Heidenreich & Harbeck
Corporate brand
UnclaimedGerman foundry and machine works in Mölln producing cast and ready-to-install components for the mechanical engineering industry.
Last updated September 28, 2026
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Overview
Heidenreich & Harbeck is a German foundry and machine factory based in Mölln in the district of Herzogtum Lauenburg, Schleswig-Holstein. It is described as the largest industrial operation in Mölln and employs roughly 160 internal and external staff. Its core business is the production of cast and ready-to-install machined components for the mechanical engineering industry. The company name derives from the former Hamburg parent company, which acquired the Mölln site in 1927. The original Hamburg firm was founded in 1868 and focused on the manufacture of lathes. It grew into a significant machine-tool producer, and during the First World War it moved to larger premises in Barmbek. In the Second World War production was largely converted to weapons, and the company was assigned forced labourers. After the war it remained a notable lathe builder, and in the 1950s and 1960s it also built telescope mountings, including for the Great Schmidt Mirror of the Hamburg Observatory and a similar mounting for an ESO Schmidt telescope. It also developed early high-performance blow-moulding machines for PVC and later PET bottles under the Corpoplast name. The Hamburg parent was sold to Gildemeister AG in 1972 and later became part of Makino; its historic buildings were demolished in 2022. The Mölln operation began as a foundry acquired by Heidenreich & Harbeck in 1927. It was converted into a GmbH in 1978 as a subsidiary of Gildemeister, supplying cast components to the group and to general mechanical engineering customers. From 1978 to 1989 the foundry was fundamentally renewed and a flexibly automated heavy-part machining operation was built, capable of handling castings up to 8 tonnes in small batches. In 1993 the management team bought the company from Gildemeister in a management buy-out. A design and calculation department was established from 1988, and research into simulation-based, load-path-oriented casting design (Biocast) led to development services with integrated prototyping. In 2002 the company became a small non-listed stock corporation. It was acquired by the Schloss Neugattersleben group in 2008, and a comprehensive modernisation of the foundry began in 2011. In 2012 the board filed for insolvency proceedings in self-administration; the proceedings were lifted in June 2013 thanks to the commitment of an entrepreneurial family, and the business has since operated as Heidenreich & Harbeck GmbH. In 2017 it received an AGCO Global Supplier Award. In 2015 the same entrepreneurial family acquired the then-insolvent TechnoGuss foundry in Tangerhütte. Today the company presents itself as a foundry, pattern-making shop, development service provider and heavy-part machining specialist. It pours parts in EN-GJL (grey cast iron) and EN-GJS (ductile iron) using sand casting. It emphasises insensitivity to wall-thickness differences, uniform microstructure, good machinability and low residual stress, produced within very tight process tolerances. Its pattern-making department combines all areas hand-in-hand so that manufacturing requirements and casting simulation findings feed into pattern design. Its development services cover the conversion of welded constructions, feasibility studies and complete development of demanding components. The company exhibited at the CastForge trade fair in Stuttgart and relaunched its website in 2024, and it received a bronze medal in the EcoVadis Academy sustainability initiative in 2023.
History
The history of Heidenreich & Harbeck begins in Hamburg in 1868, when the company was founded with a focus on lathe manufacturing. Its original site was in the Glashüttenstraße in the Karolinenviertel, where a new factory building was erected in 1907. As demand for lathes for gun and munitions production grew during the First World War, operations were relocated to Barmbek, at the eastern edge of the Jarrestadt. The buildings were occupied in 1917 and at peak production extended to Hufnerstraße. During the Second World War, about 60 percent of production was converted to rifle and gun manufacturing, and the company was assigned around 350 forced labourers; compensation for them has been refused to this day. A rail connection to the Hamburg freight bypass was built because of the weapons production. In 1950 the Hamburg parent was considered a trendsetter in lathe construction and employed 1,500 people. In 1951 it was awarded the contract to build the Great Schmidt Mirror of the Hamburg Observatory as the West German partner of Zeiss Jena; designer Walter Strewinski was responsible for the mounting, while Zeiss supplied the optics. In 1963 an identical mounting was built by Heidenreich & Harbeck for the ESO Schmidt telescope. As an additional business line, the company developed the first high-performance blow-moulding machine for PVC beer bottles, marketed under the name Corpoplast; in 1971 the process was converted to PET. After the death of Martin Harbeck, his son sold the company entirely