The lasting value of this label is based on precise technical development, skilled craftsmanship and the ability to offer customers competent services throughout the entire product life cycle. As a visible sign of this quality standard, TROESTER labels each machine according to its origin.
To ensure that “Made in Germany” remains a promise of excellent quality in the future, we take the training and further education of our employees very seriously. Innovations “Made in Germany” emerge from their knowledge and skills, which ensures our company’s success.
