Company foundation
The company Anlagenbau Günther was founded in 1924 by Heinrich Günther. The following entry was made in the trade register of the municipal administration in Maar on February 8, 1924: Heinrich Günther VI. opened a tinsmith's shop and a retail shop selling household goods. Today we would describe Heinrich as a "free inventor". Heinrich was a trained tinsmith, but was also a hobbyist who built his own electrical appliances. This is how the first affordable radios and other complex electrical appliances for domestic use were created in Maar. In 1925, he registered his first patent for an "all-electric fly swatter" (as we all know the fly swatter today from the hot summer months). However, as the fee was high and Heinrich did not raise and pay it, the patent was never granted.
Das erste Serienprodukt
The first series-produced product in the company's history: a smoking cabinet! In 1928 , Heinrich Günther produced independent, free-standing smoking cabinets for the preservation of meat and sausage products by means of targeted smoking. He took over 100 customer-specific orders. In addition to the household goods store, his main business activity during this period was extensive tinsmith work for the manufacture of guttering with downpipes, sheet metal cladding and the elaborate refurbishment of church spires and their sealing with gold leaf.
The 1930s
When registration in the register of tradesmen became compulsory in 1933, Heinrich Günther had himself entered there with the addition "installation business". When the water pipes in the village were changed in the years 1932-1937 and all the house connections had to be renewed, he was awarded the contract and his business flourished. At times, he employed 16 workers, including excavation workers. The hourly wage at that time was 41 pfennigs. Otto Günther, the future owner of the company, was born in 1934 . During this time, food preservation in re-sealable cans was introduced. This service was offered in the household goods store and a showroom with a display window was created for this purpose.
The time after the war
During the Second World War, Heinrich Günther was deployed with three apprentices from Lauterbach to rebuild the city of Mainz. After the war, his motto was "Make new from old". Using used tin cans from German and American wartime, he made milk cans, scoops, milk pots, wash bowls and watering cans - sometimes up to 100 pieces, which were then sold in the household goods store. In 1948, his son Otto was apprenticed to his father as a tinsmith. Fortunately, as we know today, Otto also had a lot of fun. When Heinrich died suddenly in 1951, Otto took over his father's business at the age of just 17.
Otto Günther's heating engineering company
Together with his mother Katharine, Otto brought the business to Vorn. He successfully built up a heating construction company in the old Lauterbach district and provided individual conversions and modernizations of heating systems, for example. The old existing kitchen stoves disappeared and were converted into modern centrally stored gravity heating systems with hot water preparation. Another ingenious recycling idea! After marrying Waltraud, she supported him in the business as a well-trained office worker. In 1960, Otto became the officially appointed water master for the water supply in Maar and Wernges. He looked after this for an annual salary of DM 150.
Upswing in the 60s
In 1959, the house in Maar was extensively rebuilt. It was also time for a large new workshop! In the 60s, housing construction began to flourish, and with it the construction of heating systems. The business continued to grow and Otto hired more people, at times 10 workers. Otto was entered in the register of tradesmen in February 1962 and in October 1963 the entry was extended to include central heating and ventilation engineers, gas and water installation trades. From this point onwards, the company mainly installed central heating systems, mostly oil-fired, and to a lesser extent also gas and water installations and plumbing. Otto often vented the pressure pipes in the local network.
From 1665, the company actively produced and sold perforated tape as an assembly fastening material in the trade sector.
Business in the 70s
In the 1970s, the focus remained on the heating construction business. But Otto also developed another business idea in the sanitary sector. He produced shower cubicles, which had become fashionable. He also increasingly demonstrated his inventiveness and built equipment and various machines. In 1973, he produced a Mini tractor that was partly made from existing Opel and BMW components. Special machine construction at its best! In 1974, of course, the 50th anniversary of the business was celebrated and son Bernd was allowed to help out in all areas for the first time in 1977 at the age of 13.
Unique device construction
While his son Bernd focused on his apprenticeship years in the 80s, Otto began manufacturing individual customer-specific handling equipment in the field of conveyor technology and ventilation construction at ROTTER in Allmenrod. This was the first time that the combination of heating construction, ventilation construction and manufacturing processes was implemented economically and successfully. This was followed by a wide range of customer projects involving the design, planning and manufacture of drying equipment, roller and chain conveyors, stacking and pressing equipment and also devices for the manufacture of various work steps in the washbasin, door frame, shoe sole and cardboard box manufacturing sectors. Local companies such as Stabernack, Bongard and Alsa took advantage of this new way of optimizing their business activities. Due to these many customer-specific orders, it was always necessary, but also possible, to purchase new metalworking machines. As a result, the workshop in Maar had to be repeatedly rebuilt, extended and optimized.
