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150 Years of Growth and Change

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World Cement,


Est’d 1864

Gebr. Pfeiffer was founded in 1864 as a small machine factory in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Today, it is a globally active company with subsidiaries in India, in the United States and China and has about 500 employees worldwide.

In the founding years steam engines, mills for food production and malting equipment were the main products of the company, but the focus very soon turned to machines and plants for the basic materials industry.

True to his motto that “Resting is Rusting” the company founder Jacob Pfeiffer motivated his employees time and time again to perform to their very best. The first air separators for the cement industry (1890) were manufactured during his active business life. Before the beginning of the 1st World War in 1914 Gebr. Pfeiffer employed 500 people in Kaiserslautern and exported 75% of its machines.

The two World Wars (1914 – 1918 and 1939 – 1945) saw Gebr. Pfeiffer, which was an international and export-oriented company, suffer serious setbacks in its entrepreneurial development. Sales markets were no longer accessible; production plants were destroyed by war and disassembled after war as reparations. Yet, after each setback, Gebr. Pfeiffer recovered quickly and today in the 150th year of its company history Gebr. Pfeiffer demonstrates its technological leadership through the largest cement mill in the world, an MVR 6700 C-6 with an 11 500 kW MultiDrive®, currently under erection in Barroso, Minas Gerais, for Holcim Brazil.

MPS success

Gebr. Pfeiffer sold its first vertical mill in 1956, which has become a success story under the name of MPS mill. It is a significant contributing factor to the company’s current success and the mill has been sold several thousand times over the years by Gebr. Pfeiffer and its licensees. The MPS mill was also the world’s first vertical mill for cement grinding that was installed in Germany in 1979.

The first big vertical mill worldwide for cement grinding is put into operation in the spring of 1980

Today, in terms of reliability and cost efficiency, the MPS mill is worldwide considered the best solution for small and medium capacities in the field of raw material, coal and cement grinding. For large and extra large capacities, starting with an installed power of 5000 kW, the MPS mill has a big sister, the MVR mill, which was put on line for the first time in 2008. Today, MVR mills for raw material and cement grinding are operating to the entire satisfaction of Gebr. Pfeiffer’s customers in Europe, Asia and Australia and more MVR mills will go onstream shortly in North and South America and other countries in Asia.

The largest cement mill of Australia has been operating since 2014

‘Progress is our tradition’

Apart from continuously working on innovations to the benefit of the customers, true to its company’s motto “Progress is our tradition”, another success factor of Gebr. Pfeiffer has been continuity – free from management fads – of staff and management. Many staff members of Gebr. Pfeiffer celebrate their 25th, 40th or even 50th anniversary with the company and over the 150 years of the company’s history the average employment period of the executive board members is 18 years.

His great-grandfather was a foundry caster, his grandfather a foundry moulder, his father a foundry mechanic. Their fourth-generation descendant Ralf Diehl works with the spare parts service of the project and sales department. Altogether the entire Diehl family has been working for Gebr. Pfeiffer for more than 100 years.

Of course, the customers who decide over and over again in favour of Gebr. Pfeiffer’s machines and plants, sharing their positive experience with other customers, are the most important factor for Gebr. Pfeiffer’s success. On 8 – 9 May 2014, Gebr. Pfeiffer will celebrate the company’s 150th anniversary with these customers and thereby not only look back on past achievements but also make plans for the future, staying true to the company founder’s motto: “Resting is Rusting”.


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Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/30042014/150_years_of_growth_and_change_99/

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