in 1972 to the competing Gildemeister AG of Bielefeld, which had already acquired a stake in 1970. The plastics bottle division was made independent in 1975 and sold to the Krupp group in 1979. On 15 March 1976 Gildemeister announced the intended closure of production, beginning a labour struggle with demonstrations and rallies; by 1977, 800 of about 1,000 employees had been dismissed. In October 1978 the Japanese company Makino acquired a capital stake in Heidenreich & Harbeck and had its products manufactured there. In 1999 the Hamburg parent was renamed Makino GmbH. It continued until 2007 as a sales organisation for Japanese lathes at the old site. The administration building erected in 1917 at Wiesendamm 30 and the buildings at the Barmbeker Stichkanal were completely demolished in 2022 to make way for a high-rise complex with a neighbourhood square by the water for the district office North, whose move from Eppendorf to Barmbek was planned for 2024. The Mölln operation, which forms today's company, began in 1927 when the Hamburg machine-tool factory Heidenreich & Harbeck bought the shut-down iron foundry Hoffmann & Tödt in Mölln. That foundry had emerged from the Maschinenfabrik und Eisengießerei Burmester founded in 1859 and had been built in 1923 at its current location next to Mölln railway station on the Lübeck–Lüneburg line, but had to cease operations because of the Great Depression. After the takeover by Heidenreich & Harbeck, the foundry developed into the largest industrial operation in Mölln. Before the Second World War it was expanded with a heavy-part pre-machining workshop, which in the 1960s was extended to finish machining with induction hardening of machine-tool guideways. In 1978 the Mölln company was converted into a GmbH as an independent subsidiary of Gildemeister, intended to supply the group and general mechanical engineering customers with cast components. From 1978 to 1989 the Mölln foundry underwent a fundamental renewal and a flexibly automated heavy-part machining operation was built, in which castings up to 8 tonnes in weight were machined in smaller batches with low supervision for the first time in Europe. In 1993 the company was bought from Gildemeister in a management buy-out by managing directors Ernst du Maire and Siegfried Puls. From 1988 a company-owned design and calculation department was built up to support customers in casting development and to obtain greater design freedom for cast components. Research work on the economical, systematic development of load-path-oriented shapes through simulation of natural growth processes (Biocast) led to an offer of development services with integrated prototype production. In 2002 the company was converted into a small, non-listed stock corporation. In 2008 it was acquired by the Schloss Neugattersleben group of companies, and in 2011 a comprehensive modernisation of the foundry began. On 11 August 2012 the board announced that it had filed for the opening of insolvency proceedings in self-administration and the appointment of a trustee with the competent local court in Schwarzenbek. In June 2013 the insolvency proceedings were lifted thanks to the commitment of an entrepreneurial family. Since then the operation has traded as Heidenreich & Harbeck GmbH. In 2017 Heidenreich & Harbeck was awarded the AGCO Global Supplier Award. In 2015 the same entrepreneurial family acquired the then-insolvent TechnoGuss foundry from Tangerhütte. In September 2022 the operation was [text truncated in source].
- 2022
Historic Hamburg parent buildings demolished; Mölln operation [source truncated].
- 2017
Received the AGCO Global Supplier Award.
- 2015
Same entrepreneurial family acquired the insolvent TechnoGuss foundry in Tangerhütte.
- 2013
Insolvency proceedings lifted; operation continues as Heidenreich & Harbeck GmbH.
- 2012
Board filed for insolvency proceedings in self-administration.
- 2011
Comprehensive modernisation of the foundry began.
- 2008
Acquired by the Schloss Neugattersleben group of companies.
- 2002
Company converted into a small, non-listed stock corporation.
- 1999
Hamburg parent renamed Makino GmbH.
- 1993
Management buy-out by Ernst du Maire and Siegfried Puls from Gildemeister.
Products and positioning
Quality castings and ready-to-install components for mechanical engineering, with in-house pattern making, development services and heavy-part machining.
Grey cast iron (EN-GJL) sand castings
Sand-cast parts in grey cast iron, characterised by insensitivity to wall-thickness differences, uniform microstructure, good machinability and low residual stress.
Ductile iron (EN-GJS) sand castings
Sand-cast parts in ductile iron produced within very tight process tolerances.
Ready-to-install cast components
Cast and machined components for the mechanical engineering industry.
Heavy-part machining
Machining of large castings, historically up to 8 tonnes in small batches.
Pattern making
In-house pattern making integrating manufacturing requirements and casting simulation.
Development services
Conversion of welded constructions, feasibility studies and complete development of demanding cast components, including prototyping.
Sources3 sources
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