Entering the recycling industry
Due to the flexibility and the very fast implementation possibilities at a favorable price, the then newly self-employed sole proprietor Hans Bäuscher also became aware of the company Günther in Maar and quickly recognized the potential of a cooperation. In 1989, the first functional KOMPO PACK MOBIL volumetric filling machine in the compost world was developed. Thanks to the sales cooperation with Hans Bäuscher VS Verpackungsservice, it was also possible to present the KOMPO PACK MOBIL machine series at a trade fair for the German and European market for the first time in 1990. Even though Heinrich, with his tin can recycling business, and Otto, with his stove-heater conversion idea, had already shown a passion for recycling, this was the first official point of contact with the recycling industry.
Fun fact: It was only a few years ago that we took the old plans for the KOMPO FIX out of the archive and reworked and revised them in line with today's standards. The result is the new design that we have in our product range today.
New building in Lauterbach
There was a lot going on at GÜNTHER in the 90s. A new company building was erected and the company moved to Lauterbach. After completing his two apprenticeships and master schools, Bernd Günther was already actively involved in the company. The VOLUMAT was developed as an automatic filling machine for the industrial and logistics sector. As a counterpart to this, the ERDOMAT, a machine that filled a bucket with soil by tossing a coin, was used in regional cemeteries. The more people became involved with compost and soil, the more the issue of "impurities" such as foil, metals, sticks and stones came to the fore. Otto Günther, inventive and solution-oriented, then built and sold various cleaning devices such as the MULTIAIR series with his company. In this case, the "AIR" stands for an integrated air separator. In 1993, the first patent-protected rubber screening star was developed as an alternative to the previous screening systems on the market. This is where the great MULTISTAR story begins!
Expansion of the product range
In 1992, BG Recyclingmaschinen GmbH was founded for sales - BG in this case stands for Bäuscher/Günther, which was represented at numerous trade fairs in the 1990s. The development of the MULTISTAR star screens was followed by a second development. The FLOWERDISC disk screen. In the GÜNTHER production hall, a wide variety of mobile and stationary sorting stands were created. This led seamlessly to complete systems with star screens and new basic assemblies such as TAKER intake feeders, conveyor technology, FE separators, roller separators and air separators. The CLEANSTAR technology was developed at the end of the 1990s and used successfully for the first time. Bernd Günther took over the management of the company from his father Otto. His three children were also born in the 1990s and 2000 and are now an integral part of the company. In 2000, the heating construction division, which had been in existence until then, was finally handed over to a local takeover company.
Development of the splitter
In 2003, the customer KOMPTECH became the takeover partner of the sales company BG Recyclingmaschinen. Since then, KOMPTECH has been the exclusive distributor of MULTISTAR star screen technology products for over 20 years. In 2004, the MULTISTAR L3 machine was developed in this partnership as the first standard price list product for worldwide distribution. Shortly afterwards, the price list products 2-SE and 3-SE followed in mobile and stationary design. At the same time, a new screening technology was developed in our company: the SPLITTER spiral shaft screen. This robust and maintenance-friendly screening system can be used for a wide variety of materials and has been opening up new possibilities in the industry since 2003.
New building in Angersbach
In 2007/2008, we moved into our new company building in Wartenberg-Angersbach. Some of our employees still remember it well. The new location offers sufficient space for a future-proof development and assembly department for all products. The building was constructed according to a variety of innovative building supply concepts such as geothermal energy, in-house power supply and rainwater utilization. There is a healthy expansion of turnover and employees in all significant areas. Many measures relating to digitalization were implemented in 2019, such as a new ERP system. At the same time, a restructuring and introduction of extensive commercial measures took place, such as the expansion of the management team to include Felix Wohlfahrt as Commercial Director. In 2020, the assembly hall was expanded and many logistics areas were redesigned. Due to external influences - keyword Corona - we invested in extensive storage capacities in 2021. The new trailing roof as an extension to the production and storage areas was completed in 2023. At the same time, the traffic route concept was optimized and employee parking spaces were created.
All set for the future
The fourth generation of the Günther family - Max, Lea and Henri - are already very actively involved in the company. Our research and development department is fully occupied with ideas and the implementation of new technologies and machine series or further developments. We sell our products worldwide and can proudly say "Today we are one of the leading companies in the recycling industry". After 100 years of company history, we feel that we are ideally positioned for the future and look forward to a future in which recycling will be more important than ever before.
