Heunisch-Guss

Heunisch-Guss, formally Gießerei HEUNISCH GmbH, is a German industrial foundry group headquartered in Bad Windsheim, Bavaria. The company was founded in 1980 out of the insolvency of the agricultural machinery maker Schmotzer, and over four decades it has grown into a multi-site casting and machining group with operations in Germany and the Czech Republic. Its core business is the production of technically demanding cast components for industrial series applications, covering grey cast iron (lamellar graphite), ductile iron (spheroidal graphite), vermicular graphite iron and aluminium alloys. Part weights range from small components of about 0.5 kg up to castings weighing as much as 2,500 kg. Heunisch positions itself not merely as a foundry but as an integrated process chain. From design and casting through heat treatment, CNC machining, coating, cleaning and assembly, the group offers a continuous production process culminating in ready-to-install components. Manufacturing is organised across multiple plants with uniform quality and process standards, and the group emphasises series-capable, standardised production and testing procedures for industrial customers with clearly defined material and geometry requirements. The group's structure has been shaped by a series of acquisitions and integrations. After the founding of the foundry in 1980, the company took over Gießerei Hofmann in Bad Windsheim in 1984. In 1992 it acquired Slévárna Aš in the Czech Republic and began mechanical machining in Krásná. The Steinach foundry in Thuringia followed in 1998, and machining capacity in Krásná was expanded in 2001. In 2003 the two Bad Windsheim foundries were merged. In 2006 the Zetor foundry was acquired and renamed Slévárna Heunisch Brno s.r.o.; in 2014 Slévárna Heunisch a.s. was converted into Slévárna Heunisch s.r.o. In 2025 the Brno foundry was sold. Today the group operates foundries in Bad Windsheim (also headquarters, central sales and administration), Steinach in Thuringia and Aš in the Czech Republic, and maintains a representative office in Scandinavia. The managing partners are Christiane Heunisch-Grotz and Christian Gerhäuser; Mr. Heunisch withdrew from the business in 2016. Employee counts reported in public sources vary by date and scope, with the German Wikipedia citing roughly 1,300 employees across all sites and the company's own materials citing over 800 employees in the group. Heunisch remains a privately held GmbH and is not listed on a stock exchange.

The origins of Heunisch-Guss lie in the insolvency of the agricultural machinery manufacturer Schmotzer. In 1980, Gießerei HEUNISCH GmbH was established from that bankruptcy, giving the company its founding date and its base in Bad Windsheim, Bavaria. Four years later, in 1984, the young foundry took over Gießerei Hofmann GmbH, also in Bad Windsheim, expanding its casting capacity in its home town. The 1990s marked the beginning of the group's internationalisation and its move into downstream machining. In 1992 the company acquired Slévárna Aš in the Czech Republic and began mechanical machining operations in Krásná, Czech Republic. This step extended the business beyond pure casting into the machining of cast components. In 1998 the group acquired the Steinach foundry in Thuringia, Germany, adding a second German production site. In 2001, machining capacity in Krásná was expanded. In 2003, the two foundries in Bad Windsheim were merged, consolidating the group's home base. In 2006 the group acquired the Zetor foundry and renamed it Slévárna Heunisch Brno s.r.o., extending its Czech footprint to Brno. In 2014, Slévárna Heunisch a.s. was converted into Slévárna Heunisch s.r.o., a change of legal form. In 2016, Mr. Heunisch handed over the reins and withdrew from the company, and Mr. Gerhäuser joined as an additional managing director; Christiane Heunisch-Grotz and Christian Gerhäuser are the managing partners today. By the 2020s the group operated foundries in Bad Windsheim (headquarters, central sales and administration), Steinach in Thuringia and Aš in the Czech Republic, and maintained a representative office in Scandinavia. In 2025, Slévárna Heunisch Brno, s.r.o. was sold, reducing the group's Czech foundry footprint. Throughout its history, the group has combined foundry competence with downstream manufacturing steps — heat treatment, CNC machining, coating, cleaning and assembly — into an integrated industrial process chain, producing technically demanding castings for a range of industries in grey iron, ductile iron, vermicular iron and aluminium alloys.

• 2025

  Sale of Slévárna Heunisch Brno, s.r.o.

• 2016

  Mr. Heunisch withdraws from the company; Mr. Gerhäuser joins as an additional managing director.

• 2014

  Slévárna Heunisch a.s. converted into Slévárna Heunisch s.r.o.

• 2006

  Acquisition of the Zetor foundry, renamed Slévárna Heunisch Brno s.r.o.

• 2003

  Merger of the two foundries in Bad Windsheim.

• 2001

  Expansion of mechanical machining in Krásná, Czech Republic.

• 1998

  Takeover of the Steinach foundry in Thuringia, Germany.

• 1992

  Acquisition of Slévárna Aš in the Czech Republic; start of mechanical machining in Krásná.

• 1984

  Takeover of Gießerei Hofmann GmbH, Bad Windsheim.

• 1980

  Gießerei HEUNISCH GmbH founded from the insolvency of the agricultural machinery manufacturer Schmotzer.

Integrated industrial foundry group supplying technically demanding series castings with downstream machining, heat treatment, coating and assembly.

• Grey cast iron (lamellar graphite) castings

  Castings made from lamellar graphite iron for industrial series applications.

• Ductile iron (spheroidal graphite) castings

  Castings made from spheroidal graphite iron (ductile iron).

• Vermicular graphite iron castings

  Castings made from cast iron with vermicular graphite.

• Aluminium alloy castings

  Castings in market-standard aluminium alloy variants.

• CNC machining of castings

  Machining of aluminium and grey iron castings with CNC technology.

1. 1Heunisch: Grauguss, Sphäroguss und Aluminiumgussheunisch.eu
2. 2Heunisch: Über unsheunisch.eu
3. 3Heunisch-Guss – Wikidatawikidata.org
4. 4Heunisch-Guss – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org