Flender

Alfred-Flender-Strasse 77 (147 – 27),  46395 Bocholt
GPX: 51.82354143815046, 6.608171238636553

In the 19th century, Bocholt had developed into a sizeable industrial town with dozens of textile companies, spinning mills, weaving mills and the like. Many wooden pulleys were needed to drive all these machines via leather belts.

In 1898, two Bocholten citizens set up an iron foundry and machine factory where they produced cast iron pulleys instead of wooden ones—very innovative.

The company was acquired by Alfred Flender, a manufacturer from Düsseldorf, in 1910. The production of cast iron pulleys was expanded to include all kinds of turning gears, couplings, etc. Alfred Flender proved to be a strong entrepreneur. The factory in Bocholt expanded, but he also managed to continually increase the company's size through acquisitions, also abroad. The construction of drive and transmission systems became an important branch.

The company was largely destroyed during the Second World War, but son Alfred Friedrich Flender energetically took up the business again after the war. In the 1970s and 1980s, the company went even more international with branches, mostly through acquisitions, in France, the USA, Brazil, India, and China. The entire group employed some 10,000 people in those years, of which approximately 2,000 worked in Bocholt. The most diverse industries were supplied.

At the end of the last century, the foundry in Bocholt was dismantled, and a total renovation of the Bocholt site followed. A new industry became increasingly important: the construction of systems for wind energy, for wind turbines.

After several takeovers, during which the name Flender was replaced by Siemens for many years, the company is now part of an American concern. The name Flender proudly adorns the façade of the enormous company complex once again.

www.flender.com

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