Remscheid, March 26, 2012 – Oerlikon Barmag, the tradition-rich, globally-successful company located in Remscheid-Lennep, will be celebrating its 90th anniversary on March 27 of this year.
Founded in 1922 in Wuppertal Barmen as “Barmer Maschinenfabrik AG” (Barmag for short), the purpose of the – at the time – new West German company was to construct machines and systems for the rapidly-expanding manmade fiber industry. Today, the company is – and has been since 2007 – part of the Oerlikon Textile segment, a subsidiary of the Swiss high-tech group OC Oerlikon. Oerlikon Barmag is the market leader for spinning systems and texturing machines for polyester and polyamide. At its headquarters in Remscheid-Lennep, around 750 highly-qualified engineers and experts develop and manufacture technologically-sophisticated textile machines for the world market.
Setting international standards
Over the long history of the company, many Oerlikon Barmag developments have set new standards in manmade fiber production, with most of the innovations creating – and continuing to create – the trailblazing direction for the entire sector.
The company made a decisive breakthrough in high-speed spinning with the development of the world’s very first high-speed winder in 1969, for example. Furthermore, Oerlikon Barmag laid the foundation stone in the 1980s for a rapid increase in the productivity in manmade fiber production with a completely new method for depositing the yarn on spun packages. And in 2007, the new WINGS winder revolutionized the manmade fiber manufacturing world. “We are particularly proud of this development as it enables us to grow further and acquire further international market shares, hence securing the future of both Oerlikon Barmag and its employees”, explains Stefan Kroß, the responsible Managing Director at Oerlikon Barmag.
Highly-qualified employees form the backbone of the company
The backbone and the engine of the company are the highly-qualified employees, comments Head of HR, Uwe Model: “Well-educated, motivated employees are simply irreplaceable in our high-tech business, as they guarantee the solutions for the demanding challenges of the future with their knowledge and expertise.” Correspondingly, training and further training is a core component of the corporate philosophy at Oerlikon Barmag. After all, the company plans to celebrate many more anniversaries at its HQ in Remscheid-Lennep in the future.
