Historie Brüggemann

Our Story

Company

History

From Spirits Factory to Global Chem­ical Pioneer

There’s no future without a found­a­tion. How a 19th-century spirits factory on the Neckar river developed into a highly special­ized, inter­na­tional chem­ical company and alcohol manu­fac­turer. And how a family busi­ness is posi­tioning itself for the future: Read about all of this in our history.

1868Louis Brügge­mann estab­lishes a factory to ferment molasses and distill alcohol on Holz­strasse (“Wood Street”) in the city of Heil­bronn. Hence­forth the Brügge­mann company produces “spirits”.
1900The produc­tion facil­ities are expanded and the company moves to Salz­strasse (“Salt Street”) in Heil­bronn.
1926Produc­tion of redu­cing agents commences, such as BRÜG­GOLIT for the textile industry.
1970Start of produc­tion for poly­amide addit­ives.
1978After the death of his uncle Hermann Brügge­mann, Ludwig Brügge­mann takes over personal respons­ib­ility for L. Brügge­mann KG, and invests in needed renov­a­tion for the company. A new era begins.
1990Opening of a sales office in the US (Phil­adelphia, Pennsylvania).
1994Certi­fic­a­tion of the company in accord­ance with ISO 9001 – one of the first medium-sized busi­ness to obtain this certi­fic­a­tion.
1997Patenting of a newly developed, form­al­de­hyde-free redu­cing agent.
2006Founding of the subsi­diary Brügge­man­nChem­ical Asia, Ltd. in Hong Kong.
2012Founding of Bügge­man­nAl­cohol Witten­berg GmbH, and acquis­i­tion of ethanol-produc­tion facil­ities in Luth­er­stadt Witten­berg.
2017Settle­ment of corporate succes­sion by Ludwig Brügge­mann: The Ayles family takes over his shares and becomes majority share­holder.
2018Brügge­mann celeb­rates its 150th anniversary.
2022Acquis­i­tion of the company Auser­polimeri Srl, a leading developer and manu­fac­turer of func­tion­al­ised poly­mers, based in Piano di Core­glia, Italy.

Founding Period

How did everything start in 1868? Roughly like this: A Hessian came to Heil­bronn to distill “spirits.” For those who like a bit more detail, click to go to the “Founding Period” story.

We’re Doing Some­thing

You can find out why we like to stand up for our envir­on­ment, and also for our great employees, on our “Respons­ib­ility” page.