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How it all began:
Curt von Grueber's
'Technical Engineering Bureau'
[1906-1919]
In 1906, the engineer Curt von Grueber established a company for the design and
sale of Kent mills in Berlin. Curt von Grueber Technisches Bureau - the
forerunner of Loesche GmbH - quickly became one of Europe's leading
manufacturers of cement and phosphate mills. In 1912, the company began
manufacturing its products in its own manufacturing facility, initially in
Berlin-Hohenschönhausen and later in Berlin-Teltow. Its range of products
included Maxecon mills, Hauenschild rotary grate kilns, and all kinds of
machinery for cement production, including crushers and screw conveyors. Ernst
Curt Loesche joined the company as a young engineer in July 1912. He soon
worked his way up through the ranks to a management position and became a
partner in the company in 1919. |
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Success through
innovation:
The entrepreneur and inventor
Ernst Curt Loesche
[1919-1939]
Despite the fact
that the German cement industry found itself in a deep and sustained crisis
after the First World War, Curt von Grueber Technisches Bureau managed to stay
afloat by opening up a new market: in 1924, the company began supplying new
coal-fired power stations with mills. In 1927, Ernst Curt Loesche developed the
Loesche mill for the Klingenberg power station in Berlin-Rummelsburg. This mill
proved to be a milestone in the history of roller grinding mill technology. The
success of the Loesche mill helped the company to rapid growth. However, these
positive developments were checked by the world economic crisis of the early
1930s. As the world economy recovered, so too did the company's fortunes.
Orders for its mills increased. Under National Socialist rule, it sold mills to
customers all over the world. In 1937, Ernst Curt Loesche bought Curt von
Grueber's share in the company and became sole owner.
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Hard times:
From the war economy to
Soviet expropriation
[1939-1948]
The outbreak of the Second World War
was a caesura in the history of Ernst Curt Loesche's company. As was the case
with many other machine manufacturers, the company was obliged to produce
armaments for the German war eff ort: the Reich Air Ministry soon replaced the
cement industry as the company's largest customer. Following a damaging air
raid in 1943, production at the Teltow works very nearly ground to a halt. In
1945, at the end of the war, the Soviet occupation forces insisted that the
company's machinery in Teltow be dismantled and transported to the Soviet
Union. Only a few months later, the company was back in business working with
out-dated machinery. When the Soviet Military Administration expropriated Curt
von Grueber Maschinenbauanstalt without paying any form of compensation in
April 1948, Ernst Curt Loesche decided to leave Berlin and rebuild his company
in one of the three western zones of occupation. |
Rising like a phoenix
from the ashes:
A new beginning with
Ernst Guenter Loesche
[1948-1969]
After the expropriation of the Berlin
works, Ernst Curt Loesche and some of the employees who had worked for him in
Berlin began rebuilding the company, which was now known as Loesche
Hartzerkleinerungs- und Zementmaschinen KG, in a ruined building in Düsseldorf
in the summer of 1948. When Ernst Curt Loesche died unexpectedly in November of
the same year, his son, Ernst Guenter, took over the business. Under his
leadership and with its own manufacturing facility in Neuss, Loesche KG
re-established itself as world market leader in the 1950s and 1960s. During
this period, Loesche's engineers developed numerous new technologies that were
of paramount importance to developments in the hard crushing sector, including
the hydropneumatic spring assembly and the pressure mill for grinding coal.
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Four rollers for world market
success:
The international expansion
of the company
[1969-1983]
In the early 1970s, Loesche faced a
new challenge: improvements in cement kiln technology necessitated the
construction of ever larger mills. Loesche's response to this development was
to invent the four-roller mill and introduce a modular mill system. The
four-roller mill quickly became a huge success on the international market. In
order to provide their customers around the world with better local support,
Loesche established subsidiaries in Spain and South Africa. In the late 1970s,
Loesche's engineers adapted the modular system for use in coal mills. After 35
successful years as managing director of the company, Ernst Guenter Loesche
retired in late 1983.
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The third generation:
Dr Thomas Loesche and the
challenges of globalisation
[1983-1992]
With Dr Thomas Loesche at the helm, the third generation of the Loesche family
was now managing the company. The young engineer not only picked up where his
father had left off, but also developed promising new business activities such
as an after-sales service and the construction of mills for the iron and steel
industry. Other innovations included the development of an improved hot gas
producer and the use of Loesche mills for grinding coal and peat briquettes.
The company continued to grow and in 1992, moved into a new, larger office
building on Hansaallee.
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Technology for the
21st century:
Laying the foundation for
world market leadership?
[1992-2006]
In the early 1990s, Loesche came up
with yet another ground-breaking mill design in the form of the 2+2 cement
clinker mill. As was the case with previous Loesche innovations, this mill
proved a resounding success around the world. In the years that followed,
Loesche GmbH expanded its range of products and services and invested heavily
in the development of new technology. The collapse of economies in South-East
Asia in 1997 plunged the company into a deep crisis. However, new ideas and the
introduction of a series of rationalisation measures enabled the company to
recover. Two of the innovations that date from this period are the slide-in
procedure and the introduction of the so-called 'redundancy concept'. By the
time demand picked up again in 2003, Loesche had an impressive range of
products that included state-of-the-art mills. Very soon, the company was once
again world leader in its field.
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